Polyandry in India

Polyandry in India refers to the historical practice of polyandry, whereby a woman has two or more husbands at the same time, on the Indian subcontinent or the current practice of polyandry in the country India. The popular Hindu epic Mahabharata provides the first striking example: Draupadi, daughter of the king of Panchala, married to five brothers.

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. A minority of the Kinaauri's still claim to be descendants of the Pandavas and thus justify the practice of polyandry. However, this is a debatable issue as Kinnauris existed much before the Pandavas as mentioned in the epic.

Apart from Kinnaur, polyandry was practised in South India among the Todas tribes of Nilgiris, Nairs of Travancore and Ezhavas of Malabar. While polyandrous unions have disappeared from the traditions of many of the groups and tribes, it is still practiced by some Paharis, especially in the Jaunsar-Bawar region in Northern India.

Recent years have seen the rise in fraternal polyandry in the agrarian societies in Malwa region of Punjab to avoid division of farming land.

Kinnaur

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 old 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 tests using DNA samples being used to solve 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 all his shares in the property.

The territory of Kinnaur remained forbidden for many years as the land route was only established 30 years back.

Toda

Photograph of two Toda men and a woman. Nilgiri Hills, 1871.

Todas are tribal people residing in the Nilgiri hills in South India who once practiced polyandry. 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. Polyandry among Todas existed for several centuries. A Toda woman when married was automatically married to her husband's brothers. One of the husbands who is arranged to perform the ceremony of giving bow and arrow to a child becomes the father when a child is born. When the next child is born, another husband performs the duties and thus becomes a father.

Kerala

Polyandry and polygamy were prevalent in Kerala till the late 19th century and isolated incidents were reported till mid-20th century. The castes practicing polyandry were Nairs, Thiyyas, Kammalans and a few of the artisan castes.

In the case of Nairs and other related castes, a man's property is inherited by his sister's children and not his own. Several unrelated men had a common wife in Nair polyandry. Under Nair polyandry, the only conceivable blood-relationship could be ascertained through females. However, polyandry among Nairs is a contested issue with opinion divided between ones who support its existence and ones who do not support it based on the fact that no stable conjugal relationship is formed in Nair polyandry.

Jaunsar-Bawar

Polyandry is still practised in Jaunsar-Bawar in Uttarakhand. A distinct group of people called Paharis live in the lower ranges of Himalayas 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.

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 differential of the brothers were high. 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.

Other tribes

Fraternal polyandry exists among the Khasa of Dehra Dun; and among the Gallong 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 in Kerala.

In the 1911 Census of India, E.A. Gait mentions polyandry of the Tibetans, Bhotias, Kanets of Kulu valley, people of state of Bashahr, Thakkars and Megs of Kashmir, Gonds of Central Provinces, Todas and Kurumbas of Nilgiris, Kallars of Madurai, Tolkolans of Malabar, Ishavans, Kaniyans and Kammalans of Cochin, Muduvas of Travancore and of Nairs.

See also

• Polygamy in India

Further reading

• Manis Kumar Raha & Palash Chandra Coomar : Polyandry in India. Gian Publishing House, Delhi, 1987.