When elders arrange a marriage, they already know their community’s customs: which clans are related as brothers, and which families are suitable. On Vivaham, we try to bring that knowledge into the search — without taking the decision away from your family.
Two filters to start with
Every profile starts with two filters switched on:
- Same tribe only. You see people from your own tribe.
- Exclude same clan. You don’t see people from your own clan — whatever your community calls it: gotra, kur, killi, paris or another name. In matrilineal communities such as the Khasi and Garo, this is the mother’s clan.
Filters for your own community
Many communities have more customs than these two. A Gond family may look at the saga — the number of gods a family worships. Others look at the mother’s clan, or avoid marriages within the same village. Vivaham shows the filters that apply to your tribe only.
A filter is switched on by default only once members of your community have confirmed the rule. Until then, it is off and marked “being confirmed for your community”. We know customs vary from region to region, and we would rather ask than assume.
Your family decides
You can switch any community filter on or off. If you do, Vivaham shows a short note about your community’s usual practice, but it never blocks you. Everyone on your family account can see who changed a filter, and the bride or groom is told.
You can also save different sets of filters — for example “Same district” or “Open to other tribes” — and switch between them.
Both families’ filters count
A profile appears only if it passes your filters and theirs. If the other family keeps “exclude same clan” on, you won’t see each other, even if you switched it off. That way, no family is shown a match that goes against their customs.
Every community is equal
Vivaham never ranks tribes, clans or communities. The filters only follow each community’s own customs — they never say that one community is better than another.
If you think we have something wrong about your community, please tell us. Read more in Community rules, explained.