Meitei marriage

Meitei marriage is the marriage tradition of the Meitei people of Manipur in northeast India, described in their own language as Luhongba, a term meaning the joining of a man and woman's hearts and souls rather than only their bodies, and treated as a sacred union solemnized through religious ceremony. Meitei tradition frames the two spouses in complementary rather than identical roles, calling the wife's path Oi-gi-lamdang, the left way, and the husband's path Yet-ki-lamdang, the right way, an image of two distinct but equally necessary halves of one lifelong partnership, and the practice is recognized as part of Meitei intangible cultural heritage. Two historical shifts mark how the tradition has changed: marriage within the same clan, once practiced, is now prohibited, a move that has strengthened alliances between different clans, and polygamy, once socially accepted for men returning from successful military campaigns, has since died out. Arranged marriage, involving structured negotiations and a sequence of ceremonial steps between the two families, remains the most respected path to marriage, while elopement persists as an alternative that traditionally carried social costs for the bride if her family did not ultimately accept the match.