Polyandry
In social anthropology and biology, polyandry (Greek: poly many, andros man) means a female forming a stable sexual union with more than one male. Polyandry is the specific form of polygamy in which a woman is married to more than one husband simultaneously. On the other hand, polygyny is when a man has multiple wives, which is the more common form of polygamy. Polyandry is extremely rare, being found in very few places on earth or historically. The form of polyandry in which two (or more) brothers marry the same woman is known as "fraternal polyandry," and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered form.
Polyandry in nature
Polyandry in the field of sociobiology refers to a mating system in which one female forms more or less permanent bonds to more than one male. It is the converse of polygyny in which one male mates with many females.
Polyandry in nature can take two different forms. In one, typified by the Northern Jacana and some other ground-living birds, the female takes on much the same role traditionally seen in the male in a polygynous species. She holds a large territory within which several males build nests, she lays eggs in all the nests, and plays little part in parental care. In the other form, typified by the Galápagos Hawk, a group of two or more males (which may or may not be related) and one female collectively care for a single nest. Polyandry with shared parental care is more likely in very difficult environments, where the efforts of more than two parents are needed to give a reasonable chance of rearing young successfully. This resembles reasons given in human fraternal polyandry instances.
A common example of polyandry is found in the Field Cricket Gryllus bimaculatus of the invetebrate order Orthoptera (containing crickets, grasshoppers, and groundhoppers). Females in this species will mate with any male close to them, including siblings. Polyandry also occurs in some primates, such as marmosets, other mammal groups, for example the marsupial mouse species Antecchinus, some bird species, such as superb fairy wrens) and insects (such as honeybees).
Honeybees are said to be polyandrous because a queen typically mates with multiple males, even though mating is the only interaction that they have. The males subsequently die, and the queen stores the sperm to fertilize her eggs. Similar to the domestic housecat that mates with multiple males, and her eggs will be fertilized by multiple partners in any one litter but where the males usually have nothing to do with his mate afterwards or the care of the newborn.
Polyandry in primates and other mammals is very rare and usually correlated with reduced or reverse sexual dimorphism. When males of a species are much larger than females, polygyny is usually practiced. As size difference decreases, or the females are larger than males, a species is more likely to practice monogamy or polyandry. The non-human great apes (gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees) are highly dimorphic and practice polygyny. Male and female gibbons (lesser apes) are similar in size and form monogamous pairs. Human males and females are less dimorphic in body size than other polygynous great apes, and are usually monogamous.
Polyandry appears to be the dominant social structure in a subfamily of New World monkeys called Callitrichids, which include Tamarins, Marmosets, and other monkeys. They often live in groups that may contain more than one female, with the dominant female suppressing ovulation in subordinates, causing her to be the only one capable of reproduction. A Callimico female regularly births more than one offspring, and her eggs are separately fertilized by more than one male. Paternal investment is high in Callimicos, and males often carry infants on their backs, even when they are not the father. It has been suggested that multiple male mates are related, and therefore cooperation in caring for each other's young is adaptive. However, researchers thst tagged and tracked Callimicos over time noticed that unrelated males migrated to new groups to cooperate with non relatives as well as with relatives to care for young. It has also been suggested that females select cooperative males, and that the multiple offspring of Callimicos require paternal care for survival.
Possible explanations for polyandrous behavior in include: it is easier to ensure reproductive success females may be encouraging sperm competition between males, females may be getting food rewards from the males for allowing copulation to occur, when males can't be sure if they are or aren't their offspring perhaps they won't risk destroying their own DNA, and mating with multiple males increases the survival of the female's offspring.
Human occurrence
Polyandry is the least frequent system of marriage and/or stable mating relationships within human society. George Peter Murdock’s World Ethnographic Sample, recorded only four societies where polyandry is practiced, less than 1 percent of the world's total societies. When it is practiced between brothers, it is called fraternal polyandry. If not, it is non-fraternal polyandry.
Polyandry in Religion
Islam bans polyandry completely. A woman may not have more than one husband. However, polygyny is allowed for men so that they can marry up to four wives as long as they are able take care of them and love them equally.
Both Judaism and Christianity prohibit polyandry, although polygamy known as "plural marriage," primarily polygny but sometimes polyandry, was practiced to a limited degree in early Mormonism.
There is at least one reference to polyandry in the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. Draupadi marries the five Pandava brothers. This ancient text remains largely neutral to concept of polyandry, accepting this as her way of life.
In the rare instances polyandry occurs, it seems to be more driven by local unique concerns than related to anything religious.
Polyandrous society
Among the Toda in Tibet, polyandry is fraternal and it seems there is no distinction in paternity with all children being treated the same. This is the society with the best documentation. They say this limits the number of children in a harsh area and helps avoid disputes of property inheritance. The Toda also practiced female infanticide which limited the number of available females.
It is extremely rate to see them replicate polyandrous relationships in the refugee camps in India where many live as they fled the Chinese take over of Tibet in 1950. In Tibet, which is the most well-documented cultural domain within which polyandry is practiced, the testimony of certain polyandrists themselves is that the marriage form is difficult to sustain. In Tibet polyandry has been outlawed, which means that it is difficult to measure the incidence of polyandry in what may have been the world's most "polyandrous" society.
Perhaps the next best documented society that had polyandry was the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. They euphemistically referred to the practice as eka-ge-kema or "eating in one house." It is no longer legal, though it is possible that it may still be surviving in some remote areas. It did not occur in the Aryan tribes in the Vedic age, but only among the non-Aryan or Pandavas. They are related to tribes where the Toda are, and they are documented as having arrived from the north, so it is possible that the practice was brought from there. The earliest documentation is from a queen of the region in the fourteenth century where we find her calling herself the chief consort of the two brother kings named Perakumba. Every aspect that is recorded is remarkably similar to the better known Tibetan form of polyandry.
Controversy
Polyandry is a very rare form of marriage. It is possible the norm of humanity is monogamy, as over time most the world has come to accept this as the best way to form relationships, rear children, and participate in society.
Among anthropologists, polyandry is a controversial subject. It is so rare, it is very hard to be studies and understood with any statistical reliability. In many parts of the world, most traditional societies have been drastically altered or destroyed, so the incidence of polyandry in the past may not be accurately known.
Pennsylvania anthropologist Stephen Beckerman points out that at least 20 tribal societies accept that a child could, and ideally should, have more than one father, referring to it as "partible paternity". Where this idea comes from, and if it refers to polyandry is possible, but very hard to verify and remains unknown.
The studies of Prince Peter of Greece (Polyandry and the Kinship Group. 1955) who studied information on the polyandry of the Kandyan Sinhalese, the Kerala Tiyyans, and the Tibetans and concluded that there existed a greater unity and solidarity of sibling groups among those practicing fraternal polyandry. He also emphasised the economic function of polyandry which intensified this unity and solidarity.
In retrospect, it must be considered that these situations represent very unique situations, and these benefits are marginal at best. The potential harm seems much greater, as disputes over paternity and social disorder are some of the strongest arguments modern society has brought to bear on the arguement.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Beckerman, Stephen and Paul Valentine (Editors). 2002. Cultures of Multiple Fathers: The Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in Lowland South America. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0813024560
- Coult, Allan D. 1965. Cross tabulations of Murdock's World ethnographic sample. University of Missouri.
- Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember. 2004. Eleventh edition "Cultural Anthropology" New Jersey: Pearson, Prentis Hall ISBN 0-13-111636-3
- Hussein, Asiff 'Eka-ge-kema':Fraternal polyandry among the olden-day Sinhalese by retrieved December 8, 2006 from WWW Virtual Library - Sri Lanka
- Murdock, George P. 1967. Ethnographic Atlas. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Peter, Prince of Greece, A Study of Polyandry, The Hague, Mouton, 1963 OCLC: 804468
- Why does Islam not Allow Polyandry? retrieved December 8, 2006 from www.understanding-islam.com
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