Unit I Kinship System

The system of kinship, that is, the way in which relations between individuals and
groups are organised, occupies a central place in all human societies. Radcliffe-
Brown (1964) insisted on the study of a kinship system as a field of rights and
obligations and saw it as part of the social structure. Evans-Pritchard’s study of
the Nuer of the southern Sudan (1951) focused on kinship groups, particularly
groups based on descent in the male line from known ancestor.
Morgan called them gens (clans). However, Morgan’s view, along with that of
McLennan and Sir Henry Maine, that the kinship systems should be equated with
evolutionary law, is not favoured today. Kinship systems are not subject to
cumulative evolution as the evolution of technology is Kinship systems cannot
be ranked as better or worse, higher or lower. They simply represent alternative
ways of doing things, namely, in terms of acknowledged rules and regulations
regarding succession, inheritance and marriage.
Evans-Pritchard showed how gens functioned as political groups in Nuer society.
He emphasised on the recruitment, perpet-uation and functioning of such groups
in Africa. Emphasis on interpersonal relations between individuals and groups is
found in the study of kinship by Meyer Fortes. Thus, we can look at the total
society and ask how it forms its kinship groups, and how they function.
We can look at the network of the relationships that bind individuals to each other
in the ‘web’ of kinship. Kinship systems are also seen as methods of organising
marriage relations between groups. Through marriage, Levi-Strauss (1969)
observes, members are recruited to kinship groups.
A female is recruited as a wife, as a daughter-in-law and so on through her
marriage to another group; and a male through his marriage is recruited as
husband, son-in-law of his wife’s parents. Thus, kinship group alliances are
transacted through marriage.
Robin Fox (1967) writes:
“The study of kinship is the study of what he (man) does and why he does it, and
the consequences of the adoption of one alternative rather than another”. Fox
further says: “The study of kinship is the study of what man does with these basic
facts of life such as mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, sibling ship, etc.”
Four basic principles outlined by Fox regarding kinship are as follows:
1. The women have children.
2. The men impregnate the women.
3. The men usually exercise control.
4. Primary kins do not mate with each other.
In its commonest definition, kinship is simply the relations between ‘kin’, i.e.,
persons related by real, putative or fictive consanguinity as stated by Fox.
However, it is difficult to define and find the ‘real’ consanguinity.
Generally, we remember people up to two to three generations. Thus, a
consanguine is one who is defined by the society as a person related by real or
supposed blood ties. However, blood relationship’ in a genetic sense has not
necessarily anything to do with it.
We draw a distinction between ‘pater’ or legal father from the ‘genitor’ or actual
biological father. In case of adoption also a child is treated as consanguine. A
female becomes a consanguine after her marriage as soon as she bears a child.
Consan-guinity is thus a socially defined quality. Affines are married to
consanguines, for example, in the case of levirate.
John Beattie [1974) provides an adequate explanation of kinship. According to
him, the basic categories of biological relationship are available as a means of
identifying and ordering social relations. Kinship provides categories for
distinguishing between the people.
Hence, kinship categories are more social than jural or economic. The categories
of kinship are used to define social relationships – distinct types of social
behaviour and particular patterns of expectations, beliefs and values.
These social relations may be of authority and subordination, of economic
exchange, of domestic cooperation, of ritual or ceremonial nature, and they may
be enacted in many different ways. In this way, kinship refers to the ways and
means by which social ordering takes place.
But kinship is also a principle of succession, inheritance of property, bifurcation
and divisions. A couple of studies have revealed that ‘factions’ in Indian villages
are found corresponding to castes, sub-castes, clans and even lineages. Kinship
encompasses, therefore, a whole way of life.
It is necessary to know language, values and behaviour of people in a given
society to understand its kinship system. Kinship provides a guide to a very great
many of the social relationships in which a person is involved in his life.
It provides a way of trans-mitting status and property from one generation to the
next. This is true about all societies irrespective of the levels of their
techno-logical and industrial advancement. Based on kinship we also find
effective social groups even in modern democratic societies. Thus, realising
kinship as a complex and elaborate system, Malinowski (1954) referred it as
‘kinship algebra’.
Kinship Terminology:
Murdock (1949), while analysing the interrelation between kinship terminology
and kinship behaviour, mentions two categories of kinship terms:
(1) Terms of address, and
(2) Terms of reference.
Terms of address form an integral part of the culturally patterned relationships
between kinsmen. Terms of reference are linguistic symbols denoting one of the
two statuses involved in each such relationship. Since any status is defined in
terms of the culturally expected behaviour, there are a priori reasons for assuming
a close functional congruity between the terms of reference and the relationship
in which the denoted kinsmen interact. A close corre-lation has been found
between the terminological classification of kindred or relatives and the social
classification. But, the congruity between kinship terms and behaviour patterns is
not absolute.
The gap between the two is due to the application of a single classificatory term
to a variety of different relatives – for example, ‘mother’ to all the wives of the
father. The kinship terms like ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ are unable to explain the proper
relations unless they are specified in contextual terms.
Uncle’ can be referred to denote father’s brother, mother’s brother, father’s
sister’s husband and so on. Kinship terminology is determined by several factors
such as historical influences, differences in language, psychological processes,
rules of marriage, etc.
Some of the important kinship terms defined by Lucy Mair (1984) are as follows:
Kindred:
Kindred are a body of persons, who are genea--logically linked to the ego. They
may have common obligations to the ego.
Cognates:
All the people who are related by blood’ in any way to an individual are known
as cognates.
Affines:
Those who are related to a person by marriage are affines.
Corporate groups:
These are continuing property holding groups. Corporate groups are recruited by
descent – patrilineal or agnatic and matrilineal or uterine kin.
Lineage:
A corporate group recruited by descent is called a lineage. There may be several
lineages in a given clan.
Lateral:
It indicates the ‘side’ of the kinship group.
Lineal:
It refers to the ‘line’ of the kinship group.
Kinship in India:
Kinship in India can be analysed within family and beyond family separately as
well as in terms of the nexus between the two. Kinship within family would
include ‘primary relatives’ with the focus on intra-family relationships, which
include husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, mother and son,
father and daughter, elder and younger brother, elder and younger sister and
brother and sister. These relationships are part of the same nuclear family, which
is also referred as ‘family of procreation’.
Kinship beyond family comprises of ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ relatives.
Murdock (1949) refers to eight ‘primary’ and 33 ‘secondary’ relatives. Each
secondary relative has primary relatives. The tertiary relatives number 151
possible kins, and there are also ‘distant’ relatives who are beyond the tertiary
relatives.
In India, we have, generally speaking, ‘clan exogamy’ and ‘caste endogamy’. A
given caste has several clans, and a given clan has several lineages. The common
ancestor of lineage members is usually an actual, remembered person, but the
common ancestor of a clan is typically a legendary, supernatural entity. The
members of a clan are spread over a given area, and hence they find themselves
unable to have common interests or joint action.
A clan, however, provides generally a basis for corporate activity, common
worship- On the basis of clan, eligibility for marriage within a given caste is
determined. In many ways, more than clan-based primordiality, there is caste-
ethnocentrism in regard to observance of rituals, performance of economic
activities, mutual aid, etc. ‘Feminal kin’ and ‘fictive kin’ too provide basis for
commonality of interests and allegiance.
It is noted that kinship is certainly a major basis for social organisation, but at the
same time it is also a basis for division and dissension in regard to succession and
inheritance of property. Hostility at times supersedes lineage unity. Fights
between sons and grandsons, brothers and cousins have been experienced quite
often. Sibling rivalry has also been observed.
Karve’s Study of Kinship Organisation in India:
Iravati Karve (1953) undertakes a comparative analysis of four cultural zones
with a view to trace out something like a regional pattern of social behaviour. A
region may show various local patterns. There are variations between castes
because of hierarchy and caste-based isolation and separation. Karve analyses the
process of acculturation and accommodation in the context of kinship. She has
adopted a historical perspective covering a span of 3,000 years based on ethno-
sources, observations and folk-literature along with Sanskritic texts.
Karve’s comparative study takes the following points into consideration:
1. Lists of kinship terms in Indian languages
2. Their linguistic contexts and corresponding behaviour and attitudes,
3. Rules of descent and inheritance,
4. Patterns of marriage and family, and
5. Difference between the Sanskritic north and the Dravidian south.
Karve spells out the configuration of the linguistic regions, the institution of caste
and family organisation as the most vital bases for understanding of the patterns
of kinship in India. She divides the whole country into northern, central, southern
and eastern zones keeping in view the linguistic, caste and family organisation.
The kinship organisation follows roughly the linguistic pattern, but in some
respects language and kinship do not go hand in hand. For example, Maharashtra
has Dravidian impact, and the impact of northern neighbours speaking Sanskritic
languages could be seen on the Dravidian kinship system.
Despite variations based on these factors, there are two common points:
(1) Marriage is always within a caste or tribe, and
(2) Marriage between parents and children and between siblings is forbidden.
Kinship in North India:
In north India, there are (1) terms for blood relations, and (2) terms for affinal
relations. There are primary terms for three generations of immediate relations
and the terms for one generation are not exchangeable for those of another
generation. All the other terms are derived from the primary terms.
The northern zone consists the areas of the Sindhi, Punjabi, Hindi (and Pahari),
Bihari, Bengali, Asami and Nepali. In these areas, caste endogamy, clan exogamy
and incest taboos regarding sexual relations between primary kins are strictly
observed.
The rule of sasan is key to all marriage alliances, that is, a person must not marry
in his patri-family and must avoid marriage with sapindra kin. Gotras in the old
Brahmanic sense of the word are exogamous units. Sometimes a caste is also
divided into endogamous gotras or exogamous gotras as also gotras which do not
seem to have any function in marriage regulations.
There is village exogamy. Thus, there are at least four basic features of kinship
in north India:
(1) Territoriality,
(2) Genealogy,
(3) Incest taboos, and
(4) Local exogamy.
Considerations of caste status tend to restrict the area of endogamy. Marriage
prohibitions tend to bar marriage over a wide area in terms of kinship as well as
space. Cognatic prohibitions and local exogamy are strictly adhered to in
marriage alliances.
Four-gotra (sasan) rule, that is, avoidance of the gotras of father, mother,
grandmother and maternal grandmother is generally practised among Brahmanas
and other upper castes in north India. However, some intermediate and most of
the lower castes avoid two gotras, namely, that of father and mother.
Kinship in Central India:
The central zone comprises the linguistic regions of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
(now Chhattisgarh also), Gujarat and Kathiawad, Maharashtra and Orissa with
their respective languages, namely, Rajasthani, Hindi, Gujarati and Kathiawadi,
Marathi and Oriya. All these languages are of Sanskritic origin, and therefore,
they have affinity to the northern zone. But there are pockets of Dravidian
languages in this zone. There is also some impact of the eastern zone. Tribal
people have their unique and somewhat different situation compared to other
people in the region.
In regard to the central zone the following points may be noted:
1. Cross-cousin marriages are prevalent which are not witnessed in the north
zone. Cross-cousins are children of siblings of opposite sex, parallel cousins are
children of the siblings of the same sex.
2. Many castes are divided into exogamous clans like the north zone.
3. In some castes exogamous clans are arranged in a hypergamous hierarchy.
However, none of these features are found all over the zone. In Rajasthan, for
example, Jats follow two-gotra exogamy along with village exogamy; Banias
practise four-gotra rule; and Rajputs have hypergamous clans, and feudal status
is an important consideration in marriage alliances.
Rajputs are not a homogeneous caste. They put a lot of emphasis on purity and
nobility of descent. The fact of being a hero and a ruler has been a major
consideration. Symbolic marriages (marriage with sword) were quite a practice.
Status of mother on either side is also a factor in marriage alliances.
In Kathiawad and Gujarat one finds a mix of peculiar local customs and northern
practices. Some castes allow cross-cousin marriages, others allowed marriages
once a year, and some others permitted once every four, five, nine or twelve years.
When the marriage year arrives, it is announced from village to village and there
is a rush to perform marriages. The practice of ‘Nantra’ (levirate) exists even
today. Brahmanas, Banias, Kunbis and higher artisan castes follow the northern
pattern of kinship organisation, but some practices of southern region are also
observed.
Cross-cousin marriage among the Kathi, Ahir, Ghadava Charan and Garasia
castes is quite common. Kolis and Dheds and Bhils (tribe), allow both types of
cross-cousin marriages. Thus, Rajasthan and Gujarat largely follow northern
pattern. The terminology is Sanskritic in origin and some kinship terms have
central Asiatic derivation.
Karve observes that Maharashtra is an area where Sanskritic northern traits and
the Dravidian southern traits almost hold a balance with perhaps a slight
dominance of the former. Northern languages spoken are like Gujarati,
Rajasthani, Himachali and Hindi. The tribals in the area speak Mundari. The
Dravidian languages are mixed up with the Sanskritic languages. Maharashtra
kinship structure is a little different from both southern and northern zones.
The Marathas and Kunbis together form about 40 per cent of the population;
Marathas are supposed to be higher in status but a rich Kunbi can reach the status
of a Maratha. The two groups call themselves Kshatriyas. Maratha-Kunbi
complex has been a ruling clan. Even today headman or patil is a Maratha in a
village.
Kunbis are divided into exogamous clans. Some practise levirate; other consider
cross-cousin marriages as a taboo; but some others do not prohibit such
marriages. In central Maharashtra hypergamy and clan exogamy exists. In
southern Maharashtra there are instances of both types of marriages, namely,
cross-cousin and uncle-niece. The clan organisation of the Marathas has some
similarity with that of the Rajputs.
For example, mythological origin comparable with Rajputs is also claimed by the
Marathas. Their names are also similar to that of Rajputs. The rule of exogamy
is, however, not dependent on the clan name but on the symbol connected with
the clan. The symbol is called devaka. No two people having the same devaka
can marry. The clans and the devaka both play a significant role in marriage.
Status of a clan is important in hypergamous marriage alliances.
Marathas have as many as 96 clans. Among these, there are concentric circles of
mobility and status. Ethnically, there is no homogeneity. There are panchkula, a
cluster of five clans, then there are ‘seven clans’, and all are hypergamous
divisions. No taboo is attached to bilateral kinship like north zone. No parallel-
cousin marriages are allowed. There is also taboo on paternal-cousin marriages.
Generally, preference for a man’s marriage is with his maternal cross-cousin.
Sisters can and do marry the same man. Brothers generally avoid marrying two
sisters. Levirate is practised among the northern Kunbis. However, exchange
marriages are avoided.
The tribal people in Orissa like Gonds, Oraons and Konds speak Dravidian
languages, and their kinship system can be equated with that of the Dravidian-
speaking people. The Munda, the Hondo and some of the Saora speak Mundari
languages. The Oriya-speaking people have the same type of caste divisions as
are found in northern regions with slightly different names.
Brahmanas in Orissa seem to be immigrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh. Aranyaka Brahmanas and Karans (Kayasthas) do not allow
cross-cousin marriages. Some agricultural castes allow cousin-marriages, but
others prohibit. Junior levirate is found among the poorer classes.
Kinship in South India:
There are five regions in the southern zone consisting of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the regions of mixed languages and people. The
southern zone presents a very compli-cated pattern of kinship system and family
organisation. Here, patrilineal and patrilocal systems dominate. However, some
sections have matrilineal and matrilocal systems, and they possess features of
both types of kinship organisation. Some castes allow polygamy, whereas some
have both polygyny and polyandry. In Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
and among some castes of Malabar, patrilineal and patrilocal joint family
dominates as in the northern zone.
The Nayars, the Tiyans, some Moplas in Malabar region and the Bants in Kanara
district have matrihneal and matrilocal family, and it is called tharawad. It
consists of a woman, her brothers and sisters, her own and her sister’s sons and
daughters. No affinal relation lives in the tharawad. Some consanguines are
excluded (children of the males). There is no husband-wife, father-children
relationship in a tharawad.
In the southern zone there is the system of caste endogamy and clan exogamy
similar to the northern system. It is called as ‘Bedagu’ or ‘Bedaga’ or ‘Bali’ in
Karnataka. The Kotas of Nilgiris call it ‘Keri’, the Kottai Vellals call it ‘Kilai’,
the Koyas name it ‘Gotta’ and the Kurubas call it ‘Gunpu’. Some Telugu people
call it ‘Inti-peru’, and the Malayalis mention it ‘Illom’. In Travancore, it is
referred to as ‘Veli’. The word ‘Gotra’ is also widely used. The main symbols
used for clans are of silver, gold, axe, elephant, snake, jasmine, stone, etc.
In northern zone village exogamy is a widely accepted norm. But, in southern
zone, there are inter-marrying clans in the same village. Gonds do not observe
village exogamy. The only principle is that of exogamy or illom or veli. A given
caste is divided like northern castes into exogamous clans. Inter-clan marriages
do not cover all clans. Within an endogamous caste, there are smaller circles of
endogamous units made up of a few families giving and receiving daughters in
marriage.
The southern zone has its peculiar features which are quite different from that of
the northern part of India. Preferential marriages with elder sister’s daughter,
father’s sister’s daughter, and with mother’s brother’s daughter are particularly
prevalent in the southern zone. The main thrust of such a system of preferential
marriages lies in maintaining unity and solidarity of the ‘clan’ and upholding of
the principle of return (exchange) of daughters in the same generation.
However, there are taboos on marrying of younger sister’s daughter, levirate, and
mother’s sister’s daughter. Maternal uncle and niece marriages and cross-cousin
marriages result in double relationships. A cousin is also a wife, and after
marriage a cousin is more of a wife than a cousin.
Comparing the southern kinship system with the northern one we can mention
that there is no distinction between the family of birth and the family of marriage
in the south whereas such a distinction is clear in the northern India. In the north,
terms for blood relatives and affinal ones are clear, whereas in the south many
terms do not indicate this distinction clearly.
For example, Phupha-Phuphi for father’s sister’s husband and father’s sister and
Mama-Mami for mother’s brother and his wife are used in the north, whereas in
the south Attai is used for both Phuphi and Mami. Mama is used for both Phupha
and Mama. In the north, there are the ‘extended family of birth’ and the ‘extended
family of marriage’. There is no such distinction in the south. No special terms
are used for affinal relatives in the south. Same relatives appear in two successive
generations in the south.
Thus, southern and northern kinship systems differ in the context of relations by
marriage and relations by birth and more particularly in regard to the arrangement
of kin in different genera-tions. There does not seem to be any clear-cut
classification of kin on the principle of generation at all in the southern
terminology. In south zone all the relatives are arranged according to whether
they are older or younger than ego (self) without any reference to gener-ation.
There are no words for brothers and sisters in the Dravidian languages. However,
there are words for ‘younger’ and ‘older’ brothers and sisters. A number of terms
are used in common for (1) father and elder brother (Anna, Ayya), (2) mother and
elder sister, (3) younger brother and son (Pirkal), and (4) younger sister and
daughter (Pinnawal). These terms denote respectability to the elders and not to
the actual blood relationships. The point of reference is the ego – and the persons
older and younger than the ego are ranked based on their age.
Age, and not generation, is the main consideration in the southern kinship system.
Marriage is outside the exogamous kin group called Balli or Begadu or Kilai.
Exchange of daughters is favoured and marriage among the close kin is also
preferred. The rules of marriage are: one must marry a member of one’s own clan,
and a girl must marry a person who belongs to the group older than self, and also
to the younger than the parents.
Older cross-cousins and also younger brother of girl’s mother are preferred. A
person can marry any of his younger female cross-cousins and also a daughter of
any of his elder sisters. Consequently, we find recip-rocal relations and kinship
terms referred to this reciprocity.
Louis Dumont highlights the following points about the southern kinship system:
1. Principle of immediate exchange,
2. A policy of social consolidation,
3. A clustering of kin group in a narrow area,
4. No sharp distinction between kin by blood and kin by marriage, and
5. Greater freedom for women in society.
Kinship in Eastern India:
The eastern zone is not compact and geographically it is not contiguous like other
zones. Besides northern languages, Mundari and Monkhmer languages are also
spoken. The main communities are Korku, Annamese, Saka, Semang and Khasi.
The other languages are Mon, Khmer and Chain. The area consists of a number
of Austro-Asiatic tribes.
All the people speaking Mundari languages have patrilineal and patrilocal
families. The Ho and Santhal have the practice of cross-cousin marriage. But till
the father’s sister or the mother’s brother are alive, they cannot marry their
daughters. This condition makes cross-cousin marriage a rare phenomenon. The
Bondo people, for example, do not have taboo on cross-cousin marriage, but one
does not find an example of cross-cousin marriage among them, as reported by
Elwin.
The Ho and Munda have separate dormitories for bachelors and maidens and they
indulge in pre-marital sexual relationships. Sometimes these relationships result
into marriages but quite often the marriage mate is different from the mate of the
dormitory days. All these people are divided into exogamous totemistic clans. A
person must marry outside of the clan and also outside of the circle of near
relations like first cousins.
Money is given for procuring a bride. Service by the would-be-husband in girl’s
father’s house is also considered as bride price. After marriage one establishes
his separate household, but may keep his younger brother and widowed mother,
etc., along with him in his newly established house. The Mundari people thus
differ from the rest of India in not having joint family. People maintain patrician
relations by common worship of ancestors and residence. They extend help to
each other but live independent life.
The Khasi of Assam speaks Monkhmer language, and they are a matrilineal
people like Nayars, but are quite different from them. The Nayars have a
matrilineal joint family and husbands are only occasional visitors. The Khasis
have joint family with common worship and common graveyard, but the husband
and wife live together in a small house of their own. After death the property goes
to mother or youngest daughter.
If there are no female relatives, widow gets half of the property if she opts not to
remarry. A man’s position is like that of a Hindu bride in the patri-family. But
there is difference because the Hindu bride is incorporated as a member of her
husband’s family whereas a Khasi husband is considered as a stranger. A woman
enjoys a great amount of freedom. After divorce children are handed over to her.
The Khasis have clan exogamy. Marriages of parallel cousins are not allowed.
Cross-cousin marriage is also quite rare.
Though we have drawn a sketchy view of the kinship organi-sation in India, we
come to know that both rigidity and flexibility exist side by side in regard to
values and norms related to the kinship systems. These are reflected in regard to
divorce, widow remarriage, incest taboos, caste endogamy, clan exogamy, rule
of avoidance, family structure, systems of lineage and residence, authority
system, succession and inheritance of property etc.
However, kinship continues to be a basic principle of social organi-sation and
mobilisation on the one hand and division and dissension on the other. It is a
complex phenomenon, and its role can be sensed even in modern organisations.
Migration, mobility and education have weakened the kinship systems and rules
of clan organisation because members of a caste/sub-caste or of a clan do not live
at the same place. Matriliny in Kerala has almost withered away. In north-east
also it has become weak.