6 days ago
Why three's company for the tribal throuples of India
In the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic with which every Indian is familiar, Draupadi prays to Shiva for a husband who has five essential qualities: he should be handsome, noble, strong, a skilled archer and wise.
Since no one man could possibly possess all these traits, according to Shiva's knowledge, he bestowed five husbands on her.
Sunita Chauhan had different objectives. When the Hatti tribeswoman of Shillai village in Himachal Pradesh, northern India, married two brothers on July 12, she did it not out of romantic desire for a surfeit of manly attributes, but rather a hard-nosed need, and centuries-old tradition, to keep land in the family.
By marrying one woman to multiple brothers the people of the Hatti tribe, which numbers about 300,000, ensure their land is not divided with the children of every marriage claiming their share, leaving diminishing returns for each generation.
In hill areas, scant land is cultivable on the narrow terraces carved out of the mountainside. Polyandry is not the norm but a handful of such marriages take place every year.
Chauhan's wedding to Pradeep Negi, who works in the local water department, and his brother Kapil, who is employed abroad, was a big event spread over three days. They say the decision was taken jointly; the bride told local media she 'made this decision without any pressure'.
Jagat Singh Negi, a local politician who knows the families but is no relation, told The Times no woman in the tribe was coerced into the marriages. 'Pradeep and Kapil decided on marrying just one wife,' he said. 'They had known Sunita and her family for some time and approached them to see if they were willing. Sunita was perfectly happy with the proposal.'
Hira Singh, a relative of the brothers, said the marriage was a moment of great joy for the tribe. 'We feel proud because our educated youth are not only keeping old traditions alive, they are also setting an example,' Singh said. 'There are many such secretive marriages but these three created history by marrying publicly.'
Thanks to the chance presence of a local reporter, the story appeared in the press. What followed was a media storm that has shaken the newlyweds. Every time they go on social media they feel disturbed by the global coverage and commentary, both positive and negative. Some Indians believe polyandry exploits women, particularly if they have no choice in the matter.
'We've just withdrawn into a shell,' Pradeep told The Times. 'We're not celebrities. We're just ordinary villagers and we never expected this kind of interest. Every day, we've been getting 10 or 12 interview requests.'
He sounded nonplussed by the intense interest, which they have found intrusive. 'It's our life, our private life, our personal story. But now we have no privacy. When I read some of the comments, I feel like some notorious criminal.'
There is a national ban on polyandry in India but exceptions are made for some tribal areas. It is still rare enough to arouse great fascination, especially the conjugal protocols. Predictably, little information is available on these arrangements but a pre-determined rotation system is generally followed.
Even less known is how much of a say the wife has in deciding the rota and what happens if she develops a preference, sexual or otherwise, for one brother. The offspring of such marriages also present a difficulty, given the remoteness of villages from DNA testing facilities.
'Families either legally name the eldest brother as the father or randomly ascribe the father — that is, one child to the elder brother and the other child to the younger brother,' Jagat Singh Negi said.
