When I was asked to write a paper on this topic for an undergraduate anthropology class several years ago, I was caught by surprise that such a tradition existed in Nepal. Did you know about polyandry in Nepal?

Well, Charles Haviland is now bringing it to the world's attention:

- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4461196.stm

Really interesting article. Never realised this was still present in Nepal.

Echoes,
Thanks for sharing. I have to say that I enjoy reading Haviland's reportages from Nepal, which appear in UK's major broadsheet papers now and then. Interesting article.

Thanks again.

a man with 2 wives is a stud, but a woman with two husbands is 'shared'... talk about double standards!

Damn...I continue to be embarassed by the revelation of such traditions in our country...and it's not just this one.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
How do they know which child belongs to which father? Getting citizenship and everything need father's name. Just a thought!

Nope.. Mother's name is good enough.

Hey acharya,

What else are you ashamed of our country? Perhaps the 90% constituent of the bueaurocracy?

It's not just in Nepal, polyandry is common among some tribes in Uttranchal as well. Some of them in fact trace their roots to Pandavas. They're supposedly their descendents. Don't know how accurate their claim is, but that's what they say.
Some of these polyandrous tribes in Uttaranchal could pass for Whites. Blue eyes are quite common.

BTW, polyandry in Uttaranchal is found among "mongoloids" as well as among tribes that are deemed caucasoid. In Nepal, it's strictly among "mongoloids" if I am correct.

The tribe I'm talking about is the Jaunsari tribe. Here's a little info:

"Remote and mysterious, virtually isolated from the outside world, the mountainous Jaunsar Bawar region in Northern Uttar Pradesh has, since time immemorial, nurtured a unique lifestyle. Their traditions, their customs, their unusual way of life are not to be found elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, or indeed, in India.




In Jaunsar live the descendants-so they claim of the legendary Pandavas-heroes of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. That is why, the people of Jaunsar maintain, they follow the custom of sharing wives. The five Pandava brothers had one wife-Draupadi-more by a set of circumstances than by choice. However, the Jaunsaris are both polyandrous and polygamous, with several brothers sharing several wives and vice versa. Some anthropologists aver that the Jaunsaris are the last surviving ?pure? descendants of the Aryans. Often light eyed and fair skinned, the Jaunsaris, with their finely chiseled features are indeed noticeably different in appearance from, for instance, the Garhwalis who inhabit the mountains barely a stone?s throw across the fledgeling Yamuna river which demarcates Jaunsar from Garhwal. But polyandry and polygamy are not the only facets of the colourful lifestyle of the Jaunsaris. There are their dances, their festive sports, their ways of worship, their marriage costumes, their water mills, and indeed their day to day life?all so different from areas elsewhere"

http://www.indiaprofile.com/lifestyle/jaunsarbawar.htm


I read somewhere else that Jaunsari caste system has khasa brahmins on top. That's interesting...Nepali is also commonly called Khaskura from what I understand.

Thugged_out
Far - western nepal is next to Uttranchal. I was wondering whether Nepalese "mongoloids" and "mongoloids" of Uttaranchal , both belong to the same historic tribal group!

A wife with more than 1 husbands? wowowow! How cool is that..hehe :D

Acharya, why are you embarrassed? I think it's interesting. There is nothing that you should be ashamed about. Anyway, it doesn't seem to bother those ppl who are practising the tradition so it shoudn't bother us. And I don't think it seems totally strict at all. It does say that the tradition is breaking and some of them are even practising monogamy..so it's all cool.

I tend to subscribe to the view that economics determines society?s politics as well as its social norms. It is a Marxist way to look at the world but there is overwhelming evidence for it. The current conflict in Nepal has strong economic underpinnings, and so does the practice of polyandry. According to Mr. Haviland, polyandry made economic sense for the people in the region and that?s why it has remained intact to this day. But as he points out such practices are waning. Again, there is economic rationale for it. As those remote regions come in contact with economically powerful ?mainstream? Nepal, they?ll try to imitate the latter. That means among other things, discarding the practice of polyandry. That?s not very different from Kathmandu elites trying to imitate western culture and lifestyle; from listening to western music, to eating with spoon-and-fork to wearing low-cut demin jeans to celebrating Valentine?s Day, Haloween, Christmas and Julian New Year.

Polyandry exists in certain parts of the world and in certain parts of Nepal. I read this a while back, there is a tradition in Malaysia (certain location, don't remember where) if a husband likes a girl/woman he goes and tells his wife, his wife acts as a mediator and arranges for the husband to spend the night with that girl. There are very different practices and culture exists in the world, polygamy is one of them and it exists even in US.
Check - www.pro-polygamy.com or search google.
-Shiv

It used to be a common practice in Tibet too. I used to hear my grandfather say that 2 or 3 brothers in one family would share a wife. When asked why, his response was weddings cost money and bride's were hard to come by. Not religious or cultural significance as some ppl here tend to point. It was just practical and economical.

What is culture??
Hint-Certain practise (what ever the reason may be social, economical or other) becomes culture overtime..

I wonder if culture /society would have been different if it were a "Matriarchal society". I just see this norm in favor of males in the society. If a guy is caught having relationships with many girls or having many wifes its "allright" but if its a girl then she is a " fallen girl/women" . Its nothing more than hypocrisy.

Whats the big deal here? Wife-sharing is prevalent in Europe and America as well, among Nepalese mostly.

Think about this. A Nepali couple rent an apartment. Got an extra room or two. Think of getting extra money out of that and rent it out to a bachelor Nepali (like me). Slowly but surely, tantaramantan suru.

Bhoonte,
I will not rent you a room.. wait let me get married first ;-)
-Shiv