Abstract: Polyandry is a form of marriage in which one woman has more than one husband simultaneously, is not common but historically significant institution found among certain tribal and indigenous communities in India. It has been practiced historically in Tibet, Nepal, and some tribal communities of India like the Todas in Tamil Nadu, Kinnaura tribes and Hattis in Himachal, and Jaunsaris in Uttarakhand. This article examines the legal status of polyandry in tribal communities with reference to constitutional provisions, statutory exemptions, judicial interpretations, and customary tribal practices. It further analyses the conflict between tribal autonomy and modern legal reforms. This study concludes that while polyandry is generally prohibited under Indian marriage laws, customary tribal practices continue to survive because of statutory exemptions granted to STs & judicial recognition of customary law.
Keywords: Polyandry, Tribal Communities, Customary law, Hindu Marriage Act, Scheduled Tribes, Marriage Laws, Tribal customs, Indian Legal System
Introduction:Marriage is one of the oldest and important traditions governing family, inheritance, legitimacy, and social order. Monogamy has been accepted norm under modern Indian law; India’s diverse cultural landscape includes several traditional forms of marriage practices and rituals. Among them, Polyandry occupies a unique position due to its rarity and socio-cultural significance.
Polyandry and Polygamy are outlawed by the Special Marriage Act 1954, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, and criminalised under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Polyandry has been practiced among communities such as the Kinnauras and Hattis of Himachal Pradesh, Todas of T.N., Jaunsari Tribes of Uttarakhand, and certain tribal groups in Sikkim and Ladakh.
In the Hatti Tribe, Polyandry is practiced primarily for preserving undivided family property, especially agricultural Land, and reinforcing brotherly ties. This tribe found in Himachal Pradesh-granted the status of schedule Tribes (ST) by the Centre in 2022 and is known for their polyandrous tradition “Jodidaram”. The purpose of Jodidaram is to preserve undivided family land, particularly agricultural land.
Indian Statutory law generally criminalizes bigamy and recognizes monogamous marriages. This article explores whether polyandry in tribal communities enjoys legal protection and to what extent customary practices can override statutory law.
MEANING AND NATURE OF POLYANDRY
Polyandry is a marriage system where one woman is married to multiple husbands simultaneously. It is broadly classified into:
1. Fraternal Polyandry – It is the system where a woman is married to two or more brothers.
2. Non-fraternal Polyandry – It is the system where the husband of a woman are unrelated.
In India, fraternal polyandry is more common to prevent fragmentation of agricultural land and maintain family unity.
Nature:
· It is the opposite of Polyandry, where one man has multiple wives.
· In some societies, it takes the form of fraternal polyandry, where brothers share one wife.
· It is often linked to practical reasons such as keeping land undivided, coping with scarce resources, or adapting to local demographic conditions.
· In biology, the term can also refer to a female mating with more than one male.
A classic example is a Himalayan community(Hatti tribe)in Himachal Pradesh, where a women married two brothers under the traditional practice known as”Jodidaram”.
WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF POLYANDRY?
Polyandry has deeply arisen from history across various Indian communities, typically emerging and resulting into specific socio-economic and environmental challenges. It has also ancient roots in Indian society and the most famous example is found in the history of Mahabharata, where Draupadi was married to the five Pandava brothers. This was an exceptional case but it indicates that polyandrous arrangements were not completely unknown in ancient India. This practice has been founded in several distinct regions:
1) Himalayan Communities:
Mountain tribes including Paharis, Gaddis, Gujjars and Kinnaura across H.P and Uttarakhand have accepted for a long time fraternal polyandry as an adaptive strategy. This practice serves to maintain the integrity of ancestral landholdings and livestock resources, preventing the division of land among multiple heirs ensuring family survival in the harsh mountainous terrain.
2) Southern India:
The Toda community of Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri Hills represents one of the most famous practices of polyandrous traditions in South India, where the practice forms an integral part of their social structure and cultural identity.
3) Punjab’s Malwa Region:
Economic pressures stemming from progressive land fragmentation have prompted certain agricultural communities in this fertile region to adopt fraternal polyandry as a means of preserving farm viability and preventing further subdivision of already diminished holdings.
Modern anthropological studies reveal that polyandry has gradually declined because of modernization, urbanization, education, and of the spread of statutory marriage laws.
THE LEGAL PROVISIONS REALTED TO POLYANDRY IN INDIA
1) Constitutional Provisions:
The Constitution of India provides protection to tribal customs and traditions.
Under Article 13 and customary law in which Article 13 declares that laws inconsistent with Fundamental Rights are void. However, customary practices continue to hold significance unless they violate constitutional morality or public policy.
Article 29:Article 29 protects the cultural,educational rights and interests of minorities. Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India, or any part thereof, having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
5th and 6th Schedules:The Fifth & Sixth Schedules of the Constitution provide administrative autonomy to tribal areas and permit the continuation of customary legal systems in several regions.
Article 342: Article 342 deals with the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India-
It gives the President of India the power to specify which tribes or tribal communities will be recognized as Scheduled Tribes for a particular State or Union Territory.
Main Provisions of Article 342:-
President’s Power
The President may, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities that shall be treated as Scheduled Tribes in relation to a State or Union Territory.
Consultation with Governor
In the case of a State, the President consults the Governor before issuing such notification.
Parliament’s Power
After the Presidential notification, only Parliament can include or exclude any tribe from the Scheduled Tribe list through law. States cannot change the list on their own.
Example:-
The Hatti community of Himachal Pradesh was granted Scheduled Tribe status in 2022 under Article 342 through a Parliamentary amendment.
These constitutional safeguards provide protection for tribal communities to preserve their traditional practices, including marriage customs.
2) Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Polyandry is prohibited under Indian statutory law, with the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 mandating strict monogamy for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, & Sikhs, and violaters of monogamous marriage laws face legal consequences under Section 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act read with Section 82 and 84 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita), which criminalizes bigamy and polyandry with imprisonment & monetary penalties.
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 declares monogamy as a compulsory condition of marriage.
Section 5(i) states that neither party should have a living spouse at the time of marriage.Further, Section 11 declares marriages void if they contravene this condition. However, Section 2(2) State that the Act’s provisions do not apply to them unless the central government specifically directs otherwise through official notification.
3) Special Marriage Act, 1954
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 requires monogamy and does not permit polyandry(or any form of plural marriage); a person with a subsisting valid marriage cannot solemnized a second marriage under the Act. Some of the important points to this Act:-
Monogamy requirement: The Act states as a condition of a valid marriage that neither party has a subsisting valid marriage, i.e. both parties must be single/unmarried or lawfully divorced before the SMA ceremony — this effectively prohibits polyandry (a woman having multiple husbands) under the SMA .
Criminal consequences for remarriage while first marriage subsists: Marrying again while a first marriage subsists attracts the bigamy provisions of the Indian Penal Code (Sections 494–495) and relevant case law has consistently treated marriages in breach of statutory monogamy as unlawful; the SMA’s single-marriage requirement therefore prevents lawful polyandrous unions under that statute.
Contrast with personal laws: Most Indian personal laws applicable to other communities also require monogamy (Hindu, Christian, Parsi, etc.), while some interpretations of Muslim personal law permit polygyny (a man having multiple wives) but still do not allow multiple marriages under the SMA framework — the SMA is a secular civil code and enforces monogamy for anyone marrying under it .
Where polyandry stands legally: There is no recognition of polyandrous marriage under the SMA and no provision enabling registration of polyandrous unions; therefore, such a relationship would not be a lawful SMA marriage and could raise criminal and nullity issues if attempted while a prior marriage subsists.
4) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
4) Section 82: Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife.— (1) Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Exception.— This sub-section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declared void by a Court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge.
(2) Whoever commits the offence under sub-section (1) having concealed from the person with whom the subsequent marriage is contracted, the fact of the former marriage, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
5) Section 84: “Whoever takes or entices away any woman who is, and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be, the wife of any other man, with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any person, or conceals or detains with that intent any such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”
THE COURT OBSERVATIONS ON THE CASES OF POLYANDRY
Specific Court Rulings Cited:
Triple Talaq Case: The Supreme Court declared triple talaq unconstitutional under the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, finding it “arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality, dignity and the right to life.”
Sabarimala Temple Case (2018): The Supreme Court ruled that the customary practice of prohibiting menstruating women from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala was unconstitutional, as it “violated the fundamental rights of women, including the right to equality and the freedom of religion under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.”
Ram Charan & Ors. Vs Sukhram & Ors. (July 17): In this case about succession rights for tribal women, the Supreme Court held that “when a custom is silent on inheritance, there is no restriction in law that women should be prevented from inheriting ancestral property.”
Key Supreme Court Observation: The apex court stated: “Customs too, like the law, cannot remain stuck in time and others cannot be allowed to take refuge in customs or hide behind them to deprive others of their right.” This ruling affirmed that excluding female heirs based solely on customary male preferences violates Article 14 of the Constitution.
The overall judicial trend shows courts balancing respect for tribal customs with constitutional guarantees of equality and fundamental rights.
CHALLENGES FACED IN POLYANDRY
· Legal Challenges:Most modern legal systems, including Indian marriage laws, recognize monogamy. Therefore, polyandrous marriages often lack legal recognition.
They faced difficulty in obtaining legal marriage certificates.Problems related to inheritance and succession is another form disputes among them.Conflict with statutory laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
· Social Stigma:Polyandry is uncommon in most societies, so families practicing it may face:
1) Social criticism and discrimination.
2) Isolation from mainstream society.
3) Cultural misunderstanding and stereotyping.
4) Pressure to abandon traditional practices.
· Women’s Rights and Gender Issues:Although some communities consider polyandry voluntary, concerns are often raised regarding:
1) Lack of genuine consent.
2) Pressure from family traditions.
3) Emotional burden on women.
4) Unequal power relations within the family.
5) Some scholars argue that women may experience reduced personal freedom despite being central to the marital arrangement.
· Psychological and Emotional Challenges:Living in a polyandrous family may create emotional complications such as:
1) Jealousy and rivalry among husbands.
2) Stress in maintaining balanced relationships.
3) Emotional pressure on the wife.
4) Family conflicts and misunderstandings.
· Property and Inheritance Disputes:Polyandry was historically practiced to prevent division of ancestral land, but it may also create disputes regarding:
1) Ownership of property.
2) Distribution of family income.
3) Succession rights of children.
4) Determination of legal heirs.
CONCLUSION
Polyandry, the practice where one woman marries multiple men, remains rare and largely unrecognized legally worldwide. Its status highlights tensions between cultural customs and modern legal frameworks favoring monogamy.Polyandry is declining due to urbanization, spreading education and legal monogamy norms, polyandry survives informally in tribes but faces scrutiny for gender equity. No major 2026 shifts noted; reforms like Uttarakhand’s UCC exempt STs but prohibit polygamy/polyandry elsewhere.
REFRENCES
· Constitution of India.
· Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
· Special Marriage Act, 1954.
· Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
· Sasha Chauhan Kanwar & Isha Negi, “Customary Law of Polyandry (Common Marriage) in District Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh.”
· Rajesh Gautam & Gautam Kumar Kshatriya, “Polyandry As A Cultural Adaptability to High Altitude: A Case Study of Kinnauras.”
· Anjan Chakrabarti, “Polyandry Amidst the Dominance of Monogamy: An Exploratory Model with Reference to Sikkim, India.”
· “Himachal tribal woman marries 2 brothers: What the law says on polyandry.”
· “One bride, two grooms: The story of Himachal’s Hattis and the tradition of Polyandry.
