Kinship notes JKSSB Supervisor exam download pdf
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Kinship is a method of acknowledging
relationship. It is a social bond initiated by genetic or blood ties as well as marriage.
Kinship ties are of fundamental
importance
Man is social by nature. He
establishes many types of relationships with a number of persons.
The most important of these relationships is known as kinship.
A normal adult male is a son, a
brother, a nephew, an uncle and so on. Similarly, a female is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a
mother and aunt etc.
Such
relationships based either on marriage or blood-ties are known as KINSHIP relations. In the present
lesson you will learn about kinship ties and its various aspects.
Kinship relations are socially recognized based on
descent, marriage or adoption. It is the expression of relations in biological idioms. Kinship can be defined as relationships
based on descent, marriage or adoption.
The spread of kinship relations is possible because every normal adult belongs to two types of overlapping families - viz. family of orientation and family of procreation. The
prohibitive rules of marriage and incest restrict his becoming father and husband in the
same family in which he is a son
or brother.
A person is born in a
family of orientation and later establishes the second elementary family through marriage i.e. family of procreation.
TYPES OF KINSHIP
Family is the point of
departure for studying kinship. There
are basically two types of
kinship within a family:
(1) Affinal Kinship
(ii) Consanguineous Kinship
(i) Affinal Kinship
This type of
kinship is based on marriage. The
most primary affinal relationship is the one between a husband and a wife which in its extended form
includes parents and siblings of both sides
and their spouses and children.
Hence, the relationship between
son-in-law and father-in-law is
an example of affinal kinship. Similarly,
one's brother-in-laws and their children are also examples of affinal
kins.
(ii) Consanguineal
Kinship
The type of kinship
based on descent is called consanguineal kinship, commonly
known as blood relation.
The relationship between a
child and his parents, between
children of the same set of parents,
between uncles and nephews/nieces
are examples of consanguineous kinship.
Blood relationship or consanguineous
kinship is based on biological fact of genetic
relationship between parents and children. The relationship between mother and child is the starting point of consanguineal kinship, which in its extended form includes the child's father, grandparents,
uncles, cousins, aunts and so on.
The kins may not
be always related to each other by real blood or marital ties; rather there might be imaginary or assumed relationship between them.
Such assumed relationship may be
called fictive kinship. In fact social recognition of biological fact overrides the actual biological
connection in kinship.
Among the
Todas of Nilgiri hills, a woman has
more than one husband at a time.
Hence, her children may have different biological fathers but all the
children are considered to be
of the husband who last
performed the armorial presentation
of bow and arrow to the common wife. Even though such a person may
not be alive, he will be considered to be the husband of the common wife and the father
of all the children until another husband performs the ritual. Adoption of a child is also an example of establishment of kinship
between a child and his adopter.
Primary kins or first degree kins
are those who are directly related to each other.
These kins may belong to the family of orientation ie. the one in which we are born and brought up. For example, our father, mother, brothers and sisters are our primary kins because we
are directly related to these persons
through blood or genetic ties. Husband-wife relationship is an example of primary affinal kin. A person
(or ego) may have seven types of
primary kins viz. mother, father,
son daughter, brother, sister,
husband or wife.
Secondary Kin
The primary kins of our first degree kins are our secondary kins. They are not directly related to us but through primary kins. There can be 33 types of secondary kins. Examples of secondary kin are: Father's father i.e. paternal grandfather, mother's father i.e. maternal
grandfather, father's mother i.e. paternal grandmother, wife's or husband's
brothers and sisters, parents
and so on.
Tertiary Kin
The primary kins of our secondary kins or
secondary kins of our primary kins are
known as our tertiary kins or third degree
kins. For example, your brother-in-law is your secondary kin and his wife or children who
are his primary kins become your tertiary kin.
These are 151 types
of tertiary kins. For example, Father's brother's wife, father's
sister's husband, father's mother's brother,
father's mother's sister and so
on.
In this way, the
degree of kinship can be extend to 4th, 5th, 6th to nth
degree. The primary kins of our
tertiary kins are called fourth degree kins
and so on. Such kins may include
all those with whom we share
even remote consanguineous or affinal ties.
They are classified as distant kins. In some societies, distant kins are significant like in many simple and rural societies,
while in others they may not
even be recognized.
KINSHIP SYSTEM IN NORTH
INDIA
Irawati Karve (1953: 93) identified
the northern zone as the region that lies between the Himalayas to the north
and the Vindhya ranges to the south. We can describe the basic structure and
process of kinship system in this area in terms of four features that is i)
kinship groups, ii) kinship terminology iii) marriage rules, and iv) ceremonial
exchange of gifts among kin.
Kinship Groups Sociological
studies in various parts of North India show the predominance of social groups
based on the principles of co-operation and kinship between men.
Patrilineage: We can say that broadly speaking
kinship organisation in North Kinship India is based on unilineal descent
groups based on male descent. Members of patrilineages form land holding
cooperate groups that may also engage in conflict with similar but rival groups
Clan and Lineage groups: They are both based on the
principle of descent from a common ancestor or ancestress, depending upon
whether the group is patrilineal or matrilineal. When the ancestor can be
actually traced, the group is a lineage but when it goes so far back as the
ancestor becomes a mythical figure then it is known as a clan. In North India,
there is both lineage and clan exogamy. In the jati based society, we also have
gotra exogamy where a gotra refers to an ancient ancestor, a mythological sage.
Caste and Subcaste: A Caste usually refers to a jati
or a local group but many units known as castes refer to a community that has a
name and occupation but may be sub-divided into smaller units based on some
criteria that separates them out for marriage. For example the name of the
overall caste may be Aggarwal, but there may exist sub-castes within this
community based on some character like relative purity of past marriage, a
slightly differentoccupation or some other marker. For example one sub-caste
may compose of dealers in grain while another to dealers in gold and silver.
Fictive Kin: We should also mention, the
recognition of fictive kinship in Indian society. Often, people, who are not
related either by descent o r marriage, form the bonds of fictive kinship with
each other. for example a woman may tie a rakhi on a man and he becomes her
fictive brother. Among Christians the practice of naming a person as Godfather
or Godmother at the time of baptism of the child is an institutionalized form
of fictive kinship.
Kinship Terminology
Descriptive Nature of
North Indian Kinship Terms:
The kinship terminology is the expression of kinship relations in linguistic
terms. In the case of North India, we can call the system of terminology as
bifurcate collateral where each kinship term is descriptive. A descriptive kin
term is unique and used for only one relationship. Unlike the English terms,
uncle, aunty, cousin, which do not reveal age, patrilateral/matrilateral ties,
the North Indian kinship terms are very clear. For example, when we say
chachera bhai, it can be easily translated as father’s younger brother’s
(chacha’s) son, who stands in the relationship of a brother (bhai) to the
speaker. Similarly, mamera bhai means mother’s brother’s (mama’s) son. We find
a clear-cut distinction made between parallel and cross-cousins. The children
of one’s brother are bhatija (for male child) and bhatiji (for female child).
The children of one’s sister are bhanja (for male child) and bhanji (for female
child).
Kinship Terms
Signifying Social Behaviour: The concept of kinship behavior was given
by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. He identified three kinds of kinship rules that inform
kinship behaviour.
1) Unity of the Sibling Group
2) Distance of adjacent
generations
3) Merging of alternate
generations Institutions and Processes
Both kinship terms and behaviour reflect these principles.
Two major forms of kinship
behaviour are joking relationships and avoidance relationships. Both serve the
same function, to reduce tension and act as a cathartic mechanism in case of
relationships that are precarious. These are relationships that have an ambiguous
character and the norms tend to be liable to infraction. For example, Oscar
Lewis (1958: 189), in his study of a North Indian village, has described the
pattern and relationship between a person and his elder brother’s wife. This is
popularly known as Devar-Bhabhi relationship, which is characteristically a
joking relationship. By the rules of Hindu marriage a man can possibly marry
his elder brother’s widow but not his younger brother’s wife. The latter should
be seen as a daughter-in-law. However in most cases there is no actual
possibility of such a union occurring yet the potential sexuality of the
relationship remains. Thus the tension is masked through joking. As a contrast
to the joking relationship is the behaviour of avoidance between a woman and
her husband’s father. Similarly, she has to avoid her husband’s elder brother.
The term for husband’s father is shvasur and for husband’s elder brother is
bhasur. Bhasur is a combination of the Sanskrit word bhratr (brother) and
shvasur (father-in-law), and is, therefore, like father-in-law
Marriage
Rules In the context of North India, we find that people know whom not to
marry. In sociological terms, the same thing can be expressed by saying that
there are negative rules of marriage in North India. We can also say that
marriage is allowed only outside a defined limit. Let us see what this limit or
the rule of exogamy is in North India.
i)
Clan
Exogamy: Belonging to one’s natal descent line is best expressed in matters of
marriage. No man is allowed to marry a daughter of his patriline. In North
India lineage ties upto five or six generations are generally remembered and
marriage alliances are not allowed within this range. In such a situation the
lineage turns into the clan and we speak of gotra (clan) and gotra bhai (clan
mates).
ii)
The Four
Clan Rule : In Irawati Karve’s (1953: 118) words, according to this rule, a man
must not marry a woman from (i) his father’s gotra, (ii) his mother’s gotra,
(iii) his father’s mother’s gotra, and (iv) his mother’s mother’s gotra.
Another related kind of exogamy, which exists in North India, is village
exogamy. A village usually has members of one or two lineages living in it.
Members belonging to the same lineage are not permitted to intermarry. This
principle extends even to the villages, which have more than two lineages. In
other words, a boy and a girl in a village in North India are like a brother
and sister and hence cannot intermarry.
iii)
Marriages
within the Sub Caste: Associated with local terms is the idea of the status of
various units within the sub-caste. Taking the example of the Sarjupari Brahmin
of Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, studied by Louis Kinship Dumont (1966:
107), we find that each of the three sub-castes of Sarjupari Brahmins of this
area is divided into three houses (kin groups or lineages) which range
hierarchically in status. The marriages are always arranged from lower to
higher house. This means that women are always given to the family, which is
placed in the house above her own. In this context, we canalso refer to the
popular saying in North India that ‘the creeper must not go back’. The same
idea is reflected by another North Indian saying that ‘pao pujke, ladki nahin
le jainge’ (i.e., once we have washed the feet of the bride groom during the
wedding ceremony, we cannot accept a girl from his family, because this will
mean that we allow that side to wash our feet or allow the reversal of
relationships). In North India, such a reversal is not allowed and thus, we
find the rule of prohibition on marriage with patrilateral cross-cousins.
Another principle should also be mentioned here. It is rule of no repetition.
This means that if the father’s sister has been married in a family (khandan),
one’s own sister cannot be given in marriage to that same family (Dumont 1966:
104-7). A prohibition on repetition shows that matrilateral cross-cousin
marriage is barred in North India. Thus, we find that both patrilateral and
matrilateral cross-cousin marriages are not allowed in North India.
KINSHIP
SYSTEM IN SOUTH INDIA
m. The
states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala arc generally
considered as South India. In the region occupied by these four states, we find
a fairly common pattern of kinship organisation. Like in the North, we find
diversity in the kinship pattern in the South too. We must not forget that in
this region, the state of Kerala is distinct because of its matrilineal system
of descent and the practice of inter-caste hypergamy. Secondly despite common
elements, each of these four linguistic regions may have its distinct
socio-cultural patterns of kinship. Having defined the area, let us now begin
with a discussion of kinship groups
Kinship
Groups Kin relatives in South India are mainly categorised in two groups
namely, the patrilineage and the affines. i) Patrilineage: In South India, just
as in North India, relating to various categories of kin beyond one’s immediate
family implies a close interaction with members of one’s patrilineage. The
patrilocal residence amongst the lineage members provides the chances for
frequent interaction and cooperation. Thus, the ties of descent and residence
help in the formation of a kin group. Such a group is recognised in both South
and North India. For example, K.Gough (1955) in her study of the Brahmins of
Tanjore district describes patrilineal descent groups, which are distributed in
small communities. Each caste within the village contains one to twelve exogamous
patrilineal groups. ii) Affinal Relatives: Opposed to the members of a
patrilineage, we have the kin group of affinal relatives (those related through
marriage). Beyond the patrilineage are the relatives who belong to the group in
which one’s mother was born, as well as one’s wife. They are a person’s uterine
(from mothers side) and affinal (from wife’s side) kin, commonly known as
mamamachchinan. In this set of relatives are also included the groups in which
a person’s sister and father’s sister are married. The nature of interaction
between a patrilineage and its affines, as described by Dumont (1986) is always
cordial and friendly.
Kinship
Terminology The expression of kin relationships follows a clear-cut structure
with a great deal of precision. Main features of this system, according to
Louis Dumont (1986: 301), are that (i) it distinguishes between parallel and
cross-cousins and (ii) it is classificatory. Let us discuss these two features.
This is also referred to as bifurcate-merging
i)
Parallel
and Cross-cousins: Parallel cousins are those who are the children Kinship of
the siblings of same sex. This means that children of two brothers, or, of two
sisters are parallel cousins to eachother. Cross-cousins are those, who are the
children of the siblings of the oppositesex. This means that children of a
brother and a sister are cross-cousins. The kin terminology in South India
clearly separates the two categories of cousins. There are very good reasons
for doing so because in South India, parallel cousins cannot marry each other
while cross-cousins can. The parallel cousins are referred as brothers/sisters.
For example, in Tamil, all parallel cousins are addressed as annan (elder
brother) or tambi (younger brother) and akka (elder sister) or tangachi (younger
sister). Cross-cousins are never brothers/sisters. They are referred, for
example in Tamil, as mama magal/ magan (mother’s brother’s daughter/son) or
attai magal/magan (father’s sister’s daughter/son ii) Classificatory Nature of
Kinship Terminology; The distinction between parallel and cross-cousins
combined with the classificatory nature of terminology makes the Dravidian
kinship terms a mirror image of the kinship system in South India. The
terminology becomes classificatory in the following manner.The person’s own
generation is terminologically divided into two groups: a) One group (known as
Pangali in Tamil) consists of all the brothers and sisters, including one’s
parallel cousins and the children of the father’s parallel cousins. b) The
other group comprises cross-cousins and affinal relatives such as wife/ husband
of the category (a) relatives. In Tamil, this category is called by the term of
mama-machchinan.
Marriage
Rules Kinship system in South India is characterised by positive rules of marriage.
This means that preference for a particular type of alliance in marriage is
clearly stated and practised. i) Three Types of Preferential Marriage Rules:
The preferential marriage rules are of the following three types. i) In several
castes in South India, the first preference is given to the marriage between a
man and his elder sister’s daughter. Among the matrilineal societies like the
Nayars, this is not allowed. ii) Next category of preferred marriage is the
marriage of a man with his father’s sister’s daughter (fzd). In other words, we
can also say that a woman marries her mother’s brother’s son (mbs). In this
kind of marriage, the principle of return is quite evident. The family, which
gives a daughter, expects to receive a daughter in return in marriage. iii) The
third type of preferential marriage is between a man and his mother’s brother’s
daughter (mbd). In a way, this is the reverse of (ii) above. Some castes, such
as the Kallar of Tamil Nadu, Havik Brahmin of Karnataka, some Reddy castes of Andhra
Pradesh, allow only this type of cross-cousin
ii) Restrictions regarding Marital Alliances:In this context it is necessary to see what are the restrictions imposed with regard to marriage between certain relatives. For example, in certain castes a man can marry his elder sister’s daughter but not younger sister’s daughter. Also a widow cannot marry her deceased husband’s elder or younger brother or even his classificatory brother. Here we find that for each individual, the prohibited persons for marriage differ. Then there is, of course, the rule that a person cannot marry in one’s own immediate family and one’s lineage. The lineage in the case of the Kallar sub-caste is known as Kuttam (Dumont 1986: 184). All individuals in the lineage are forbidden to marry persons of the lineage.