Does Polyandry Still Exist?

Marriage as an institution has always undergone constant evolution. And one constant factor that governed the direction of this evolutionary path was economics and this dictated the societal structure of the specific community. Monogamy and polygamy have all existed in most of the societies during different time periods.

Though generally people think of monogamy as the “normal” form of marriage, most cultures around the world have practiced some form of polygamy. One might say the current practice of frequent divorce and remarrying represents a form of polygamy or rather, serial monogamy.

Some definitions: Polygamy refers to either of the sex having multiple spouses. If a man has multiple wives, the polygamy becomes polygyny, and if a woman has multiple husbands, the polygamous relationship is referred to as polyandry.

Polyandry provides many economic advantages for agricultural communities who possess small land holdings. Farming in mountainous terrains is difficult enough to require the services of more than one man. Various states in India as well as its neighboring countries in the Himalayan chains of mountains — for example, Tibet, Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh (northeastern India) and Mosuos (near Tibet in China) practice polyandry.

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. A Pahari woman marries the eldest son in a family and becomes the wife of all his brothers upon her marriage. The woman considers all the men in the group her husband and the children recognize them all their father.

The incidences of polyandry are coming down, though, in many of these areas because modern communication/media equipments like satellite televisions and mobile telephones have brought the tribes in contact with the outside cultures and destroyed the communal living necessary for such relationships to flourish, resulting in the newer generation opting for more nuclear families.

Polyandry in Tibet; Source

The following clip from National Geographic channel shows the practice of polyandry in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayan foothills. These people practice fraternal polyandry, where the woman marries the eldest son of the family and becomes the de facto wife of all the brothers.