Defending Polyandry and An Exploratory Note from Lachung Valley of Sikkim, India
Description
Amidst Pandemic, all of a sudden, an obscure marriage system termed polyandry has become a point of discussion in media and has been brought into the public domain. The credit should be given to the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa. In their Green Paper, the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa mooted a proposal to make marriage more inclusive and gender-neutral. They believe that polyandry should also be legalised as one of the prevailing marriage systems. Whenever, in general terms, we utter polyandry, it immediately reminds us of the great Hindu epic, Mahabharata, where we have seen that the Draupadi got married to five Pandavas. We hardly look beyond that. Modernity and marriage as social arrangements accept monogamy as moral backed by the legal framework, 'polygyny as reasonable (even enviable)' and covertly accepts polygamy. The industrial revolution in Europe, transition from feudalism to capitalism, the spread of the factory system, urbanisation and emergence of cities, well-defined private property rights, and defined inheritance law have acted as a precursor for the emergence of the monogamy marriage system in the West. Having a skilled wife reduces the cost of upbringing of offspring, leading to the increase in demand for skilled women in the marriage market. Keeping multiple wives is economically unviable for an advanced urbanised economy. When women became more skilled than men or reach equal footings economically, the divorce rate started shooting up. This is what happens in the West. As a result, the percentage of people getting married are falling sharply. The rate of divorce and live-in relationships or cohabitation and extra-marital relationship is rising thick and fast. Same-sex marriages are increasing. Therefore, monogamy marriage system is slowly crumbling. However, polyandry has been treated as misleading at worst and ambiguous at best. Irrespective of these interpretations, polyandry has been, in every case, pushed into obscurity. However, polyandry is still a social reality and does coexist, though among a minuscule number of societies, with the dominant marriage system of monogamy. Modern development discourse and modernity, though changing continually, remain uncertain regarding diversity of marital, familial, and related social arrangements. Modernity and marriage as social arrangements accept monogamy as moral backed by backed by legal framework, ‘polygyny as reasonable (even enviable)’ and covertly accepts polygamy. An attempt has been made in this paper to verify the sustainability of polyandry in large and precisely in Lachung valley of Sikkim, India that is located in the Eastern Himalayas. Adverse sex ratio emerged as one of key components for the sustenance of polyandry marriage system and given the scarcity of resources, limited opportunity to improve the economic wellbeing and sub-division of property, the polyandry has emerged as biological, economic, and ecological compulsion for the pastoralists of Lachung valley.
Defending Polyandry and An Exploratory Note from Lachung Valley of Sikkim, India
Amidst Pandemic, all of a sudden, an obscure marriage system termed polyandry has become a point of discussion in media and has been brought into the public domain. The credit should be given to the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa. In their Green Paper, the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa mooted a proposal to make marriage more inclusive and gender-neutral. They believe that polyandry should also be legalised as one of the prevailing marriage systems. Whenever, in general terms, we utter polyandry, it immediately reminds us of the great Hindu epic, Mahabharata, where we have seen that the Draupadi got married to five Pandavas. We hardly look beyond that. Modernity and marriage as social arrangements accept monogamy as moral backed by the legal framework, 'polygyny as reasonable (even enviable)' and covertly accepts polygamy. The industrial revolution in Europe, transition from feudalism to capitalism, the spread of the factory system, urbanisation and emergence of cities, well-defined private property rights, and defined inheritance law have acted as a precursor for the emergence of the monogamy marriage system in the West. Having a skilled wife reduces the cost of upbringing of offspring, leading to the increase in demand for skilled women in the marriage market. Keeping multiple wives is economically unviable for an advanced urbanised economy. When women became more skilled than men or reach equal footings economically, the divorce rate started shooting up. This is what happens in the West. As a result, the percentage of people getting married are falling sharply. The rate of divorce and live-in relationships or cohabitation and extra-marital relationship is rising thick and fast. Same-sex marriages are increasing. Therefore, monogamy marriage system is slowly crumbling. However, polyandry has been treated as misleading at worst and ambiguous at best. Irrespective of these interpretations, polyandry has been, in every case, pushed into obscurity. However, polyandry is still a social reality and does coexist, though among a minuscule number of societies, with the dominant marriage system of monogamy. Modern development discourse and modernity, though changing continually, remain uncertain regarding diversity of marital, familial, and related social arrangements. Modernity and marriage as social arrangements accept monogamy as moral backed by backed by legal framework, ‘polygyny as reasonable (even enviable)’ and covertly accepts polygamy. An attempt has been made in this paper to verify the sustainability of polyandry in large and precisely in Lachung valley of Sikkim, India that is located in the Eastern Himalayas. Adverse sex ratio emerged as one of key components for the sustenance of polyandry marriage system and given the scarcity of resources, limited opportunity to improve the economic wellbeing and sub-division of property, the polyandry has emerged as biological, economic, and ecological compulsion for the pastoralists of Lachung valley.