Why do people in subcontinent marry cousins?

[Peregrine]

There is nothing weird in parents selecting for their children. Parents raise the children with great difficulty and hardships and they are not fools to let their children into trouble. Once you become a parent yourself you will know what I am talking about, so the hardships parents endure in raising their children, this one happiness to choose something for their children is their right.

And as for your other 2 concerns, naturally and as per Islamic point of view, the couple should be shown to each other and their agreement to accepting each other based on looks should be taken, and as for knowing each other, well let it be left after marriage, as that is the real fun compared to knowing each other before marriage as after marriage no fun left in exploring each other personalities.

And as for your sexual desire thingy, have no idea what you mean by that but once looks are accepted, that thingy of yours should get satisfied too

And yeah arranged marriages are more fun and work better then the other alternative.

Hi
every individual is eccentric, Parents get to choose what children study, what they do, how they live, but when it comes to marriage life i don't think that Parents should force children to marry people of their choice eg let me quote an example my mother thinks white complexion and thin lips are a symbol of beauty so she thinks her kashmiri relatives residing in sialkot are very attractive but do i think the same no ,i don't even like thin lips, similarly i resent sialkoti accent. these are very valid concerns i don't want a wife who only makes chappatai or chicken with curry, when i like pasta and lasagna. besides its the kids hormone that we are talking about how come Parents get to choose, who their children hormones should like

 

[third eye]

A major prob the Parsi community now faces is that due to strict enforcement of marriage within the community a large number of defects stay due to non mixing of genes.

Inter mixing of genes is ensured quite well by hindus not allowing marriages within their ' Gotra' which essentially is a sub sect of the caste .

 

[RobbieS]

Cousin or inter-Gothra marriage is forbidden amongst Sikhs as well. At least amongst the Jatt Sikhs.

 

[Skies]

In my area people feel pride in marrying some one from their own tribe and their children are also proud of this. Because they only have Qualities of one tribe.

People do not generally pay respect to other tribes and their way of living and do not want their children to deviate from their living style.



But now this trend is decreasing.

They were unlucky and had knowledge limitation. What can they do for the world if they think in this way!? This is sign of mean........

 

[pak-marine]

Why do people in subcontinent marry cousins?

Simple cause they know inside out about the family . If out sider they dont know much and it becomes more risky

 

[amoverlord]

My father mother are first cousins..so far there is no \"alleged hereditary diseases into me or my rest brother and sisters\"..As qsaark explained something that has been declared halal by Allah and His Rasool no reason to continue discussing this subject further..reason for my brother/sisters to marry outside family is so no trouble takes place as everyone knows what sort of troubles...

basically you could be an atheist (or just an id )so far atheists have not proved anything without bringing \"science subject\" into it.

Science has also proved eating pork is dangerous pork is widely eaten in the west but they\'ve declared marrying cousins haram! can you explain that to me something like pork that can cause 70 dangerous diseases is eaten even by scientists!. wow mr. atheist your a master piece.

luftwaffe......
i can just say that,marriage between cousins(within the same gene pool),,increases susceptibility to different hereditary disorders....as someone said here,this inheritance is not always bad(blue eyes)....but disorders such as hemophilia A/B,agammaglobulenemia ,color blindness(to name a few) also happen.....


medically its not recommended.

 

[Speaker]

Intelligence can be improved with rigorous exercise/training. It has been found that animals who were put under challenging environment learnt how to overcome those challenges suggesting that intelligence itself is an acquired skill as apposed to what many believe. Now that is true that there is a baseline intelligence difference among various species. For instance a 2 year old human kid can perform certain task effortlessly while an adult Chimp takes considerable time to learn those. However within a species, this difference in intelligence is not as pronounced and largely depends on the environmental factors.

The mental of physical retardation could be the 'expression' of a (or multiple) genetic disorders. Human body is an interplay of the 'on' and 'off' of thousands of genes (at-least 19,599 confirmed protein coding and another 2,188 predicted) and hundreds of these genes are subjected to environmental stimuli.

One of the phenotype (expression of a single or group of genes) tightly associated with genes or genetic pool is the height. Now take the average height of pre-1950 Japanese, and their average height today. What changed? Its not that Japanese started marrying in tall North Eastern Europeans but simply because of a change in their dietary habitats and in their overall lifestyle.

Bad genes (mutated genes) do put you at disposition to acquire some disease as it has clearly been shown in diseases such as sickle cell anemia, but many other disease including certain cancers, heart disease, are certainly preventable or at-least very much manageable through altering the environmental stimuli. Let me give you another proven example here. Insulin independent Diabetes (type II) do run in certain families however at the same time, the onset of the disease can be delayed and controlled very effectively through diet management and regular exercise.

Thanks, I guess this confirms my thoughts -

1. Genetic disorders are not always discernible, and in some cases, these people live exceptional lives otherwise.
2. IQ is a function of environmental variables, than hereditary, and is not necessarily affected by genetic disorders.

First of all there is no conclusive evidence that first cousin marriage is a recipe of genetically mutated offsprings.

Agree to your statement, but is genetic mutation the same as what we are all discussing? I think mutation is due to "induced" or external factors, which is different from this case, correct?

 

[Pakistani_Athiest]

So many Indians talking about Gotra, are they trying to play me for a complete jackass? Even from a wiki reading, I could understand this "gotra" system quite well. Say your gotra is X, your dad's gotra is X. Your mom's gotra before her marriage was something DIFFERENT from X [By your own theory]. Your mom's brother gotra is the same as your mom's gotra before her marriage. Therefore, your mom's brother and yourself have DIFFERENT gotras. Therefore you can marry your mom's brother's daughter EVEN AS PER THE GOTRA SYSTEM. North Indians not doing that has nothing to with the gotra system.

Now coming back to Pakistanis, it's a shame! A shame a guy claims to be an assistant professor with post-doc experience, a PhD and other degrees, and yet posts absolute non-sense about marrying cousins being a safe biological practice. What's actually interesting about this thing though is that, several peopel have thanked this guy! Why? Because he reinforces their beliefs!?

What's funny is that, even though I never really attacked Islam or Hinduism, at least on this thread, even respected your beliefs by appending a [PBUH] after Muhammad, all I got was insults in return for my belief [Atheism].

Assistant Professor saab, why don't you give me some scientific papers that disproves that marrying first cousins is no biggie.[prinited in a scientific journal, peer reviewed and critiqued; I am sure you know the whole process since you have a PhD+post-doc+professorship].

 

[HariSeldon]

There are some communities in Northern India which will go back up to 7 generation to make sure that bride and groom families are not related. Can somebody share info on this?

 

[Speaker]

So basically what you are telling me is that, EVEN if science proves something CONCLUSIVELY, you will refuse to accept it, just because it's conclusions are deviant from your faith's philosophy?

I never wanted to make this a religion thread. I actually thought that marriage between cousins would be forbidden by religion, when I started this thread. But here it is.

I understand your "frustration", and I have found myself at these crossroads quite a few times. I have argued with my friends about this as well. Science usually offers us answers on the "how things happen" but not much insight into "why" those things happen.

I don't mean to defend or offend anyone, but in my opinion, religion in general is a soothing balm and solace. Human psychology lets us cope with our predicaments much better if we assume "it is for a greater good", and has "divine designs". Till a better reasoning for the "why" is found, it is easier, and more "assuring" to know that "god wants it that way". Faith healing may be pretty effective for psychological problems but it can give little more than symptomatic relief for other diseases/disorders.

I once read the interview of a lady who had three kids who suffered from the same genetic problem. She did not care much about "how" it happened. She said she is happy since this is letting her kids clear off their bad "karma" in this janam, and she knows god will make her their mother even in the next, where they can lead a good life. Some people may laugh at it, but she was poor, and probably could not have done much to prevent it (like consulting a doctor during pregnancy). This helped her cope with her situation, and even kept the family going.

Having said that, religious directives are quite practical if understood in the context of the time and region where they were prescribed. This include dietary and customary restrictions, depending on what was easily available and what potential food sources could be foregone for other uses.

Offering the disclaimer again, this objective point of view was not meant to hurt anyone's religious sentiments.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Stupid aspect of our culture.

Arranged marriages always lead up to this in a lot of cases. When the parents cannot find a wife for their son, they end up looking closer and closer for a rishta and end up asking their cousins.

I hate this because I have seen so many ...umm... 'special' children as a result of inbreeding.

They need to be educated that inbreeding is dangerous.

you have raised a very valid question.

 

[Moorkh]

@pakistani atheist

you start a thread claiming that all people from the indian sub continent prefer to marry their cousins. this is wrong and the thread must have told you as much already.

and then you get angry because indians, who dont follow your assumption give you reasons as they know best. marrying cousins is considered incest in our country except for a few cases. we dont have an authoritative religious book on why it is considered so. the closest institution to this is the gotra system which we have told you about. also read up a little more about the social institutions you are talking about. it was mentioned in this very thread that a couple needs to be separated by 7 generations on the paternal side and 5 on the maternal side. this is followed , maybe not as strictly but it is ensured atleast that none of the parents of the couple have/had the surname.

if you act like a 'jackass' and dont read up and feel being played like one, we cant help it. there have been enough pointers for you to follow and get the information you seek

i already gave examples where the gotra system has been changed, like gujrat where you cant even marry within your village. similarly a very large variety exists under the gotra system and just depending on wiki wont be a good idea. as is such social institutions of the subcontinent are not well studied or documented by the western sources.

 

[Justin Joseph]

So many Indians talking about Gotra, are they trying to play me for a complete jackass? Even from a wiki reading, I could understand this "gotra" system quite well. Say your gotra is X, your dad's gotra is X. Your mom's gotra before her marriage was something DIFFERENT from X [By your own theory]. Your mom's brother gotra is the same as your mom's gotra before her marriage. Therefore, your mom's brother and yourself have DIFFERENT gotras. Therefore you can marry your mom's brother's daughter EVEN AS PER THE GOTRA SYSTEM.

As per my knowledge in North India one can not marry in the same "Gotra" of his father and Mother.

So one can not marry from father's side and Mother's side.

There is also another system. That is in "Jaat" there is "Khaap" caste community these people don't marry in the same "Gotra" and in same village.

No matter what's your religion or caste. They don't allow people from any caste or religion to marry in from same village.

That is if you are a Muslim and wants to marry a Muslim from different family in the village it is not allowed.

 

[jbond197]

So many Indians talking about Gotra, are they trying to play me for a complete jackass? Even from a wiki reading, I could understand this "gotra" system quite well. Say your gotra is X, your dad's gotra is X. Your mom's gotra before her marriage was something DIFFERENT from X [By your own theory]. Your mom's brother gotra is the same as your mom's gotra before her marriage. Therefore, your mom's brother and yourself have DIFFERENT gotras. Therefore you can marry your mom's brother's daughter EVEN AS PER THE GOTRA SYSTEM. North Indians not doing that has nothing to with the gotra system.

Dude, nobody is trying to prove you anything. You can believe whatever you want to believe. But as an North Indian and part of sub-continent, I felt being pulled into the debate because of the topic title you created. I feel so disgusted even thinking about such marriages and I wanted to state the facts so that you do not generalize it as whole subcontinent issue. All I can say is for us our Mom's Brother's Son/Daughter are as much a Brother/Sister to us as our real brother/sister is. On occasion of Rakhi, we get tons of rakhis both from the paternal side as well as maternal side.

Whatever be the reason for prohibitions on such marriages, whether Gotra or Cultural aspect? I don't care. But I am proud that such practices are prohibited for us as such practices are scientifically proven to be wrong as well.

Some more info from WIKI...

North Indian Hindu society not only follows the rules of gotra for marriages, but also had many regulations which went beyond the basic definition of gotra and had a broader definition of incestuousness.[4] Some communities in North India do not allow marriage with some other communities on the lines that both the Communities are having brotherhood.[5]

 

[jbond197]

There are some communities in Northern India which will go back up to 7 generation to make sure that bride and groom families are not related. Can somebody share info on this?

I did .. Check post# 53