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Some of the important forms of marriage found in India are: (i) one wife, many husbands (ii) one husband many wives (iii) one man one wife (iv) companionate marriage and (v) experimental marriage!
(i) One wife, many husbands:
Polyandry. In certain parts of the earth polyandry long existed. It is a form of marriage wherein one woman marries more than one man at a given time. It is thought to be widespread in Tibet where the conditions of social life are harsh and where perhaps the efforts of two or more men are needed in order to support a family. The Marquesans of Polynesia and the Todas of Malabar are also supposed to have this institution.
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In Hindu mythology we learn that the five brothers called Pandavas shared the same wife. Polyandry is also said to exist in some tribes as the Namib Bushmen, the Yaruro of Venezuela the Lengua of El Chaco, the Singhalese, the Mundas and some ancient tribes of the Malay Peninsula. It is however relatively a rare type of marriage and is generally an improvised adjustment to certain peculiar and extreme conditions.
Polyandry may take two forms:
(1) Fraternal Polyandry:
In this form of polyandry one wife is regarded the wife of all brothers who have sexual relation with her. The children are treated as the offspring of the eldest brother.
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(2) Non-fraternal Polyandry:
In this form one woman has many husbands with whom she cohabits in turn. It is not necessary that these husbands be brothers. If a child is born then any one husband is chosen its social parent by a special ritual.
The causes of polyandry are said to be the following:
(i) Lesser number of women:
According to Westermark, when the number of women is lesser than the number of males in a society, polyandry is found, for example among the Todas of Nilgiri that was the reason for this form of marriage. But according to Briffault, polyandry can exist even when the number of women is not lesser, e.g., in Tibet, Sikkim and Laddakh polyandry is found even though there is not much disparity in the number of men and women.
(ii) Poverty:
Polyandry has developed in such areas where there was scarcity of natural resources so that many men may support one woman and her children.
(iii) Bride-price:
When in a society bride price is high on account of the lesser number of women, polyandry develops.
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(iv) Population Control:
Polyandry has also been considered a means to check the growth of population in some societies.
(v) Backwardness:
Generally polyandry is found in such areas as are situated far away from the centres of culture and progress.
(vi) Joint Family:
The spirit of joint family gets strengthened when several brothers marry the same woman.
The advantages of polyandry are:
(i) It controls the growth of population;
(ii) The family property does not get divided;
(iii) It strengthens the economic position of the family;
(iv) It fosters community feeling among the members of the family;
(v) The members feel security of life.
Its disadvantages are:
(i) It adversely affects the health of woman because the same woman has to satisfy the sexual desire of several husbands;
(ii) It leads to sterility. According to biologists if the same woman cohabits with several men, it may lead to sterility.
(iii) It may diminish population. It is said that if polyandry continues in some tribal societies for another hundred years, it may lead to their extinction.
(iv) In a polyandrous society, divorce is easy to get.
Polyandry is generally considered an obstacle in the way of social progress. It causes harm to married life and creates several other psychological problems. It is on this account that polyandry has gradually come to an end in those societies also wherein it once prevailed.
(ii) One husband many wives:
Polygyny. Under this system one man has two or more wives at a time. Polygyny is generally called polygamy but strictly speaking the latter is a general term including both polyandry and polygyny. Polygyny is found among Eskimo tribes, Crow and Hidatsa of North America and African Negroes. In primitive times it was quite prevalent among the Assyro-Babylonians and the Hebrews.
In India till today it exists among Muslims and also among Hindus. It is more frequent than polyandry. Polygyny is closely related to the institution of slavery. Generally, the women captured in war are made his wives and concubines by the captor.
Sometimes a chieftain or Rajah may purchase a dozen women for wives. The Nawabs of Oudh in India during Muslim times are said to have had a large number of wives. Sometimes the number reaching several hundred. Polygyny is based partly on the lower sex impulses of the male and partly on the desire to leave many descendants.
Westermark has mentioned the following causes of polygyny:
(i) Enforced Celibacy:
Men do not approach the women during the period of pregnancy and while the child is being breast fed. Due to this long period of enforced celibacy, a second marriage was contracted.
(ii) Earlier Aging of the Female:
In the un-civilised tribes men remarried a number of times because the women aged earlier.
(iii) Variety:
The desire for variety is also the cause of polygyny.
(iv) More Children:
Polygyny is also a practice to obtain more children.
(v) Social Prestige:
In some tribes the leaders have more wives in order to prove their superiority. A single marriage is considered a sign of poverty.
(vi) Economic Necessity:
In some areas polygyny is practiced to get cheap and reliable labourers in the form of wives. In the Himalayan ranges the men marry many times in order to protect their property and to obtain help in their agricultural activities. Polygyny lessens the cases of sexual infidelity but it creates jealousy and hatred among the wives.
The advantages of polygyny are:
(i) It checks prostitution because man can satisfy his sex desire in a better way by keeping himself within the confines of marriage.
(ii) It gives healthy children to society because rich people only can afford to maintain several wives.
(iii) Children are better looked after because there are several women to look after them.
Its disadvantages are:
(i) It increases economic burden on the head of the family because he has to support many women and children.
(ii) The children cannot be looked after properly because too many of them are to be looked after.
(iii) It creates jealousy among the wives and their children.
(iv) It destroys family happiness.
(v) The women possess lower position.
On account of its greater harmful effects on family life, polygyny has been declared illegal in the civilized societies. The Indian Government has declared polygyny an offence under Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Public opinion also is generally against the system.
(iii) One man one wife:
Monogamy. Under monogamy one man marries one woman at a time. This is the leading form of marriage. Its advantages are now well recognised. It produces the highest types of affection and sincere devotion. The children are well looked after. Both father and mother give earnest attention to the upbringing of their offspring’s. Under polygyny the father cannot devote himself full to each of his wives and children because they are too many.
He is in reality the head of several households and fatherhood in personal sense does not exist. The family happiness is also destroyed in polygyny as much jealousy exists between wives and sets of children are separated from each other.
Affection between parents, between parents and children and between children themselves is more wholesome under monogamy than under polygyny wherein the wife, who has grown old, is discarded for a younger wife.
Under monogamy, the old parents receive favouring care by their children; under polygyny their days end in bitterness. Although monogamy is said to cause extra marital relations and exploitation of women, yet according to Malincwski “Monogamy is, has been, and will remain the only true type of marriage.” It is probably on account of great advantages of monogamy that the public officers in India have been legally forbidden to practise polygny.
(iv) Companionate marriage:
This is “the marriage of two persons on the understanding that as long as there are no children the marriage may be dissolved simply by mutual consent.” Judge Ben B, Lindsey was of the opinion that this system is much better than free love or trial marriage because the knowledge that in case there are no children divorce may be obtained will provide wholesome attitudes toward marriage. The opponents of the system, however, point out that it leads to quick-married and quick-divorced trends and makes it easy for persons to marry on the basis of sex alone.
(v) Experimental Marriage:
Some thinkers have proposed experimental marriages to find out the compatibility of the two people before they settle down to a life of permanent union. A man and woman may be allowed to lead marital life temporarily in order to find out if they can settle down permanently in matrimonial relations. This approach would lessen the chances of divorce at a later stage.
During the period of experiment they would become acquainted with each other and come to know each other’s personality intimately. If they find that they have compatible personality, they may enter into permanent marriage relations; otherwise depart from each other. There may be something to be said in favour of experimental marriages, but the experimental approach is fine in the laboratory, and not in marriage.
Here it may also be mentioned that many societies permit extramarital or premarital sexual relations. This system of “privileged relationships” as they have been called by the anthropologists is not an arbitrary one. Careful examination of the social systems in which they occur will make them understandable.
We know that the sexual privilege cements a relationship that is close for other reasons. Privileged sexual relations may be regarded as a reinforcement and symbol of social relationship, with important non-sexual content. In our society, the attitude towards sexual relations is extremely restrictive. We think that the sexual relations should be confined to marriage and that a person should have only one marriage partner at a time. But this rule is broken as well.
It is found that percentage of men having premarital intercourse is higher than that of the women. In the west the proportion of men and women having premarital intercourse is higher than that in India. It may also be mentioned that the norm against premarital intercourse is stronger in some social groups than in others. However, no society leaves marriage unregulated.
In connection with marriage there are certain terms which need explanation. One is sororal polygyny which means the marriage of a man with several sisters. Levirate, another term, is the marriage of a man with the childless widow of his deceased brother. Sororate, a third term, means the marriage of a man with the sister of his deceased wife especially if she has left no offspring.
Concubinage is a state of living together as husband and wife without being married, it is cohabitation with one or more women who are distinct from wife or wives. Concubinage is sometimes recognised by various societies as an accepted institution. Hypergamy means the marriage of the daughter in the superior and noble family.
It is highly practised in India. If the parents give their daughters in a low family it is regarded a blot upon their family. Anuloma marriage is a form of inter-caste marriage wherein men of higher caste weds women of lower castes. Protiloma marriage is also a form of inter-caste marriage in which men of lower caste marry women of superior castes.