For an account of polyandry in ancient India the reader should consult Jolly, Gundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde.
Polyandry existed long before the advent of Buddha.
Thus in Tibet the upper classes practice polygyny and monogamy, while among the lower classes we find polyandry and monogamy.
It is evident that if we assume that the primitive form of the family was that of a simple pairing monogamy, the burden is laid upon us to show how such different types as polyandryand polygyny arose.
Under such circumstances we can see how the natural human instincts which would oppose polyandry under ordinary circumstances, namely, the jealousy of the male, might become greatly modified, or cease to act altogether.
At any rate, the form of polyandry which we find in Tibet suggests that such economic conditions may have been the main cause of its existence.
In all these regions where polyandry occurs, moreover, it is to be noted that the conditions of life are harsh and severe.
Were polyandry the general practice, a woman could have a multiplicity of husbands and be considered pure; where polygamy is the rule, a man may have a multitude of wives and be regarded as moral.
Prostitution may be considered a counterpoise to over-population, not only because of the polyandry it involves, but also of the infecundity of its victims.
I need only cite the polyandry of East India, Thibet and other mountainous regions of Asia, which is indeed modified somewhat by the fact that, as a rule, only several brothers have one wife in common.
Example: We do not read that God ever sanctioned polyandry or marriage between parent and child, and it seems that He could never permit such things as lawful.
I have been assured by Mr. Jenner Weir and by others, that it is somewhat common for three starlings to frequent the same nest; but whether this is a case of polygamy or polyandry has not been ascertained.
Guanas, strife for women among the; polyandry among the.
Polyandry would be a natural stepping-stone to communal marriages or almost promiscuous intercourse; though the best authorities believe that this latter habit preceded polyandry.
The conventional conception knows only monogamy, furthermore polygamy of one man, eventually also polyandry of one woman.
As exogamy andpolyandry are referable to one and the same cause--a want of balance between the sexes--we are forced to regard all the exogamous races as having originally been polyandrous.
And furthermore we find at a later stage the exceptional form of polyandrywhich still more supersedes all sentiments of jealousy and hence is unknown to animals.
It was almost a requirement of good prehistoric manners to refer in terms of highest admiration to his artificial construction of history leading from infanticide through polyandry and abduction to maternal law.
To be sure, aside from monogamy, oriental polygamy and Indo-Tibethan polyandry were known; but these three forms could not be arranged in any historical order and stood side by side without any connection.
Polyandry in India and Thibet is likewise an exception.
But polyandry is thus inconsistent with the good of offspring, and polygamy with mutual faith.
It is not meant that polyandry makes the birth of children impossible.
In any case, polyandry is little better than promiscuity: it is fatal to the family and, fatal to the race; and children born of it are born out of marriage.
This is a great deal more than saying that polyandry and polygamy are unlawful.
In Southern India, the polyandry of the present day differs little from that which in the middle of the fifteenth century Niccolo de Conti found flourishing in Calicut.
It is almost needless to point out that, as in passing from promiscuity to polyandry the domestic relations become more coherent and definite, so do they in passing from the lower forms of polyandry to the higher.
Thus, from whatever angle we view group-marriage, its polygyny and its polyandry seem to rest on monogamy.
In this case also, there was generally one chief wife, wherever polyandry did not interfere.
This is all the more likely to happen in this case, because the general motives to polyandry and polygyny persist and exercise a constant influence.
Among other privileges bestowed on the bride during the probationary period are those of receiving the most intimate attentions from the clanfellows of the groom; and these are noteworthy as suggestions of a vestigial polyandry or adelphogamy.
Polyandry was a well established institution in Ceylon; the associated husbands are invariably brothers or cousins.
Much of the polygyny, and polyandry also, which prevails among us to-day is an altogether artificial and unnatural form of polygamy.
As to the present existence or non-existence of polyandry I must call recent writers into the witness-box.
I have not known an admitted instance of polyandry amongst the Nayars of Malabar at the present day, but there is no doubt that, if it does not exist now (and I think it does here and there), it certainly did not long ago.
Polyandry may now be said to be dead, and, although the issue of a Nayar marriage are still children of their mother rather than of their father, marriage may be defined as a contract based on mutual consent, and dissoluble at will.
Among the plateau Muduvars, both polygamy and polyandryare permitted, the former being common, and the latter occasional.
In illustration of the custom of polyandry among the Nayars of Malabar in by-gone days, the following extracts may be quoted.
In Tibet itself polygyny exists side by side with polyandry amongst the wealthy classes, while monogamy is the rule amongst the poor pastoral nomads of the northern steppe.
But it does not follow that polyandry and a matriarchal state always and necessarily preceded polygyny and a patriarchal state.
On the other hand, women object to polyandry, becausepolyandry enables the best women to monopolize all the men, just as polygyny enables the best men to monopolize all the women.
But polygyny would condemn a great many men, and polyandry a great many women, to the celibacy of neglect.
We find no example of thispolyandry except amongst the people of Thibet.
The general belief is that at the time of the conquest polyandry prevailed amongst the tribes.
Polyandry is found almost exclusively in poor countries, where there is always a scarcity of females.
Thus we have polyandry founded on a surplus of males caused by poverty of sustenance.
Free polyandry still exists in many countries I have seen, and in others its dying out leaves these fragmentary survivals.
Polyandry prevails among one people or at one time, polygyny prevails among another people or at another time.
It is one of the many unfortunate consequences of McLennan's belief in the importance of polyandry in the history of human society that it has helped to prevent his followers from seeing the social importance of the classificatory system.
It is evident that the use of a common term for the wife and the son's wife would follow from a form of polyandry in which a man and his son have a wife in common.
In certain tribes there are to be found survivals ofpolyandry and of the matriarchate.
With polyandry is also connected, on not very good grounds it seems to me, parental marriage.
With the exception of two doubtful examples (Khasias and Saporogian Cossacks), polyandry always assumes the fraternal form; that is to say, the husbands of the woman are brothers.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "polyandry" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word. Other words: bigamy; monogamy; polyandry; polygamy
