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Summary of Question:	Refusal of inter-caste marriages
Category:	Love & Marriage
Date Posted:	Friday, 9/15/2000 2:35 PM MDT

I am a Sikh Canadian and have always wondered why our parents refuse to let us marry people who are of another caste. In the Guru Granth Sahib Ji it specifically states that all people are considered to be equal. Was it not Guru Nanak Dev Ji who was born as a Hindu and started the Sikh religion? The Guru Granth Sahib Ji says that there should be no caste system, so why are many practicing Sikhs going against the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and telling their children that they have to marry a person of the same caste?? Please answer this question because it has been nagging at me for a long time. Thank you very much.

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I really do not have an answer for this. Indian Culture is very caste conscious. This is a social custom...the farmers marry farmer, the business people marry the same. It is not very enlightened, this is true. I beleive that more and more Sikhs that truely practice break away from this old custom.

Those of us who are of Western non Sikh families cannot practice this way. We are growing families of Khalsa's that do not relate to this caste system. For us it is enough that we marry Khalsa.