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I recently saw a video of a renowned modern-day Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, where he said inter-religious marriages are fine if the partner is spiritual. I wondered whether this is the teaching of Hindu scriptures or his personal opinion.

What do Dharmasastras say about inter-faith marriage? Does it encourage it? Or does it prohibit it? If it is forbidden, what punishment or prayaschitta is prescribed? I am especially concerned about when a Hindu girl gets married to a non-Hindu man.

Non-Hindus are frequently referred to as the Yavanas. So is marrying a Yavana allowed? Is there any instance in Hindu Purana or Itihasa, where a Hindu girl got married to a Yavana?

Amritendu Mukhopadhyay
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  • There is no talk about other 'religions' as such in śāstras, but vivāha with mlecchas is niṣiddha and there is even a prāyaścitta prescribed for it, in śāstras. Now, it's possible that a mleccha might be a Hindu, but in this case that's immaterial. A mleccha is not necessarily non-Hindu. Indian Bauddhas and Jainas don't qualify as mlecchas. – Bingming Feb 21 '24 at 13:59
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    A mleccha firstly is an anārya, s/he doesn't belong to caturvarṇa or any anulomaja (niṣāda, ambaṣṭha, etc.) or pratilomaja (sūta, cāṇḍāla, etc.) jātis. Secondly, mlecchas are naturally of foreign origin, even if they lived in Āryāvarta since some generations. – Bingming Feb 21 '24 at 14:05
  • Note : You can't call Indian Buddhists [who existed pre-13th century], Jainas, etc. as mlecchas. This is because the practitioners firstly do belong to some jāti, even though might have become patita, as a result of their not doing nityakarman or their doing niṣiddhakarman. And secondly, what they follow isn't exactly adharma. – Bingming Feb 21 '24 at 14:06
  • Definition of Melacha one who oppose hinduism to the core, doesnt respect vedas varnas and agamas. Practice wholely new religion according to his belif system. So marrying Melaccha would effectively reduce one to Melaccha level for their offspring. No sign of moksha.. Rebirth is blashphamey, idol worship is bhalsphamey worshipping other god other than then defined by melachas is unacceptable probably by death threat will be subdued. – Prasanna R Feb 21 '24 at 15:42
  • @Bingming Can you please give the reference where marriage with a mleccha is discouraged and prayschitta is prescribed? Please provide. That will be very useful to me. – Amritendu Mukhopadhyay Feb 21 '24 at 17:22
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    @AmritenduMukhopadhyay You may check this out perhaps, translation of the ślokas is not good though, there https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/31900/24460 – Bingming Feb 21 '24 at 17:23
  • I guess, not mleccha, the right word would be Yavana. – Amritendu Mukhopadhyay Feb 22 '24 at 03:36

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