EXPLORING THE MARRIAGE PATTERNS AMONG NOMADES: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTH WAZIRISTAN

Abstract

Marriage is a relationship that is established between a woman and one or more other persons, which provides that a child born to the woman under circumstances not prohibited by the rules of relationships and is accorded full birth-status rights common to normal members of his society or social stratum. Further she says that marriage is a universal institution and it performs a similar set of functions in different societies (Gough 1959). Marriage is the legally or formally recognized union of two people as spouses in a much personal relationship. In general, it is a social and ritual recognition of normalizing sexual relationship among two members of opposite sex. Marriage is a universal social institution and has been hi storically found in all the societies and civilizations of the world from ancient date until now. Marriage is both a dynamic and a static phenomenon. It is dynamic in its patterns and customs and it is static with its existence. According to the (Gough 1959)'s definition marriage is universal in its existence but it does perform different ceremonies and customs in different societies at different periods of time. The researcher is interested in the exploration of the marriage patterns of the Bagrhi tribe which is one of the scheduled casts that resides in theWaziristan. According to (Westermarck 1926), marriage is a relation of one or more men and women which is recognized by the custom or law and involves certain rights and duties both in the case of parties entering the union or the case of children born of it. Westermarck links the division of labor and the social recognition of two or more than two individual tied in the bond of marriage. He speaks of both rights and responsibilities of the spouses to one another and their chi ldren to them and the society both.