Polyandry in India

2021-09-21T01:42:52Z

2409:4072:6193:E855:0:0:192A:60B0: Changed the wrong caste mentioned above

{{Short description|Overview about Polyandry in India}}
{{use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Anthropology of kinship |studies |image=Draupadi and Pandavas.jpg |caption=[[Draupadi]] and her five husbands, the [[Pandava]]s. Top down, from left to right: the twins [[Nakula]] and [[Sahadeva]] stand either side of the throne on which [[Yudhishthira]] and Draupadi sit between [[Bhima]] and [[Arjuna]].}}
'''Polyandry in India''' refers to the practice of [[polyandry]], whereby a woman has two or more husbands at the same time, either historically on the Indian subcontinent or currently in the country of [[India]]. An early example can be found in the Hindu epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'', in which [[Draupadi]], daughter of the king of [[Panchala]], is married to five brothers.<ref name="India, Past and Present">{{cite book |title=India, Past and Present, Historical, Social, and Political | first = James |last= Samuelson |year=1890 |publisher=Trübner & Co. |place= London |url=https://archive.org/stream/pli.kerala.rare.6522#page/n0|pages=18, 20, 46, 47 |access-date= 6 September 2018 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Polyandry was mainly prevalent in the [[Kinnaur]] Region, a part of [[Himachal]] in India which is close to the [[Tibet]] or currently the [[Indo-China]] border. As mentioned in the epic ''Mahabharata'', the [[Pandavas]] were banished from their kingdom for thirteen years and they spent the last year hiding in this hilly terrain of Kinnaur. Some Kinaauris claim that this practice has been inherited from the Pandavas, who they identify as their ancestors {{citation needed|date=December 2016}}. The [[Garhwali people]] similarly identify their practice of polyandry with their descent from the Pandavas.

Polyandry is also seen in [[South India]] among the [[Toda people|Todas]] tribes of [[Nilgiris (mountains)|Nilgiri]]s, Nanjanad Vellala of [[Travancore]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lakshmi Raghunandan |title=At the Turn of the Tide: The Life and Times of Maharani Setu Lakshmi Bayi, the Last Queen of Travancore, 1995 |page=185}}</ref>While polyandrous unions have disappeared from the traditions of many of the groups and tribes, it is still practiced by some [[Northern Indo-Aryan languages|Pahari]]s, especially in the [[Jaunsar-Bawar]] region in [[Northern India]].

Recent years have seen the rise in [[fraternal polyandry]] in the [[agrarian societies]] in [[Malwa (Punjab)|Malwa]] region of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] to avoid division of farming land.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120211155730/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-07-16/india/27861707_1_agrarian-crisis-family-farm-punjab "Draupadis bloom in rural Punjab"] ''[[The Times of India]]''. 16 July 2005.</ref>

==Legal developments==

Section 494 and 495 of the [[Indian Penal Code]] of 1860, prohibited polygamy for the Christians. In 1955, the [[Hindu Marriage Act]] was drafted, which prohibited marriage of a Hindu whose spouse was still living. Thus [[polygamy]] became illegal in [[India]] in 1956.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XFtcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=india+poluygamy+law&source=bl&ots=Dh7GixM7u3&sig=NFWXcseO7sY8SF1BnLwVXCMZQHk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd_KvA_77MAhWqlIMKHUb_Bu84ChDoAQhCMAU#v=onepage&q=india%20polygamy%20law&f=false Modern Indian Family Law, Werner Menski, Routledge, 2013 p.194]</ref>

==Kinnaur==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2015}}
Polyandry is in practice in many villages of [[Kinnaur]] district of [[Himachal Pradesh]]. Fraternal polyandry (where husbands are related to each other) is mainly in practice in villages, where the societies are male dominated and which still follow ancient [[rituals]] and [[customs]].

There are many forms of polyandry which can be found here. Most often, all the brothers are married to a woman and sometimes the marriage to brothers happens at a later date. The wife can only ascertain the blood-relationship of the children, though recently there have been a few instances of [[paternity test]]s using [[DNA]] samples to resolve inheritance disputes. The rules for breaking the marriage are strict and a brother going against the marriage agreement can be treated as an outcast while losing his entire share in the property.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Negi|first=Sunder Kala|last2=Singh|first2=Hoshiar|date=2014|title=Marital Satisfaction and Well Being among Fraternal Polyandrous and Monogamous Tribal People of Kinnaur|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331816023_Marital_Satisfaction_and_Well_Being_Among_Fraternal_Polyandrous_and_Monogamous_Tribal_People_of_Kinnaur|journal=IRC'S International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Social & Management Sciences|volume=2|issue=4|pages=47-57}}</ref>

The territory of Kinnaur remained forbidden for many years as the land route was only established 30 years ago. The joint families are now fragmented into nuclear families. The level of economies and financial resources have transformed the life of the people of Kinnaur into city.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gautam|first=Rajesh K|last2=Kshatriya|first2=Gautam K|title=Polyandry: A Case Study of Kinnauras|url=https://www.academia.edu/4466645/POLYANDRY_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_KINNAURAS|journal=Indian Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=30|issue=1-2|date=2011|pages=146–161}}</ref>

{{clarify|date=May 2016|reason=30 years back from when?}}

==Toda==
[[File:Toda men women 1871.jpg|thumb|right|Photograph of two [[Toda people|Toda]] men and a woman. [[Nilgiri Hills]], 1871.]]
[[Toda people|Toda]]s are tribal people residing in the [[Nilgiri mountains|Nilgiri]] hills in South India who for several centuries practiced polyandry.<ref>{{Cite news| last=Anthony R Walker| author-link=Oliver Cowdery| title=The truth about the Todas| newspaper=Frontline| volume=21| issue=5| date=28 February – 12 March 2004| url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2105/stories/20040312000206600.htm| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013183019/http://hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2105/stories/20040312000206600.htm| archive-date=13 October 2007| df=dmy-all}}</ref> They practiced a form of polyandrous relationship which is considered to be a classic example of polyandry. They practiced both fraternal and [[sequential polyandry]].

The males who shared one or two wives were almost always full or half-brothers.<ref name="Evolution and human kinship">{{cite book | title=Evolution and Human Kinship| last=Austin L. Hughes| date=14 July 1988| publisher=OUP USA| isbn=978-0-19-505234-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5g9002yyTW8C&q=Evolution+and+human+kinship&pg=PP1|page=101 }}</ref> A Toda woman when married was automatically married to her husband's brothers.<ref name="Families in global and multicultural perspective">{{cite book | title=Families in Global and Multicultural Perspective| last=Bron B. Ingoldsby and Suzanna D. Smith| date=7 September 2005| publisher=Sage Publications, Inc| isbn=978-0-7619-2819-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UR3HhhtRy3gC&q=Families+in+global+and+multicultural+perspective|page=104 }}</ref> When the wife became pregnant, one husband would ceremonially give a bow and arrow to the wife, and would be the father of that child. When the next child arrived, another husband would perform the ceremony and become the father.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/todas00rivegoog  The Todas by William Halse Rivers Rivers].</ref>{{clarify|date=February 2017}}

==Kerala==
Polyandry and [[polygamy]] were prevalent in [[Kerala]] till the late 19th century and isolated cases were reported until the mid-20th century. [[Caste system in India|Castes]] practicing polyandry were [[Nairs]], [[Thiyyas]], [[Ezhavas]], [[Kammalans]] {{Page needed|date=October 2020}}, and a few of the [[Vishwakarma (caste)|artisan castes]].<ref>''A Study of Polyandry – Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark'' (1963) The Hague: Moulton. Open Library ID OL15135517M. p. 159.</ref><ref>''Polyandry in India: Demographic, economic, social, religious, and psychological concomitants of plural marriages in women - Manis Kumar Raha and Palash Chandra Coomar'' (1987) Gian Pub. House. {{ISBN|81-212-0105-5}}. p. 432.</ref> <ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=limC6vCMYnMC |title = Polyandry in Ancient India|isbn = 9788120804876|last1 = Singh|first1 = Sarva Daman|year = 1988}}</ref> <ref>074531693</ref> <ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNAI9F8IBOgC&pg=PA38 |title = Religion and Social Conflict in South Asia|isbn = 9004045104|last1 = Smith|first1 = Bardwell L.|year = 1976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Mann|first=Rann Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fuxv9_upHpYC&q=Polyandry+of+thiyya&pg=PA16|title=Aspects of Indian Social Anthropology|date=1996|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-586-7|language=en}}</ref>

In the case of Nairs and other related castes, a man's property is inherited by his sister's children and not his own.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/imperialgazette18huntgoog/page/n94  The imperial gazetteer of India by William Wilson Hunter].</ref> Under Nair polyandry, the only conceivable blood-relationship could be ascertained through females.<ref>{{cite journal | last = H. W. H. | title = Primitive Marriage| journal = Science| volume = 7 | issue = 158| pages = 147–149| publisher = [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] | date = 12 February 1886| jstor = 1760231 | doi = 10.1126/science.ns-7.158S.147 | pmid = 17759687| url = https://zenodo.org/record/1618824}}</ref> However, polyandry among Nairs is a contested issue with opinion divided between ones who support its existence<ref>{{cite journal| last = A. Aiyappan| title = Nayar Polyandry| journal = [[Man (journal)|Man]] | volume = 32| pages = 78–79| publisher = [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland]] | date = March 1932| jstor =2790087}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last = L. K. Ananthakrishna Iyer| title = Nayar Polyandry | journal = [[Man (journal)|Man]] | volume = 32| pages = 269–270| publisher = [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland]] | date = November 1932| jstor = 2790609}}</ref> and ones who do not support it based on the fact that no stable relationship is formed in Nair polyandry.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Opler | first1 = Marvin K. | title = Woman's Social Status and the Forms of Marriage | journal = [[American Journal of Sociology]]| volume = 49| issue = 2| pages = 125–148| publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] | date = September 1943| jstor = 2770359| doi = 10.1086/219347}}</ref> Ezhavas of Kerala also practised polyandry. The custom of fraternal polyandry was common among Thiyyas of Malabar. According to Cyriac Pullipally, some female members of the Thiyya community associated with English men as their concubines.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Bardwell L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNAI9F8IBOgC&q=polyandry|title=Religion and Social Conflict in South Asia|date=1976|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-04510-1|pages=34|language=en}}</ref>

==Jaunsar-Bawar==
Polyandry was practised in [[Jaunsar-Bawar]] in [[Uttarakhand]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The mystique of the mountains |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2024/stories/20031205000106600.htm|work=Frontline|date=November–December 2003}}</ref> A distinct group of people called [[Northern Indo-Aryan languages|Pahari]]s live in the lower ranges of [[Himalaya]]s in [[Northern India]] from southeastern [[Kashmir]] all the way through [[Nepal]]. Polyandry has been reported among these people in many districts but studied in great detail in Jaunsar-Bawar. It is a region in [[Dehradun district]] in [[Uttarakhand]]. The practice is believed to have descended from their ancestors who had earlier settled down in the plains from Himalayas.<ref name="Polygamy">{{cite book | title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis| last=Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen| date=5 August 2008| publisher=Berg Publishers| isbn=978-1-84520-221-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC&q=Polygamy+Miriam+Koktvedgaard+Zeitzen|page=109 }}</ref>

Polyandrous union occurs in this region when a woman marries the eldest son in a family. The woman automatically becomes the wife of all his brothers upon her marriage. The brothers can be married to more than one woman if the first woman was sterile or if the age difference of the brothers were large. The wife is shared equally by all brothers and no one in the group has exclusive privilege to the wife. The woman considers all the men in the group her husband and the children recognise them all as their father.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Berreman | first1 = Gerald D. | title = Pahari Polyandry: A Comparison| journal = [[American Anthropologist]] | volume = 64| issue = 1| pages = 60–75| year = 1962| doi = 10.1525/aa.1962.64.1.02a00070| doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Berreman| first1 = Gerald D. | title = Himalayan Polyandry and the Domestic Cycle| journal = [[American Ethnologist]] | volume = 2| issue = 1| pages = 127–138| publisher = [[Blackwell Publishing]], on behalf of the [[American Anthropological Association]] | date = February 1975| jstor =643539| doi = 10.1525/ae.1975.2.1.02a00070| doi-access = free}}</ref>

==Other tribes==
Fraternal polyandry exists among the Khasa of Dehradun; and among the [[Galo tribe|Gallong]] and [[Memba]] of Arunachal Pradesh, the [[Mala Madessar]], the [[Mavilan]], etc. of Kerala. Non-fraternal polyandry exists among the Kota; and among the [[Karvazhi]], [[Pulaya]], [[Muthuvan]], and [[Mannan people|Mannan]] in Kerala.

In the [[1911 Census of India]], E.A. Gait mentions polyandry of the Tibetans, [[Bhotias]], [[Kanet]]s of Kulu valley, people of state of [[Bashahr]], [[Thakkar]]s and [[Megs]] of [[Kashmir]], [[Gondi people|Gond]]s of [[Central Provinces and Berar|Central Provinces]], [[Todas]] and [[Kuruba|Kurumbas]] of [[Nilgiris (mountains)|Nilgiris]], [[Kallar (caste)|Kallars]] of [[Madurai]], [[Tolkolan]]s of [[Malabar (Northern Kerala)|Malabar]], [[Ezhavas]], [[Kaniyan]]s and [[Kammalan]]s of [[Cochin]], [[Muduva]]s of [[Travancore]] and of Nairs.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8UZF-ckLEnYC&pg=PA165&dq=polyandry+Jaunsar+Bawar&lr= Polyandry in Ancient India by Sarva Daman Singh]</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Madura, a Tourist's Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xANOL3bu5YC&q=polyandry+kallar&pg=PA165|isbn=9788120607064|year=1913}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|India|Society}}
*[[Polygamy in India]]
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Manis Kumar Raha & Palash Chandra Coomar : ''Polyandry in India''. Gian Publishing House, Delhi, 1987.

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[[Category:Marriage in India]]
[[Category:Polyandry|India]]

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Polyandry in India