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Background
Kanyadaan, and what the rite claims to do.
Kanyadaan — literally the giving of the daughter — is the central act of the classical Hindu marriage rite, and its literal reading has been argued over for a very long time, inside the tradition as well as outside it. The word contains daan, gift, and the difficulty is exactly there: a person is not property to be transferred.
The Mahabharat is not a comfortable text on this. Draupadi is staked at dice by a husband who believes he has standing to stake her, and the assembly cannot agree whether he did. The epic stages the question rather than resolving it.
- Kanyadaan
- The giving of the daughter — the central act of the marriage rite.