‘Himachal Pradesh polyandry': This is not a news. It is Savarna gaze

Indian Express

4 days ago

John B Bogart, an American journalist, while defining news, famously said, 'When a dog bites a man, that is not news. However, if a man bites a dog, that is news'. The idea of news has transformed over time, but what has remained constant is its emphasis on 'unusual'— its earnest desire to identify anything that deflects from the 'norm'. This norm is shaped by the dominant, hegemonic gaze. And any aberration becomes 'news'.
When the marriage of a tribal woman to two brothers in Himachal Pradesh hit the headlines last week and was discussed threadbare across social media, it was a departure from the monolithic understanding of heteronormative marriage. It represented three things: First, the Savarna gaze that exoticises tribal practices; second, the lack of knowledge about diverse tribal cultures and histories; and third, the lack of vocabulary and assimilationist worldview – an indomitable desire to define everything through the existing epistemological framework, without understanding specific cultural context.
Two schools of thought have historically dominated the Savarna perception of tribals – Verrier Elwin's exclusion theory, which recommends isolation of tribals, and G S Ghurye's assimilationist approach that considers tribals as 'backward Hindus' and bats for their assimilation into the larger Hindu society. Though many scholars, including Virginius Xaxa, Alpa Shah, read tribal cultures beyond this binary, the popular perception hasn't changed.
When the marriage of two brothers with one woman from the Hatti tribe 'broke' the internet, the limitation of these dominant approaches became evident. First, it was considered 'unusual' and 'newsworthy' because it represents a hole in the assimilationist and Sanskritised template. Second, it also brings a practice prevalent among the 'excluded' others into the mainstream, adding 'oddity'— one of the 'news' elements taught in media schools.
Unlike caste society, different tribal groups practice multiple forms of marriage, and they are often connected to preserving natural resources, either for the clan or for the family. The tradition of a woman married to two brothers comes from the concern of land. If the brothers marry different women and start separate families, their ancestral land would be divided. Given the limited cultivable land in the hilly areas, this tradition worked as a safeguard against such divisions. J P Singh Rana, in his book Marriage and Customs of Tribes in India, mentions that in such families, 'all sons are considered entitled to equal shares of their father's holding, although in practice they hardly divide but live with wife, land, house and cattle in common'. This practice is also found among many tribal communities – Tiyan, Toda, Kota, Khasha, Ladakhi Bota – who live across the Himalayan tracts, from Himachal Pradesh to Assam. The Lahulis of Chamba, however, follow an additional ritual where the younger bridegroom gives a rupee to the mother of the bride, claiming his status as the second husband.
This tradition of giving a price to claim the status of husband is also connected to another predominant tribal custom: Bride price. This is mostly understood as a payment made by the husband to the family from whom he takes away the daughter, a crucial labour who participates in every cultivation work, except ploughing. Notably, the bride price is determined by the bride herself. Anthropologist B K Roy Burman, in his research, notes that 'It is not uncommon for a girl to wait till her mid-30s before she can find someone who can pay the bride price and become her partner in life.'
Notably, in all of these cases, tribal women enjoy social dignity and high status. Anthropologist Furer-Haimendorf, in reference to Naga tribes, wrote in 1933, 'Many women in most civilised parts of India may well envy the women of the Naga Hills, their high status and their free, happy life.' Another anthropologist, J H Hutton, noted that Sema Naga women were free to choose their grooms; no girl was married against their will. The women in tribal society have had much better social status than their caste Hindu counterparts for centuries. Against this backdrop, when reports try to find out the 'will' of the bride in what is apparently known as the 'Himachal Pradesh polyandry case', it represents nothing but our intrinsic desire to find a 'victim' in tribal women.
Moreover, the focus on the word 'polyandry' – among the Hatti community, it is known as 'jajda' – shows the lack of vocabulary to translate an indigenous practice into the prevalent lingual framework. 'Jajda' doesn't happen without the context of 'preserving natural resources'. Similarly, among the Garasia tribe, who mostly live in Rajasthan, unmarried couples follow a social arrangement called 'dopa'. They elope with their chosen partners, and when they come back, they pay a good amount to the woman's family and stay together without getting married. They also give birth to children, without fearing the social stigma that is prevalent in caste society. Sometimes, this arrangement is called a 'live-in' relationship, which also doesn't portray the actual reality. Here, the couple doesn't stay together to find compatibility; rather, that is their form of togetherness.
From gaze to vocabulary, our understanding is marred by presumptive notions. We need to think beyond binaries and find ways to understand diverse customs in their own essence. Otherwise, it is not news, it is simply Savarna gaze.
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