Hindu marriage, primarily seen as a sacrament that brings two individuals together for life to pursue dharma, artha, kama and moksha, has witnessed a spate of changes in the post-Independence era. These changes are ramifications of the transformation in the fabric of life, structures of roles, responsibilities and relations in Indian society in the wake of globalization, exposure to western education, increasing urbanization, laws and legislation, commercialization and commodification, and change in the status and attitude towards gender, sex, caste and ethnic minorities. Consequently, as one moves the critical gaze from the 1970s to the 2000s, inter-caste marriage, same-sex marriage, and inter-religion marriage appear to have become a part of our existence. The present study undertakes to explore the depiction of the changing paradigms of marriage—the reasons, types and repercussions—as depicted by Vijay Tendulkar in Kanyadaan, Mahesh Dattani in Do the Needful and Girish Karnad in Wedding Album as representative works of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s respectively.
