Page 133 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes 8. In the north, marriage is to widen the kinship group while in the south it is to strengthen already
existing bonds.
Kinship Organization in Eastern India
There are more tribes than caste Hindus in eastern India (consisting of parts of Bengal, Bihar, Assam
and Orissa). The important tribes are: Khasi, Birhor, Hos, Mundas and Uraon. The kinship organization
here has no one pattern. People speaking Mundari languages have patrilineal, patrilocal families.
However, joint families are rare in this zone. Cross-cousin marriages are practised seldomly though
bride-price is common. Woman is addressed as dual (you two), referred to as dual (she, the two) and
speaks as dual (1, two). Kinship terminology is borrowed both from Sanskrit and Dravidian languages.
Khasis and Garos have matrilineal joint family system (like Nairs in the south). After marriage, a
man rarely lives with his parents and establishes a separate house.
Resume
It may be concluded that the kinship organization in India is influenced by caste and language. In
this age of sharp competition for status and livelihood, a man and his family must have kin as allies.
The caste and the linguistic groups may help the individual from time to time but his most staunch,
trustworthy and loyal supporters could only be his nearest kins. It is, therefore, necessary that a
person must not only strengthen his bonds with kin but sould also try to enlarge his circle of kins.
Cousin marriages, preferential mating, exchange rules and the marriage norms which circumvent
the field of mate selection need to be changed so that kinship relations through marriage may be
extended and a person is able to get their help in seeking power and the status-lift that power can
bring.
Self-Assessment
1. Fill in the blanks:
(i) Matrilineal joint family is called ............... .
(ii) Karnawan is an absolute ruler in the family, his wife is called ............... .
(iii) Pihar is ............... .
(iv) There are ............... types of tertiary kin.
(v) Denotive applies to a ............... kinship categories.
5.4 Summary

• “A social relationship based upon family relatedness” (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1969: 221).
The nature of relationship which may be consanguineal (based on ties of blood) or affinal (based
on marriage) determines the rights and obligations of related persons. A kin group may be
explained as “a group united by ties of blood or marriage”. Most kin groups, other than the
family, are consanguineal. Kinship system may be considered as “the customary system of statuses
and roles that governs the behaviour of people who are related to each other through marriage
or descent from a common ancestor” (Theodorson, Ibid: 221).
• Lineage is an extension of family. It is a consanguineous unilateral descent group whose members
trace themselves from a known (and real) common ancestor.
• A lineage is based on more precise and specific genealogy. It may be either patrilineal or
matrilineal. It is an exogamous unit.
• When lineage relations are limited in time and space, the gotra relations endure through time
and across space. The members of a gotra usually have an origin story linking all of them to the
same supernatural or mythical source. Co-operation within the gotra depends on economic
factors as well as distance in place of residence. Today, the functions of gotra are minimal. Its
chief function now is to regulate marriage.

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