The bride-price tradition has given rise to two other types of marriage: (i) levirate, and (ii) sororate.
(i) Levirate:
When a marriage is contracted by the payment of bride-price, and in course of time, if the husband dies, his widow is married to the brother of the deceased (the lever) and in this way the patrilineage retains control over the woman and her children after the husband’s death. In this case no bride-price is paid.
(ii) Sororate:
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In this form of marriage which also results from the tradition of bride- price, a widower marries the sister of the deceased. In most of the cases, it means that the woman’s kin group commits itself to replacing the dead woman with a living one.
Both these forms of marriage are found among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Therefore, we see that the traditions of dowry and bride-price and any marriage, for that matter, is not an individual or personal affair; it is a contract between the two families, or two groups of kin. Emphasizing the alliance part of marriage, John Lewis writes:
The payment emphasizes the fact that marriage does not concern the marrying pair alone. Marriage is an alliance between two kin groups in which the couple concerned is merely the most conspicuous link.
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The man marriages not only his bride but all her relatives as well.
In any discussion of marriage it should be stated strongly that marriage is an alliance. The bride-price cements the links in the web of kinship, allaying disputes and hostility and imposing a check on the disruptive tendencies of inter-group conflict.
It also helps consolidate marriage, for having received the bride-price; her relatives do not want to see her return for they would then have to return the bride- price. So divorce is a rare thing in societies where bride-price is an essential feature of the marriage.