Marriage between cousins during Mahabharat period

Arjun and Subhadra were first cousins. Shri Krishna addressed elder Pandavas as brothers. Then it is beyond my comprehension, the marriage between Subhadra and Arjun. The Lord himself married one of his cousins, Mitravinda.

As far as I know marriage can never happen in the same bloodline whther from father's side or mother's side it is against ved scriptures and same gotra also is frowned upon if that gotra is from father but if you follow guru gotra then narriage within same gotra is preferable. My nanaji said once that marriage should not happen in the same bloodline even if there are 50 generations. But who is counting generations. Earlier it was possible due to the surnames or caste or gotra but these days people don't even know their gotras or al etc.

Even Arjun Subhadra marriage is mysterious to me. Kunti and Vasudev were real siblings chidlren of Sursena king of Mathura. Subhadra was Vasudev's daughter so Kunti was her real brother and Kunti's son was her first cousin How Krishn permitted their marriage Even I am curious to know this😕😕😕😕 It was incest and our culture is dead against incestous relationships not that they do not happen they do even today even afte they are frowned upon and late gradually people do accept these marriages. These happened many times in several of my relations. Close ones too. Mostly love marriages.

However, a constant worry of Arjuna's is getting his son married off. Because of his absence, Subhadra, a Vrishni, would have full control over the decision of who would be Abhimanyu's wife, and Arjuna is worried that she would choose one of her nieces. In the Kuru culture, marriage between first cousins was more taboo, while in Subhadra's culture, it was more accepted. As such, Arjuna leaps at the chance to marry Abhimanyu to Virata's daughter, Uttara. In some other versions of the story, which do not appear in the official Mahabhartha, Subhadra gets her way, with Abhimanyu marrying Balarama's daughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhadra

In the Bhagavata Purana, Mitravinda is described as the daughter of Rajadhidevi, the sister of Kunti and cousin sister of Krishna's father Vasudeva, and King Jayasena of the kingdom of Avanti, present-day Ujjain.^[2][3] She was known by the epithet "the virtuous" and called as Shaibya or Shaivya (meaning daughter/descendent of king Shibi/Shivi) in the Vishnu Purana. Ratnagarbha, a commentator on the Vishnu Purana, identifies Mitravinda with Kalindi, another chief queen of Krishna. In Harivamsa, she is Sudatta and as the daughter of Shibi.^[4] She was a very qualified, learned and elegant girl.^[5] The Bhagavata Purana describes that she had two brothers Vinda (Vindya) and Anuvinda (Anuvindhya), who ruled Avanti as co-regents at the time of her marriage. They were comrades of Duryodhana, the leader of the Kauravas of the Hindu epic Mahabharata fame and were opposed to her marriage with Krishna as he had allied with Pandavas, Kunti's sons and rivals of the Kauravas.

In another version, Krishna and his elder brother Balarama are described to be intentionally not invited for the svayamvara. Balarama was upset that they had been excluded for the marriage of their cousin Mitravinda. Balarama had also conveyed to Krishna that the svayamvara was a ruse as Vinda and Anuvinda wished to marry their sister to Duryodhana of the Kuru Empire. The marriage would forge alliance between Kuru and Avanti and also garner the support of Vidarbha and Magadha Kingdoms, which may the Kauravas very powerful. Balarama told his younger brother to abduct Mitravinda as she loved Krishna. As Krishna was not sure of the love of Mitravinda, he took his younger sister Subhadra along with him to quietly ascertain the wish of Mirtravinda. After Subhadra confirmed Mitravinda's love for Krishna, Krishna and Balarama stormed the svayamvara venue and abducted Mitravinda, defeating the princes of Avanti, Duryodhana and other suitors.<sup>[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitravinda

so it is clear from above two same bloodline marriages that yadavs did allow marriage between first cousins whereas Kuru Vansh did not</sup>

Cousin marries were very much acceptable in the olden days. It is only in recent times that cousin marriages have become taboo, so it may be a bit difficult for some people to see it in mythological shows, but there are many examples of it in several puranas. The Vedas too condone it, except for certain cousin marriages. The marriage between children of two sisters or two brothers is absolutely prohibited, because they are seen as siblings, but the marriage between children of a brother and sister is acceptable, because once the sister is married off an goes to another home, she or her children are no longer considered a part of the "family" so the marriage between her children and her brother's children is acceptable.

In fact, cousin marriages still happen in some parts of India, especially in the South. They are prominent in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Some of my own cousins married each other so it's not taboo in our family.

Thanks for sharing the info :)

I used to get confused thinking about the same.

If you take into consideration as it is shown in the show that Arjuna just fell out of the sky into Kunti's hands he is not really related to her by blood. He is adopted so it would be ok for him to marry Kunti's niece.

Marriage between cousins was acceptable in our place(Kerala) ...My aunt is married to her first cousin

but nowadays such a system doesnt exist

I think more than relationship they used to consider 'gothra' .. Means bloodlines I think.. Don't know the exact translation.. U cannot marry within a Gothra ... Possible only if the guy's n girl's gothras are different... N after marriage the girl belongs to he hsband's Gothra...