section_path: Religion/Hinduism
section_name: Hinduism
paragraph_text: Hinduism
  
  Hinduism regards Vivāha or Biye (marriage) to be a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. It is regarded to be an important samskara, or a rite of passage. Hindu texts describe four purusharthas (goals of existence): dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (liberation). The purpose of the marriage samskara is to fulfill the goal of kama, allowing an adherent to gradually advance towards the attainment of moksha. The Manusmriti describes many different types of marriages and their categorisation, ranging from the gandharva vivaha (a consensual marriage of love between a man and a woman without the performance of rituals or witnesses) to the rakshasa vivaha (a "demoniac" marriage, performed by abduction of one participant by the other participant, usually, but not always, with the help of other persons). In the Indian subcontinent, arranged marriages, in which the spouse's parents or an older family member choose the partner, are still predominant in comparison with love marriages in the contemporary period. The Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act 1856 empowers a Hindu widow to remarry.