1. Legal developments

2. Muslim Polygamy

3. Hindu Polygamy in modern India

4. Conversion for the purpose of Polygamous Marriage

5. Christian Polygamy

6. Fraudulent Marriages

7. See also

8. References

In contrast to Europe, polygamy prevailed in ancient India for rulers and kings.^[2] It was common for rulers (for example Bhupinder Singh of Patiala and Fateh Singh of Udaipur and Mewar). Some wealthy individuals (for example Ramkrishna Dalmia, Gajanan Birla^[3] and P. Rajagopal) had multiple wives.

The British colonial Empire of India permitted Islamic provinces to allow husbands to have multiple wives. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh was cremated in Lahore, four of his wives and seven concubines took to Sati,^[4] and their urn-like memorials exist at his Samadhi.^[5]

Legal developments

Section 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860, prohibited polygamy for the Christians. In 1955, the Hindu Marriage Act was drafted, which prohibited marriage of a Hindu whose spouse was still living. Thus polygamy became illegal in India in 1956, uniformly for all of its citizens except for Muslims, who are permitted to have four wives and for Hindus in Goa and along the western coast where bigamy is legal.

A polygamous Hindu marriage is null and void.^[6] While the punishment specified in articles 494 and 495 is applicable, it is rare if the first spouse does not have an objection.

Muslim Polygamy

Muslims in the rest of the country are subject to the terms of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, interpreted by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Still, many Hindus, tribal people, and Buddhists practice it all over the country, rejecting the laws as such.

Muslims are free to practice their religion and Muslims in India are happy with Muslim Personal law interpreted by All India Muslim Personal Law board.

However, in a judgment in February 2015, the Supreme court of India stated that "Polygamy was not an integral or fundamental part of the Muslim religion, and monogamy was a reform within the power of the State under Article 25"^[7].

Hindu Polygamy in modern India

The Bollywood star and Lok Sabha member Dharmendra was already married to Prakash Kaur when he married actress Hema Malini in 1980. While it was reported that he had converted to Islam for the sake of the marriage,^[8] he denied getting converted.^[9]

The Uttar Pradesh politician, Mulayam Singh Yadav was married twice.^[10] His first wife was Malti Devi, whose son is Akhilesh Yadav (born 1973), the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.^[11] Malti Devi died in May 2003.^[12] Yadav's second wife is Sadhna Gupta Yadav, with whom he has a son named Prateek Yadav (born 1988).^[13][14] Prateek manages land holdings of the Yadav family.^[14] Mulayam's second wife was not acknowledged until February 2007, when the relationship was admitted in India's Supreme Court in a property dispute.^[15]

Ram Vilas Paswan married Rajkumari Devi in 1960s. In 1983, he had married Reena Sharma, an airhostess and a Punjabi Hindu from Amritsar.^[16][17] In 2014 he disclosed that he had divorced her in 1981, after his Lok Sabha nomination papers were challenged.^[18][19] He has two daughters, Usha and Asha, from his first wife.

In the three cases, there was no political or legal impact. In 2014 supporters of BJP published a poster 'desh premi patni premi'^[20] suggesting that Digvijaya Singh had two wives, although he was only in a relationship with the second woman while the first wife was alive.

Legally the second wife of a Hindu would be a mistress, although religiously and socially she may be considered a wife. The law in India allows mistresses to be presumed wives unless proven otherwise.^[21]

Polygamy among Hindus is sometimes accepted in some rural areas,^[22] often with approval by earlier wives. The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) found that 2 percent of women reported that their husband had other wives besides herself. Husbands of women with no children are more likely to have multiple wives.^[23]

Polyandry has been traditionally permitted in a few Hindu tribes.

Conversion for the purpose of Polygamous Marriage

In the past, there have been many incidents of non-Muslim men converting to Islam solely for the purpose of practising polygamy legally.^[24] In December 2008, a controversy arose when the then Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Chander Mohan, and Anuradha Bali, the former Assistant Advocate General of Haryana, converted to Islam, taking the names Chand Mohammad and Fiza, so that Mohan could marry Bali as his second wife. However he converted back to Hinduism afterwards. Such incidents raised concern over the use of Islam for polygamy.^[25]

Christian Polygamy

In Mizoram state, a Christian religious sect, called the "Pu Chana páwl" or just "Chana", formed in June 1942, practices polygamy. The founder Ziona, a 66-year-old man, has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren, all living under one roof.^[26]

Fraudulent Marriages

There have been several cases in which a man or a woman, assuming a fraudulent identity, marries multiple persons to get money and valuables from them.^[27][28]

See also

• Polyandry in India

References

• Wysocki Mlyn
• Wysocki Młyn
• Wysocko
• Wysocko (disambiguation)
• Wysocko, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
• Wysocko Male
• Wysocko, Masovian Voivodeship
• Wysocko Małe
• Wysocko, Podkarpackie Voivodeship
• Wysocko Wielkie
• Wysoczanski
• Wysoczany
• Wysocze
• Wysoczka
• Wysoczka, Pila County
• Wysoczka, Piła County
• Wysoczka, Poznan County
• Wysoczka, Poznań County
• Wysoczyn
• Wysoczyn, Otwock County
• Wysoczyn (Otwock County)
• Wysoczyzny Elblaskiej
• Wysoczyzny Elblaskiej Landscape Park
• Wysoczyzny Elbląskiej
• Wysoczyzny Elbląskiej Landscape Park