In which age do the members of Jaipur's Rajput Sabha think they are living? It is as if all these years that separate the 20th century from the era of Manu just don't exist for them. On August 6, the Sabha decided to ostracise the former ruler of Jaipur, Bhawani Singh, because of the marriage of his daughter Diya Kumari Singh to Kanwar Narendra Singh, who happened to be a commoner and from the same gotra as his royal wife, although seven generations separate the two families. The perverse stand of the Sabha members smacks not just of cussedness but of a seriously blinkered vision. It also seems to rise from a desire to settle personal or political scores rather than any real desire to uphold Rajput honour. After all, Rajput honour is not so fragile a thing as to collapse under the weight of an unconventional marriage. These hide-bound traditionalists must be reminded in no uncertain terms that they exist in the Republic of India and it is the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 that governs such marriages in the contemporary world, not the Manusmriti. As the anguished father of the bride rightly asked in a letter to the editor yesterday: ``Are the laws different for Rajputs and other Hindu citizens of free India?'' The answer is no, and will remain no, no matter what pressure some misguided individuals may seek to exert on the harassed family.

There is, of course, nothing new about all this. Stories of lovers who chose to defy convention predate even the much recounted legend of Heer and Ranjha. The anger that follows in the wake of such unions is also not new. Those who loved not wisely but too well have been hunted down like animals, even quartered and hanged, by angry relatives, or their communities represented by sundry panchayats and sabhas. The Rajput Sabha has reacted in a fashion identical to that of the Mehrana village panchayat in the early 1990s. The latter chose to impose death to the deviant couple by hanging, the former seeks to dole out death to the reputations of the bridegroom and the bride, as well as their families. The message that is sought to be conveyed in both instances is the same: fall in line, or else...

But times are changing and no sabha on earth can stop this process. The marriage of a princess from the erstwhile Kochi royal family to her one-time college mate eloquently underlines this. This April, when Seema married Manoj, who happened to be from a community, once considered untouchable, she did so with her family's blessings. If the bride's royal relatives had any qualms over the marriage, they were forced to hide them well. No public uproar greeted that marriage. On the contrary, there was a general rejoicing that extraneous factors such as caste, which belonged to an earlier era, no longer held sway. The Rajput Sabha can certainly learn from their southern counterparts. Meanwhile, the bride and her bridegroom -- and their families -- must be left in peace.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.