Talk:Less Common Relationships and Families:Live-in Relationships

By Vishal Agarwal

A couple may choose to live together in the same home, and typically also develop a sexual relationship and might even have children without getting married through a religious or a legal ceremony. Although they are a family for all practical purposes, such relationships are not regarded as equivalent to a marriage either by the Hindū dharm or by the laws of the land in India and other Hindū societies.

For example, if one of the partners were to die, the surviving partner may not claim any share in the former’s property, although their children can claim a share. Many live-in relationships happen because the couple is unwilling to commit to a formal marriage and its accompanying obligations. In almost all cases, these relationships lack the longevity or permanency of a marriage because the legal and emotional barrier to separate from each other does not exist.

The weakness or temporary nature of these relationships takes an emotional toll on the separating partners as well as on their children. Live-in relationships constitute the greatest threat to the institution of marriage, and from a Hindū perspective, they fall in the category of pre-marital sex (if neither of them is married) or adultery (if either of them is married and has abandoned their spouse).

Unfortunately, within India, these relationships are on the increase because young adults are increasingly becoming financially independent from their parents due to a plethora of job opportunities available from professions that did not exist a few decades back. The Indian movie industry is also normalizing these unstable relationships by projecting them as “cool” or acceptable.