KINSHIP
In societies of almost all varieties, kinship provides the framework of social relationship. Outside her or his nuclear family she or he has secondary relatives and tertiary relatives. Each individual has primary relatives in the nuclear family to which she or he belongs. Kinship is that part of culture which deals with notions of, or ideas about ‘relatedness’ or relationship through birth and through marriage. The kinship organisation refers to a set of persons recognised as relatives either by virtue of blood relationship or by virtue of marriage relationship.
According to G. Duncan Mitchel, “when we use the term kinship we are referring to people who are related by consanguinity and affinity”. Consanguinity is a relationship based on supposedly common blood relationship. A consanguine is a relative who was born in the family as well as one who was adopted in the family concerned. An affine is a relative by marriage. For example, father–son relationship is consanguineous relationship whereas wife–husband relationship is affinal relationship.
Kinship serves two important and related purposes, (i) it provides a way of transmitting status and property from one generation to the next, and (ii) in some societies it serves to establish and maintain effective social groups. Kinship is the product of two related institutions, family and marriage, and it regulates the social behaviour relating to birth, physical union of woman and man and death. Kinship also indicates the expectations, rights and duties that kinsmen have to one another.
In most societies where kinship connections are important, the rules of descent affiliate individuals with different sets of kin. Descent concerns the tracing of relationships through succeeding generations, i.e., who has descended from whom. There are several ways of tracing descents.
Unilineal Descent or ‘one-line’ descent is that form of descent in which a relationship is emphasised through one sex or line. It is of two types:
1. Patrilineal or Agnatic Descent is a form of unilineal descent traced through males only. It is important to remember that ego or the person calculating descent may be either female or male. Females in a patrilineal descent trace their descent through the line of their father’s as male members do.
2. Matrilineal or Uterine Descent is a form of descent traced through females only. Both females and males trace their descent in this way.
3. There is also the form of Double or Duo lineal or Bilineal Descent. It is a form of unilineal descent which combines both patrilines and matrilines. Descent is traced separately through female and through male lines for different purposes, e.g., inheritance of immovable property through one line and inheritance of movable property through the other. Cognatic or Bilateral Descent is non-unilineal descent. Here descent is traced through all progenitors, female and male, through both the mother and the father.
In India we generally find the patrilineal and matrilineal descent systems. Of the two, patrilineal descent system is more common. Patrilineal descent is more prevalent in North India. Among the tribals, many tribes such as Santhals or Mundas have the patrilineal system. Interestingly the polyandrous Todas too have a patrilineal system. Tribes such as the Khasis and Garos of North-East have the matrilineal descent system. The Nayars of Kerala are a good example of matrilineal descent.
Unilineal descent groups often take the form of lineages and clans. Lineage is a set of kin, whose members trace their descent from a common ancestor through known links. A clan is often composed of related lineages. A clan is a set of kins who believe that they have descended from a common ancestor but cannot specify the genealogical links with her or him.
Marriage is usually not allowed between the members of a lineage. Marriage is not permitted also within the clan. The gotras of Indian society are, for example, exogamous descent groups — particularly in North India.
The members of a unilineal descent group may often come together for ritual and ceremonial celebrations. Rules of inheritance tend to coordinate with reckoning of descent in most societies. In most parts of India till very recent times immovable property such as land and housing has been inherited only by sons and in their absence by the nearest male relatives. Recent legislation has, however, established right of the daughter to her paternal property.
Kinship Terminology
A.R. Radcliffe Brown, the famous anthropologist, has observed that kinship terms indicate, among other things, classification of ego’s rights and duties. Prior to him, L.H. Morgan, pointed out that kinship terms provides the context and idiom for our social relationships. He talked of two systems of kinship terminologies : (i) Classificatory, and (ii) Descriptive.
The Classificatory System uses kinship terms that merge or equate relatives who are genealogically distinct from one another. Here the same term is used for different kin.
The Descriptive System refers to a kinship system in which a single term refers to a particular relative and a specific kind of relationship of the ego — the person from whom the relationship is calculated with her or him. For example, mother’s brother is referred to as mama, father’s brother as chacha etc. In most contemporary societies, both terms — descriptive and classificatory — are used. Within the nuclear family only descriptive terms ‘father’, ‘mother’, etc. are used.
The North Indian kinship terminology is comparatively descriptive in the sense that it describes elementary relationships starting from the ego. In order to emphasise the patrilineal descent, the terms in the system make a clear-cut distinction between parallel and cross-cousins, e.g., bhatiji — one’s brother’s daughter and bhanji — one’s sister’s daughter.
Here, the distinction between cross- cousin and parallel-cousin may be noted. Persons who are respective children of brother and his sister are cross-cousins. Thus, the cross-cousins of ego are her or his father’s sister’s (phuphi’s) child and mother’s brother’s (mama’s) child. Parallel-cousins are persons who are respective children of same-gender siblings. Thus, the parallel-cousins of ego are her or his father’s brother’s (chacha’s) child and mother’s sister’s (mausi’s) child. In the South Indian kinship terminology there
is relative stress on classificatory terminology. Here the same term mama includes mother’s brother, father’s sister’s husband and wife’s father.
Kinship Terms and Usages Signifying Social Behaviour
Some of the usages, which have social sanction and convention are considered necessary for keeping order and decorum in the society. Joking relationship is an example of it. It indicates equality and mutual recipro- city between the two kin participating in it. This is particularly true of the joking relationship between a man and his wife’s younger sister (jija-sali in the Indian context) or a woman and her husband’s younger brother (bhabhi- devar in the Indian Context). After the premature death of a husband, bhabhi may be married to devar. This practice exists in North India among some agricultural caste groups. There are other types of joking relationships as well. For instance, some communities have joking relationships between grandparents and grandchildren as well.
As a contrast to the joking relationship is the behaviour or relationship of avoidance between a woman and her husband’s father. Similarly, she has to avoid her husband’s elder brother. The term for husband’s father is shvasur and for husband’s elder brother is Bhainsur. Bhainsur or Bhasur is a combination of the Sanskrit word bhratri (brother) and shvasur (father-in-law), and is, therefore like father-in-law.
Teknonymy
In many rural communities in India, Teknonymy is a very common practice. It denotes the custom of naming the parent from the name of the child, for example, the mother of Ramu (Ramu ki maa) or father of Sita (Sita ke Pitaji). One reason for this may be that a person becomes a full member of the family, in which she or he is married, only after the birth of a child by whose name she or he is addressed.
Kinship System in India
Kinship in India represents the diversities of marriage customs and practices. It is not possible to talk of kinship in India at the level of all India generality. Kinship as an organisation in India is mostly an aspect of the regional cultures. Iravati Karve has talked about four regions (North, South, East and West) of kinship in India. Many others, however, talk about two systems of kinship in India: the North Indian and the South Indian. The North Indian and the South Indian Kinship systems are also known as Aryan and Dravidian kinship systems.
Kinship Systems of North India and South India
In the Southern Zone one usually finds a preference for a marriage with certain categories of close kin, in particular, with one or the other or both of the cross cousins but never parallel cousins or even with the elder sister’s daughter. On the whole, the inter-marrying groups are of comparable status. The marriage will involve groups which are geographically quite proximate – even from the same village – and the bride will already be familiar with her in-laws. In South India, the existing bonds between kin groups are strengthened by the new marriage relationship. The circle of kinship does not widen.
In North India, by contrast cross- cousin marriages are not permitted. In fact, in this region marriages are not encouraged between those who are already closely related. A rule of village exogamy also operates in most places. As a result brides are given to and taken from villages or towns, often at a considerable distance. Here the emphasis is on extending the circles or boundaries of ‘kinships’ and not so much on intensification of the existing bonds. The bride in North Indian kinship system comes to her husband’s family as a stranger. She may sometimes become vulnerable to various types of unkind treatment from her in-laws. In North India it is also often the case that marriages unite groups whose social status is already unequal, the bride-givers being of inferior status than the bride- takers (hypergamy). The marriage transaction commonly takes place in the form of dowry payment which may create problems for the bride.
Kinship in Contemporary India
Kinship ties are still important for majority of Indians. In times of crisis majority of Indians rely primarily on their kinship networks. When a kin dies, all kinsmen and women rally to support the aggrieved family. When a person migrates to another place, she or he contacts the relatives by birth or by marriage. When she or he requires a job, she or he is given all the possible help by her or his relatives. In a new place she or he stays initially with her or his kin or relatives. When she or he is to be married, the marriage proposal comes by the mediation of the kinship networks. In the same way, when marriage takes place in a family, the members of the kinship group are obliged to give gifts to the bride or the groom they are related to. In the life of the majority of Indians, kinship still provides the framework of social and cultural life. Caste, class, club and neighbourhood are also important but the role of kinship are perhaps more decisive than any one of these.
In societies of almost all varieties, kinship provides the framework of social relationship. Outside her or his nuclear family she or he has secondary relatives and tertiary relatives. Each individual has primary relatives in the nuclear family to which she or he belongs. Kinship is that part of culture which deals with notions of, or ideas about ‘relatedness’ or relationship through birth and through marriage. The kinship organisation refers to a set of persons recognised as relatives either by virtue of blood relationship or by virtue of marriage relationship.
According to G. Duncan Mitchel, “when we use the term kinship we are referring to people who are related by consanguinity and affinity”. Consanguinity is a relationship based on supposedly common blood relationship. A consanguine is a relative who was born in the family as well as one who was adopted in the family concerned. An affine is a relative by marriage. For example, father–son relationship is consanguineous relationship whereas wife–husband relationship is affinal relationship.
Kinship serves two important and related purposes, (i) it provides a way of transmitting status and property from one generation to the next, and (ii) in some societies it serves to establish and maintain effective social groups. Kinship is the product of two related institutions, family and marriage, and it regulates the social behaviour relating to birth, physical union of woman and man and death. Kinship also indicates the expectations, rights and duties that kinsmen have to one another.
In most societies where kinship connections are important, the rules of descent affiliate individuals with different sets of kin. Descent concerns the tracing of relationships through succeeding generations, i.e., who has descended from whom. There are several ways of tracing descents.
Unilineal Descent or ‘one-line’ descent is that form of descent in which a relationship is emphasised through one sex or line. It is of two types:
1. Patrilineal or Agnatic Descent is a form of unilineal descent traced through males only. It is important to remember that ego or the person calculating descent may be either female or male. Females in a patrilineal descent trace their descent through the line of their father’s as male members do.
2. Matrilineal or Uterine Descent is a form of descent traced through females only. Both females and males trace their descent in this way.
3. There is also the form of Double or Duo lineal or Bilineal Descent. It is a form of unilineal descent which combines both patrilines and matrilines. Descent is traced separately through female and through male lines for different purposes, e.g., inheritance of immovable property through one line and inheritance of movable property through the other. Cognatic or Bilateral Descent is non-unilineal descent. Here descent is traced through all progenitors, female and male, through both the mother and the father.
In India we generally find the patrilineal and matrilineal descent systems. Of the two, patrilineal descent system is more common. Patrilineal descent is more prevalent in North India. Among the tribals, many tribes such as Santhals or Mundas have the patrilineal system. Interestingly the polyandrous Todas too have a patrilineal system. Tribes such as the Khasis and Garos of North-East have the matrilineal descent system. The Nayars of Kerala are a good example of matrilineal descent.
Unilineal descent groups often take the form of lineages and clans. Lineage is a set of kin, whose members trace their descent from a common ancestor through known links. A clan is often composed of related lineages. A clan is a set of kins who believe that they have descended from a common ancestor but cannot specify the genealogical links with her or him.
Marriage is usually not allowed between the members of a lineage. Marriage is not permitted also within the clan. The gotras of Indian society are, for example, exogamous descent groups — particularly in North India.
The members of a unilineal descent group may often come together for ritual and ceremonial celebrations. Rules of inheritance tend to coordinate with reckoning of descent in most societies. In most parts of India till very recent times immovable property such as land and housing has been inherited only by sons and in their absence by the nearest male relatives. Recent legislation has, however, established right of the daughter to her paternal property.
Kinship Terminology
A.R. Radcliffe Brown, the famous anthropologist, has observed that kinship terms indicate, among other things, classification of ego’s rights and duties. Prior to him, L.H. Morgan, pointed out that kinship terms provides the context and idiom for our social relationships. He talked of two systems of kinship terminologies : (i) Classificatory, and (ii) Descriptive.
The Classificatory System uses kinship terms that merge or equate relatives who are genealogically distinct from one another. Here the same term is used for different kin.
The Descriptive System refers to a kinship system in which a single term refers to a particular relative and a specific kind of relationship of the ego — the person from whom the relationship is calculated with her or him. For example, mother’s brother is referred to as mama, father’s brother as chacha etc. In most contemporary societies, both terms — descriptive and classificatory — are used. Within the nuclear family only descriptive terms ‘father’, ‘mother’, etc. are used.
The North Indian kinship terminology is comparatively descriptive in the sense that it describes elementary relationships starting from the ego. In order to emphasise the patrilineal descent, the terms in the system make a clear-cut distinction between parallel and cross-cousins, e.g., bhatiji — one’s brother’s daughter and bhanji — one’s sister’s daughter.
Here, the distinction between cross- cousin and parallel-cousin may be noted. Persons who are respective children of brother and his sister are cross-cousins. Thus, the cross-cousins of ego are her or his father’s sister’s (phuphi’s) child and mother’s brother’s (mama’s) child. Parallel-cousins are persons who are respective children of same-gender siblings. Thus, the parallel-cousins of ego are her or his father’s brother’s (chacha’s) child and mother’s sister’s (mausi’s) child. In the South Indian kinship terminology there
is relative stress on classificatory terminology. Here the same term mama includes mother’s brother, father’s sister’s husband and wife’s father.
Kinship Terms and Usages Signifying Social Behaviour
Some of the usages, which have social sanction and convention are considered necessary for keeping order and decorum in the society. Joking relationship is an example of it. It indicates equality and mutual recipro- city between the two kin participating in it. This is particularly true of the joking relationship between a man and his wife’s younger sister (jija-sali in the Indian context) or a woman and her husband’s younger brother (bhabhi- devar in the Indian Context). After the premature death of a husband, bhabhi may be married to devar. This practice exists in North India among some agricultural caste groups. There are other types of joking relationships as well. For instance, some communities have joking relationships between grandparents and grandchildren as well.
As a contrast to the joking relationship is the behaviour or relationship of avoidance between a woman and her husband’s father. Similarly, she has to avoid her husband’s elder brother. The term for husband’s father is shvasur and for husband’s elder brother is Bhainsur. Bhainsur or Bhasur is a combination of the Sanskrit word bhratri (brother) and shvasur (father-in-law), and is, therefore like father-in-law.
Teknonymy
In many rural communities in India, Teknonymy is a very common practice. It denotes the custom of naming the parent from the name of the child, for example, the mother of Ramu (Ramu ki maa) or father of Sita (Sita ke Pitaji). One reason for this may be that a person becomes a full member of the family, in which she or he is married, only after the birth of a child by whose name she or he is addressed.
Kinship System in India
Kinship in India represents the diversities of marriage customs and practices. It is not possible to talk of kinship in India at the level of all India generality. Kinship as an organisation in India is mostly an aspect of the regional cultures. Iravati Karve has talked about four regions (North, South, East and West) of kinship in India. Many others, however, talk about two systems of kinship in India: the North Indian and the South Indian. The North Indian and the South Indian Kinship systems are also known as Aryan and Dravidian kinship systems.
Kinship Systems of North India and South India
In the Southern Zone one usually finds a preference for a marriage with certain categories of close kin, in particular, with one or the other or both of the cross cousins but never parallel cousins or even with the elder sister’s daughter. On the whole, the inter-marrying groups are of comparable status. The marriage will involve groups which are geographically quite proximate – even from the same village – and the bride will already be familiar with her in-laws. In South India, the existing bonds between kin groups are strengthened by the new marriage relationship. The circle of kinship does not widen.
In North India, by contrast cross- cousin marriages are not permitted. In fact, in this region marriages are not encouraged between those who are already closely related. A rule of village exogamy also operates in most places. As a result brides are given to and taken from villages or towns, often at a considerable distance. Here the emphasis is on extending the circles or boundaries of ‘kinships’ and not so much on intensification of the existing bonds. The bride in North Indian kinship system comes to her husband’s family as a stranger. She may sometimes become vulnerable to various types of unkind treatment from her in-laws. In North India it is also often the case that marriages unite groups whose social status is already unequal, the bride-givers being of inferior status than the bride- takers (hypergamy). The marriage transaction commonly takes place in the form of dowry payment which may create problems for the bride.
Kinship in Contemporary India
Kinship ties are still important for majority of Indians. In times of crisis majority of Indians rely primarily on their kinship networks. When a kin dies, all kinsmen and women rally to support the aggrieved family. When a person migrates to another place, she or he contacts the relatives by birth or by marriage. When she or he requires a job, she or he is given all the possible help by her or his relatives. In a new place she or he stays initially with her or his kin or relatives. When she or he is to be married, the marriage proposal comes by the mediation of the kinship networks. In the same way, when marriage takes place in a family, the members of the kinship group are obliged to give gifts to the bride or the groom they are related to. In the life of the majority of Indians, kinship still provides the framework of social and cultural life. Caste, class, club and neighbourhood are also important but the role of kinship are perhaps more decisive than any one of these.
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