Gauna

{{for multi|the genus of moths|Gauna (moth){{!}}Gauna (moth)|the hamlet in Spain|Gauna, Álava}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

Gauna is a northern Indian hindu custom and the ceremony associated with the consummation of marriage prevalent in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It is associated with the custom of child marriage.{{cite web|author=Anil Chawla |url=http://www.samarthbharat.com/childmarr.htm |title=CHILD MARRIAGES - Need for Better Understanding of Customs |publisher=Samarthbharat.com |date=2002-03-07 |accessdate=2012-06-07}} The ceremony takes place several years after marriage.{{cite web |author=Sethi NK, Rao SS, Aggarwal OP, Abhaya Indrayan, Chuttani CS |url=http://medind.nic.in/imvw/imvw20873.html |title=Age at Marriage, Gauna (effective marriage) and first child birth in rural women: changing pattern in various marriage cohorts by decades |publisher=Medind.nic.in |accessdate=2012-06-07 |archive-date=22 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522053236/http://medind.nic.in/imvw/imvw20873.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite book|author1=Charan D. Wadhva|author2=B. N. Saxena|author3=Om Prakash Sharma|title=Population Stabilization Through District Action Plans: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ilFjNqoo6UwC&pg=PA237|year=2003|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=978-81-7648-514-2|page=237}} Before the ceremony, the bride stays at her natal home.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3xhL3e2eRsC&pg=PA512|title=Women's Global Health and Human Rights|author1=Murthy|first=Padmini|author2=Clyde Lanford Smith|date=25 October 2010|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning|isbn=978-0-7637-5631-4|page=512|author-link=Padmini Murthy|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Marriage is considered only as a ritual union and conjugal life begins only after gauna; that is marriage is consummated only after the gauna ceremony.{{cite book|author=Nirula|title=Women Problems & Their Oprression in U.p|year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mdpOAW03vb8C&pg=PA75|accessdate=7 June 2012|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=978-81-313-0470-9|page=75}}