Himachal Woman Marries Two Brothers: A Look At Polyandrous Societies In India

A wedding in Himachal Pradesh has been making headlines as the bride married two men, who are brothers. Sunita Chauhan, from Kunhat village in the Sirmaur district, married Pradeep and Kapil Negi of Shillai village. They belong to the Hatti tribe, which is known for their jodidara system, meaning polyandry. The three-day event, held in the Trans-Giri region, featured folk songs, dances, and rituals unique to their culture. Chauhan said the decision was mutual and free from any pressure.

What is Jodidara?

Jodidara is a custom in the Hatti community, where two brothers share the same wife. Under this system, the woman shifts between brothers on a mutually agreed schedule. If they have children, the eldest brother is typically named the legal father. However, the entire family shares parental responsibilities.

According to reports, Jodidara is aimed at social and economic stability. The system is believed to prevent fragmentation of ancestral land and uphold unity in joint families. The rules for breaking the marriage are strict. If one brother goes against the marriage agreement, he can be treated as an outcast while losing his entire share in the property.

Polyandry is not 'legal' in India; however, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has acknowledged and protected this custom under "Jodidar Law", allowing it to continue among tribal groups like the Hatti community.

Polyandry in India

While the recent wedding in Sirmaur has been garnering attention for its "unusual" setting, polyandry has been around for generations in many Indian societies. Many polyandrous communities draw from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, in which Draupadi is married to five Pandava brothers.

Himachal Pradesh

In Himachal Pradesh, fraternal polyandry is prevalent in the Kinnaur region, where many communities claim they are the descendants of the Pandavas. In the Mahabharata, the five brothers were banished from their kingdom for thirteen years, and they spent the last year hiding in Kinnaur. Thus, Kinnauris have 'inherited' polyandry.

Many tribal communities in Sirmaur, Shimla, Lahaul-Spiti, and Kullu regions are also known to practise polyandry.

Punjab, Haryana

According to reports, many poor agricultural families in Punjab and Haryana practised polyandry in order to keep wealth within the family. In 2019, researchers at Panjab University published a book, Gender Culture and Honour, documenting evidence of 'wife sharing' in the districts of Yamunanagar in Haryana, and Mansa and Fatehgarh Sahib of Punjab.

Uttarakhand

Some communities in Uttarakhand's Jaunsar-Banwar region also have fraternal polyandry. In communities like Garhwalis, a woman marries the eldest son in a family, and is considered the 'wife' of all brothers. When they have children, all the brothers are considered the father. Moreover, the brothers can be married to more than one woman if the first woman cannot bear children, or if the difference between the brothers' ages is large.

The Garhwalis also claim ancestry to the Pandavas.

Tamil Nadu

The Toda community in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris observed polyandry for many centuries. They followed both fraternal polyandry (husbands are brothers) and sequential polyandry (husbands may not be blood-related). In fraternal polyandry, if a woman married one man, all his brothers became her 'husband'.

When the wife became pregnant, one of the husbands would perform a ceremony to claim paternity of the child by giving a bow and arrow to the wife. When the next child arrived, the same husband continued to be called father even if the child was not biologically related to him, unless another husband performed the bow and arrow ceremony.

Kerala

Some communities in Kerala had both polyandry and polygamy (one husband with many wives) till the 19th century. These included Thiyyas, Kammalars, Ezhavas, Mukkuvas, and Kammalars. Some historians claim that even Nairs observed polyandry; however, other historians say there is no authenticated evidence of this. 

In many of Kerala's polyandrous communities, the only verifiable blood relationships could be ascertained through females. A man's property was inherited by his sister's children and not his own. Fraternal polyandry was common among the Thiyyas of Malabar and Ezhavas.