Becoming Hindu

shivajit08

Hello there,

Does anyone know of a way to legally become Hindu?
Normally I would not care about legalities and religion.
But, I am marrying a hindu man and we want to get married here in india and neither one of us feels comfortable with signing what is required for the Special Marriage Act.

I been living as a hindu for many years now but was not raised in this religion nor was i raised in india and i am non-indian.

any suggestions would be helpful.

Nick-H

Can I be inquisitive?

What's wrong with the Special Marriage Act, in you eyes.

Sorry to be answering a question with another question, I know it isn't helpful, but I'd like to know.

Welcome to the site, by the way

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Pradeep Nayak

Hi
If you are getting married to a hindu - in an Arya Samaj temple, you become a hindu naturally. I mean nobody will bar you from entering a temple. Only you have to wear a 'mangal sutra', bangles and vermilion on your forehead.

mazha

You also get a certificate, which you can show in temples picky about letting in only Hindus.

Munivar

Visit any Arya Samaj office and they should give you a certificate. There may be some other institutions..Ramakrishna mutt? or some other mutts which does this, but Arya Samaj is a sure shot.

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zoltan

I could well be wrong but it's my understanding that to "become a Hindu" can't happen. You are either born a Hindu or you're not.

It's not something that you can convert to.

But, marrying a person who is Hindu may offer you some of the benefits (eg. going to specific temples) may be afforded to you.

I would like to find out if my understanding is correct or not.

Cheers
Zoltan

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chief61

Zoltan is 100% right,
you just cannot become a Hindu ,
either you born Hindu or Not.

Cheers

Munivar

^ Nope. Arya Samaj is a bona fide organization which started as a reformist movement. It does hands out legally accepted certificate that one has converted to Hinduism. That is what the OP is looking for.

Even spiritually, people can and do convert to Hinduism. Hinduism is not like evangelist/missionary religions. But that does not mean it does not have various streams (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Advaita etc) that one who was not born to Hindu parents can find himself attached to and start practicing those beliefs. One who does that becomes a Hindu.

shivajit08

Thank you for all your responses.
The special marriage act has a requirement that both parties sign a document that says the following statement: EFFECT OF MARRIAGE ON MEMBER OF UNDIVIDED FAMILY
Where any member of an undivided family who professes the Hindu, Bddhist, Sikh or Jaina religion marries a non- Hindu under this Act, he shall be severed from such family. However if two persons who are Hindus get married under this Act no such severence takes place. My fiance and I do not feel comfortable signing a document that says something like this.

i have found out that you can definitley become or convert to Hindu. It is a process. I would post it here but it is alot of information.

Is there any way to get the 30 day waiting time period waived?

does anyone know of where or how to find these offices of arya samaj temples in the following areas Cochin, Chennai, Mysore, Mumbai?

Nick-H

Conversion.

There is no "correct" answer to this controversy. It depends on the beliefs of the person you're asking.

The hard-liners will echo the 'only by birth' point of view with varying degrees of extremism until you eventually end up with the India-for-Indians-and-that-means-Hindus-and-that-means-Indians standpoint of the RSS political bunch.

The soft-liners won't. Many of them will regard their Hindu religion as being supremely inclusive.

I know little about Arya Samaj, but I understand that its idea of Hinduism is to return to the essence of Vedic teaching, and to strip it of a great deal of its later-acquired baggage.

batistuta

You may already know this, but this act is one of the easier way of getting married to an Indian. There is one more act called 'Foreigner's act' ( or something to that effect), by which you can marry an Indian without converting to Hinduism. Yes, As you rightly point out, one can get a certificate of being a hindu by going through a 'vedic rites' ceremony.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot get that thirty day time period waived. Please do a google check for arya samaj offices. I know the address of the one in Bangalore, but it is not among the the places that you have mentioned.

Best Wishes,

Nick-H

Shivajit, whilst you are probably going to be just fine with the conversion, marriage under Hindu marriage laws and such, I suggest you do a little more research on this before accepting that or rejecting the 'Special' Marriage act.

A Hindu Undivided Family is a unit for some legal, eg taxation and property owning purposes. If your fiance is a member of such a unit, with a share of ancestral property, then it could be unwise to sign this away. If he is not, then in my unqualified opinion, the effect of the marriage in that respect would be absolutely nothing. Consulting an advocate would be advised.

Any chance of you having register office marriage in America --- followed by whatever religious ceremony you both desire in India. Does away with all these doubts!

Thirty days... Hmmm, I seem to remember there are two applicable 30-day periods: one is that of residency of one of the parties in the district covered by that registrar, the other is a period of notice during which members of the public can object.

Totally unnecessary though it may seem, anyone marrying under India's varied marriage laws should check out the rights of widows, divorcees, and so on. Of course it isn't going to happen...

Nick-H

Foreigners act?

Batistuta, I think you have in mind the 'Special Marriage Act', essentially for mixed religions, but can be the easy way for mixed nationality too. That is under discussion.

karuna

That was my understanding. Now I'm going to probably sound supremely ignorant here, but there is no Pope of Hinduism, right? No Archbishop of Canterbury. The Arya Samaj folk are a relatively recent reform movement and not the "final say" on Hinduism.

If I want to go to a Hindu temple (provided it lets what it sees as non-Hindus in) and give an offering, I can. How is that not "being Hindu"?

I don't get it. If there's no final authority to appeal to, no doctrine that says "you must be born a Hindu otherwise it doesn't count", surely you just start practicing your faith. Or get a pandit to do some kind of ceremony.

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batistuta

Nick, It is called the 'Foreign marriage act' ( as opposed to foreigner's act, my bad).

This is what a lawyer has to say about this act: The foreign marriage act reads with the special marriage act, 1954. The foreign marriage act requires certain preliminaries to the solemnization of the marriage...

The full answer can be found here . It is a response to a question asked by Sushil.

Shivajit, As Nick rightly points out, it is best to consult a lawyer. And, yes, say, if there is an arya samaj office in his hometown, you would not have to wait for the initial thirty day period ( residency of one of the parties .. which Nick alludes to).