Page 173 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 23: Joint Family: Types and Functions

23.2 Main Features of Joint Family Notes
We will describe, here the characteristics of joint family to know its meaning more clearly:
1. Common Residence: There are many small families in a joint family whose members
live at one place and call it “Big house”. Each small family may have one or two sepa-
rate room for them but kitchen and the place of worship is common for all. If the number
of members in the joint family rises, any one of the sons built a house nearby his ances-
tral house and shift there with his wife and children but they do not consider themselves
separate from the members of the big house. All the members gather at the ancetral
house on the occasion of festivals, celebrations on to worship. The members who go to
town for a job, come back to the village and stay in their ancestral house when on leave or
after retirement.
2. Common Kitchen: All the members of a joint family have food from a common kitchen.
Wives of ‘karta’ and other adult males of the family look after the work in kitchen. There are
certain rules of dinning in such a family which helps in the socialisation of child. Which food
is to be prepared on different occasion, is decided by the eldest female member of the fam-
ily. Food is served, at first, to the children, then to male members and at last to the females.
Married women are expected to have food in the same utensils in which their husbands
had food:
3. Common Property: Wealth and properties are common for all the members in a joint fam-
ily, shared by all the male members who are descendant of one ancestor. All the members
deposit their earnings in the common fund of the family and all the expenditures regarding
marriage, birth, death and festivals, etc., are incurred out of the common fund. The whole
economic system is handled by the eldest male member of the family.
4. Common Worship and Religious Duties: There are many forms of Gods in the Hindu re-
ligion. Every family worship a particular god or goddess and also their manes who pro-
tect the family members. Religion is an important fact in the Hindus. All the important
events start with religious activities and worship. It is also important from point of view
of getting the inheritance or succession right in the ancestral property as only the mem-
ber who perform the rituals like oblation of cooked rice to the manes, libation of water to
the manes, offering of water, food, etc., to the Brahmans in honour of manes, etc., gets the
inheritance right.
Worshiping fire is also considered to be very important in the Hindus as it protects the fam-
ily and also provides the family with sons and wealth. Fire is also worshiped in Vedas as,
“O fire, provide us with a happy and wealthy house with sons and grandsons.” In this way
it is important to worship fire and the manes to keep the family together.

Self assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. All members of the family gather at the ancestral house on the _____________ of religions
ceremony, festivals and celebrations.
2. Which foods are to be prepared on different occasions, is decided by the _____________
female member of the family.
3. The earnings of all the members are deposited in the _____________ of the family, and ex-
penditures of marriage, celebrations, birth and death are done out of collective fund of the
family.
5. Related to Kindred: All members of the family have blood relation with one-another except
the wives whose relations are established by marriage. In patriarchal family, the relations
are counted from the paternal side while in the matriarchal family, it is counted from the
maternal side. The members of three or more generations live together in a joint family.

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