Consanguineous marriage
A consanguineous marriage is a union between two people who are related by blood, usually as second cousins or closer.
It is different from incestuous marriages (a marriage between direct descendants like between father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister).
Practices like the ‘Voni’ promise, an oral agreement made at a girl’s birth, enforce consanguinity in the above case.
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the genetic outcome of consanguineous marriage.
Inbreeding increases the degree of homozygosity to the offspring and also the expression of recessive traits.
In homozygosity, an individual inherits the same alleles for a particular gene from both parents leading to genetic disorders.
Alleles are different versions of the same gene. E.g., the gene for eye colour may have alleles for blue, brown, or green eyes.
Inbreeding increases the genetic load.
Genetic load measures the rate of damage caused by the presence of certain deleterious or disadvantaged genes in the population.
The Hindu Marriage Act prohibits Sapindas marriage between two Hindus unless there is an established custom.
A sapinda marriage involves individuals who share a specific degree of familial closeness.
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