Discuss the regional variations of kinship system in Indian society. (UPSC CSE Mains 2017 - Sociology, Paper 1)
Irawati Karve – a student of Ghurye – in her ‘Kinship Organization in India, 1952’ divided India into four cultural kinship zones based on many factors like – kinship terms, language, descent and inheritance, patterns of marriage and family, and other cultural values. She highlighted various similarities and dissimilarities in marriage patterns, based on certain criteria as – She highlighted various similarities and dissimilarities in marriage patterns, based on certain criteria.
- Rule of Marriage – In North India, the kinship system is characterized by negative rules of marriage. The South Indian kinship system, on the other hand, is characterized by positive rules of marriage.
- Endogamy and Exogamy Rules – In North India, a marriage alliance links one family with an entirely new family and in fact one village with another village. Village exogamy is almost universally practiced in North. In South India, most marriage alliances occur within a small kin group and the emphasis is laid on relationships on both the father’s and mother’s sides. Further, there is almost no territorial exogamy in South India. III. Matrilocal and Patrilocal – In some of the south Indian castes like Nayyars, there is a tradition of matrilocal. Similarly, among Khasi tribals of Meghalaya matrilineal and matrifocal kinship is popular.
- Kinship Terminology – Following the composition of kinship groups, the kinship terminology in North India reflects the separation of kin related by blood from those related by marriage. While in South India, the kinship terminology emphasizes the symmetry of relationships between the affines.
Both rigidity and flexibility exist side by side in regard to values and norms in kinship systems. These are reflected in regard to divorce, widow remarriage, incest taboos, caste endogamy, clan exogamy, rule of avoidance, family structure, systems of lineage and residence, authority system, succession and inheritance of property etc.
However, kinship continues to be a basic principle of social organisation and mobilisation on the one hand and division and dissension on the other. It is a complex phenomenon, and its role can be sensed even in modern organisations. Migration, mobility and education have weakened the kinship systems and rules of clan organisation because members of a caste/sub-caste or of a clan do not live at the same place. Matriliny in Kerala has almost withered away. In north-east also it has become weak.
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