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Unit 4: Family

Aileen Ross, M.S. Gore, A.M. Shah, Sachchidananda, etc. Iravati Karve’s historical approach has Notes
been referred to for the understanding of the traditional structure and organization of Hindu family.
But before analyzing the Hindu or Indian family, we will take up the general concept of family as it
is universally understood and its typologies.
4.2 Concept of Family

As a reproductive or a biological unit, a family is composed of a man and a woman having a socially
approved sexual relationship and whatever offspring they might have. As a social unit, a family is
defined as a group of persons of both sexes, related by marriage, blood or adoption, performing roles
based on age, sex and relationship, and socially distinguished as making up a single household or a
sub-household. Gerald Leslie (1982: 12) has defined it as a group of two adults of opposite sex, living
in a socially approved sex relationship, and their own or adopted children. Murdock (1949) defines
family as a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation, and reproduction.
Ross’s definition of family includes physical, social and psychological elements of family life. According
to her (1961: 31), family is a group of people usually related as some particular type of kindred, who
may live in one household, and whose unity resides in a patterning of rights and duties, sentiments
and authority. She, thus, makes distinction between four sub-structures of family: (i) ecological sub-
structure, that is, spatial arrangement of family members and their households, or how relatives live
geographically close to each other. In simple words, this refers to the size of the household and type
of the family; (ii) sub-structure of rights and duties, that is, division of labour within the household;
(iii) sub-structure of power and authority, that is, control over the actions of others; and (iv) sub-
structure of sentiments, that is, relationship between different sets of members; for example, between
parents and children, husband and wife, siblings and siblings, etc.
4.3 Forms of Family

Chattophadhyay (1961: 75) has given three types of family: simple, compound, and composite. Simple
family consists of a man, his wife and unmarried children. Sometimes it happens that one partner dies
after the birth of some children and the other remarries. In that case, the unit consisting of two sets of
children cannot any longer be termed ‘simple’. The Diagram 1 (i and ii) represents such two units.
In both units, we have two simple families. This type of family is termed by Chattophadhyay as
compound family. It differs from the ‘simple’ family in the sense that there are two sets of children—
one from the deceased partner and other from the newly married living partner; but one parent is
common in the two sets. Sometimes one partner remarries even when the other partner is alive, that
is, either a man has two wives or a woman has two husbands. In such cases also, two simple families
are involved in each case. The term used for such a family by Chattophadhyay is also compound
family. He describes family with a man and his two wives and two sets of children from each wife as
compound polygynous family, while a family with a woman and her two husbands and two sets of
children from each husband as compound polyandrous family.

Diagram 1
Lineal joint family
Hu + Wi + Hu 2 Ego+Wi
1
(Dead)
So+Wi So Da
So 1 Do 1 So 2 Do 2
(widow remarrying)
(Hu = husband; Wi = wife; So = son; Da = daughter) Grand- Grand-
So+Wi Da
While nuclear families combined through plural marriage are called polygamous families, those
combined through the parent-child relation are called joint/extended families. The extension may be

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