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While people may debate if men marrying multiple wives or women marrying multiple husbands is ideal, the simple fact is both happen in Hinduism and are clearly at least allowed in some situations, however rarely that may be.

What are the rules for polygamy? Is the first wife/husband required to give permission, because in all the cases I know in Hinduism that definitely happens? Are there any other rules or recommendations given in scripture? How would Hindu polygamy ideally work financially, legally, and logistically?

Aupakarana Abhibhaa
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – TheLittleNaruto May 21 '21 at 04:03
  • Does this answer your question? Intercaste marriage was not uncommon in ancient India. However, Smriti shastras criticize it. How to reconcile? – YDS May 21 '21 at 08:12
  • @YDS 1. That first quote is literally just from a random unnamed muni, with no verification on whether he is even slightly a good source for knowledge. https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-markandeya-purana/d/doc117208.html – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 21 '21 at 08:35
  • @YDS 2. The second quote also has an unreliable narrator, but nevertheless the issue is with progeny. In short progeny from intercaste parents is only slightly bad https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi/d/doc201739.html https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi/d/doc201799.html https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/43405/do-migrated-brahmin-person-children-will-become-brahmin-or-non-brahmin/43408#43408 – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 21 '21 at 08:37
  • @YDS Basically in order for the "seventh generation" rule to be true and also having every generation step following the rules, the logical conclusion is a mixed Varna is inbetween the two parent Varnas. It is however closer to the lower Varna, because reasons (that is just how taint works). Yayati wants his children free of the taint, so he basically asks for them to be his Varna. The translations and influence of Abhramic religions make the taint of inter Varna progeny sound worse than it is. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 21 '21 at 08:41
  • @YDS Also, I'm pretty sure you meant to comment this on another question. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 21 '21 at 08:43
  • "random unnamed muni" -- his name is given as Parivrat in sanskrit text bdw - https://archive.org/details/markandeyapurana/page/n375/mode/1up?view=theater ... "with no verification on whether he is even slightly a good source for knowledge" -- this is ur own opinion.. – YDS May 21 '21 at 08:45
  • @YDS Okay, maybe he is a tad more valuable if he is given a name. You shouldn't blindly trust every narrator, by the way, as that is a bad habit to get into. In any case, it's reasonable to doubt his skill at communicating and one could argue that this is only for Rākṣasa marriage. It is probably okay to take it at face value, knowing you might get reason to believe otherwise later. This should definitely not be taken over actually trustworthy sources. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 21 '21 at 08:58
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    Does this answer your question? Did Draupadī cry when Arjuna brought Subhadrā home? What about Kauśalyā and Sumitra in Daśaratha's case? – Say No To Censorship May 24 '21 at 16:41
  • @sv. That only provides an example of the hurdles faced by a polygamous family, not how they logistically work. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 24 '21 at 16:48
  • Read the last line of the other question, it's exactly what you are asking here: "During Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata times did current wives of kings have any say on the king's future wives?" – Say No To Censorship May 24 '21 at 16:49
  • @sv. Well that answers one question, of whether the first wife/husband gets a choice (yes). There are still other big questions like income, divorce, children, etc. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa May 24 '21 at 16:51

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