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Therefore, there are several wives for one man, but not several husbands for a woman simultaneously - Aitareya Brahmana III. 3.

So this verse supports polygamy.

Can someone now marry more than one woman, is it allowed.

See I am not asking about legal or illegal.

But I am asking, if someone marry 3 women will it is bad karma, will he be sinful for this.

Will he cause adhram in the land.

What is the explanation for Aitareya Brahmana III. 3

GIRIBLR
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Dark Knight
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2 Answers2

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Polygamy, polyandry and monogamy occur in accordance with societal rules. These are customs and traditions. No karma is involved in any of these practices. At present Hindu society does not accept polygamy and polyandry and these practices have also been made illegal. Smriti texts also advise discarding of customs and traditions which arouse indignation.

However, discard the desire (kama) and material wealth (artha) if contrary to Dharma; as also, any usage or custom or rules regarded as source of Dharma if at any time they were to lead to unhappiness or arouse people's indignation.

Manu Smriti 4.176

So can one (Hindu) marry more than one woman now?

The answer is yes if one has divorced prior to the second marriage. The answer is no if one wants to marry while one is still married. Any attempt to marry a second woman while one's wife is still around would attract legal penalties and the second marriage will not be legal.

Pradip Gangopadhyay
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    Who polyandry is allowed. Vedas do not accept polyandry look at the verse, "Therefore, there are several wives for one man, but not several husbands for a woman simultaneously - Aitareya Brahmana III. 3" . Vedas are clear about it. – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 13:31
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    You seem to have forgotten about Draupadi. – Pradip Gangopadhyay Apr 08 '21 at 13:35
  • well no. Mahabharata is considered to be mythology by many people(hindus) including mimamsa. Vedas are only text that are accepted by all schools. – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 13:38
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    Well mythology or itihasa, Draupadi is an example of polyandry. Accepting Vedas does not mean accepting everything in the Vedas. – Pradip Gangopadhyay Apr 08 '21 at 13:48
  • Vedas does not mean accepting everything in the Vedas. So one can reject something from the vedas if he/she doesn't feel it is right. Anyway Draupadi is a very rare case. – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 14:54
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    so how should we follow vedas. And why would one reject something mentioned in the Vedas when it is revealed by God or is authorless. Everything in the Vedas must be followed or else it might cause adhram. – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 15:21
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    PradipGangopadhyay - Draupadi was born literally from fire. She is combination of pancha-shakti. She would do agni-pravesh before going to live with each of the Pandavas. If any woman wants to bathe in fire, then she can have multiple husbands. Don't equate deva avatars with common humans - you should know this by now. @DarkKnight – ram Apr 08 '21 at 16:58
  • @mar so what are your thoughts on polyandry in Hinduism – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 17:00
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    @DarkKnight - who cares about my thoughts. scriptures say it is not allowed. Draupadi didn't flaunt that rule inspite of having 5 husbands, because she would get a purified body each time. It's no different from someone having a husband in this life, dying, body gets burnt, getting a new life, new body and a new husband. that's not polyandry. – ram Apr 08 '21 at 17:04
  • @mar can you answer it – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 17:16
  • societal rules changes accordingly , but they are social rules not dharma. – vince Apr 09 '21 at 22:38
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    Dharma stays same , if a couple has acceptance for third addition, let it be, if some group of people want it that way without the harm being done in others, that wouldn't change anything, shvetaketu ruled the monogomy for us, remeber that, darkknight mentions , vedas mean donot accept everything in veda and then say in next commnet who cares about his though scriptures says it is not allowed, he contradicts himself, he has made his mind. you can decide yours – vince Apr 09 '21 at 22:41
  • sorry i meant mar said those contradictory lines, in any case moving on - we can clean our intestines either using enema or dhauti (drinking enough water and then doing yoga to spirt the water out of anal space).Both lead to same goal , while having diff methods, one by ayurveda and the second by yoga. WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE IS YOUR WILL,THE ONLY ADDITION I HAVE IS- EKPATIVRATA AND EKPATNIVRATA are ideal because if you try to live a spiritual life from start,one partner is easy,but no loss of karma if you want to go other ways.As i said, things were different before shvetaketu in this manvantara. – vince Apr 09 '21 at 22:46
  • Can you cite references for last paragraph? – The Destroyer Apr 13 '21 at 17:27
  • @mar Prohibition of polyandry is a recently created rule for Indians: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/19255/11726 – Ikshvaku May 08 '21 at 13:28
  • @Ikshvaku - nah, those were probably exceptions. Nobody gives much weight to English translations anyway because most messages in Vedas have hidden meaning. Even if so, each Yuga has its own dharma to be followed, so by 'recent', you probably mean Kali Yug starting in 3102 BC. Any case, olden rules do not apply to today's society. But laymen do not understand that. Digging up an old rule saying X was allowed is harmful without the caveat that it was only accepted in olden times when spirituality was higher. – ram May 08 '21 at 17:16
  • @mar It couldn't have been an exceptional case because Pandu says "This is the practice sanctioned by antiquity. The women of all orders in this world are free." Given the whole passage and context, I don't think there is any "hidden meaning" that you will find if you have the Sanskrit verse. From my experience, English translations are usually correct. – Ikshvaku May 08 '21 at 17:19
  • @mar I agree it's not allowed today, since all vedas and dharma shastras say it. – Ikshvaku May 08 '21 at 17:20
  • @mar You might be interested in my two questions I recently posted by the way. – Ikshvaku May 08 '21 at 17:20
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There are several husband and several wives

As long as their is truce and the condition for such marriage is acceptable by both parties, and the subsequent others. This choice is for the humans to make , we have that liberty, the modern society especially that of india is very punishing to those who believe in personal liberty, meanwhile these liberty are give to us by very gods and the chetna and budhhi that we have

As far as karma is considered, A- NO, a bad karma would be if someone would be hurt by that said marraige, if there is agreed conscious couple marrying after taking the agreement of the other person, it is justified. The other parties do play a role in it. Subhadra also had to be accepted by Draupadi .

So yes, it's acceptable, but norms in this yuga, especially of current society are not as moderate for those principles and the ruling govt often regulate private choices .

vince
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  • "There are several husband and several wives" this controdicts vedas Aitareya Brahmana III. 3. – Dark Knight Apr 08 '21 at 12:10
  • the shruti texts are always taken more seriously then smriti – vince Apr 08 '21 at 12:16
  • but ekpatnivrata vrat exists only when polygomy and other concepts do, there are many calling it perfectly ok to marry more than one , many who have married more than one have't lost the brahmana status. Taking whats written too seriously is not aplicable in all conditions, especially when modern vedas were penned down in past kalyuga – vince Apr 08 '21 at 12:17