Arranged marriages are traditional in
South Asian society and continue to account for an overwhelming majority of marriages in the
Indian subcontinent. Despite the fact that
romantic love is "wholly celebrated" in both Indian mass media (such as
Bollywood) and folklore, and the arranged marriage tradition lacks any official legal recognition or support, the institution has proved to be "
surprisingly robust" in adapting to changed social circumstances and has defied predictions of decline as India modernized. Arranged marriages are believed to have initially risen to prominence in the Indian subcontinent when the
historical Vedic religion gradually gave way to classical Hinduism (the ca. 500 BCE period), substantially displacing other alternatives that were once more prominent. In the urban culture of modern India, the differentiation between arranged and
love marriages is increasingly seen as a "
false dichotomy" with the emergence of phenomena such as "self-arranged marriages" and free-choice on the part of the prospective spouses.