Polyandry
Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
Polyandry is the practice of one woman having several husbands at the same time. In early Indian texts the best-known case is in the Mahabharata. The Brahmanical law books do not approve of it. Historians think it may once have existed among some ruling families and later fell out of favour with the Brahmanas who edited the epic. It is also known in parts of the Himalayan region, and may have happened in times of war when women were few. It shows that real practice did not always follow the written rules.
Example
In the Mahabharata, Draupadi marries all five Pandava brothers. Her marriage is central to the story, but the epic gives three different reasons for it: Kunti's command, the Pandavas being forms of Indra, and Draupadi's earlier prayer to Shiva. These many excuses suggest that later editors were uneasy with the practice.
Don't confuse with
- Polygyny: one man has several wives at the same time, as some Satavahana kings did. Polyandry is the reverse.