Matriarchal Societies in India

The Nairs, Moplah Muslim, and Nambudri Brahmin communities of Kerala have historically followed a system called Marumakkathayam, where the family lived together in a tharavadu (or tharawad, meaning clan houses), which comprised of a mother, her brothers and younger sisters, and her children.

The women of Kerala; Source

A typical tharavadu; Source

Scholars believe that the matrilineal system was the direct result of polyandry that existed among the people in the past. The tharavadus may contain as many as one hundred residents. The husband and wife live apart in their separate families, the couple visiting each other in their respective homes occasionally. The children of such marriages are raised by the mother’s extended matrilineal clan in the tharavadu. They take the mother`s family name and are entitled to a share of the matrilineal property. Marumakkathayam gave women liberty, prestige and power. The word ‘marumakkal’ in Malayalam means nephews and nieces. According to the Marumakkathayam system, the first duty of a husband is not to his sons but to his nephews.

The practice of Marumakkathayam is on the decline within the Nair community. The Kerala State Legislature has abolished this system of inheritance in 1975. The Abolition Act applies to Hindus alone, and many Muslim families in Malabar and Lakshadweep are still governed by this traditional inheritance law.

In the South Kanara district in Karnataka,  the Bunt community follow a matrilineal system called Aliya santana or Aliya Kattu. The gotras or family names were passed from mother to children, as also the property. The brother managed the land on behalf of his sister. His sister’s son in turn would inherit the management of the matrilineal family land. Traditionally, a Bunt would put the name of his matrilineal household in front of his name and his matrilineal surname at the end.

A typical Bunt house; Source

Challenges To Matriarchal Societies

How well is this suited to modern times? Contact with the outside world through satellite TVs has brought in discontentment in its wake. The concept of family as a union of husband, wife and their children is slowly trickling into this tribe, and many men resent having less say in the upbringing of their own children than the children’s maternal uncles. The women feel the same too: the youngest daughter is often saddled with looking after aged parents as well the not-so-well-to-do family members, and many have come to prefer nuclear families.

The hard working Khasi women have taken over so much of the responsibilities that it has bred men so lazy, drunk and incompetent that the Khasi women don’t want to marry them anymore. It is not that the women have usurped all the rights and women do not enjoy total economic or political empowerment. She still needs her maternal uncle’s concurrence to sell what is her own property. In fact, men enjoy political power in the form of tribal monarchies and clan councils called the Dorbar Shnong.

Matriarchy did not always bring equality to the sexes. But the beauty of traditional matriarchies around the world is that the natural differences between the genders and the generations are respected. You didn’t hear here of dowry deaths or bride burning or female infanticide. In matriarchal homes, the different genders and generations engage in complementary areas of activity and to a great extent an egalitarian society is created.

Read Also

Matriarchal Society: Does It Exist Today?

Reference

http://www.morungexpress.com/analysis/18847.html

http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/goettnerabendroth.html

http://keralahotel.org.uk/kerala-social-life.html

http://matriarchy.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=136