Multiple Husbands | National Geographic

The opposite of polygamy is polyandry, when a woman has multiple husbands. One group of people in the Himalayas practices this lifestyle.
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Multiple Husbands | National Geographic
https://youtu.be/d4yjrDSvze0

National Geographic
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It's called polyandry.

One woman, several

Husbands.

It's an unusual arrangement.

Today, polyandry
only persists in

isolated villages
in the Himalayas.

When it was time
for Sunita Kumari to

wed, her family, like
many in India, made

arrangements.

But they involved more than

a dowry and celebration.

Sunita has not

one husband, not two
husbands, but three,

all brothers.

What must their life be like?

Westerners might
find the practice

Shocking, but for this
community it works

fine.

One reason: sheer practicality.

In the

Himalayas, arable
land is scarce.

Farms

are tiny.

If each generation divided

each family's holdings,
everyone would

starve.

Polyandry preserves the farm and

the family's future.

Unlike most men in

India, husbands
here handle domestic

duties.

They're willing to help with the

cooking and childcare.

In fraternal

polyandry, a family
picks a wife for its

oldest son.

The marriage can also include

his younger brothers.

They don't have to

join in, but most do.

No one takes a

decision regarding
one's own marriage.

Everyone at home sits
down together and

then it is decided
with the consent of

everyone.

Polyandry also functions as a

form of birth control.

No matter how many

husbands she has, a
wife can get pregnant

only so often.

If each man were to wed

separately, the
population here would

explode.

But what about sex,

the forbidden core
of a polyandry taboo?

In truth, it's a matter
of scheduling and

on the wife's part, forbearance.

Tolerance is

very important.

The wife has to

understand everything.

The older brother’s nature.

The

younger brother’s nature.

What about jealousy,
that bane of

even the most mundane marriage?

If the wife

is smart, she will
take turns each night

and sleep with all the brothers.

It's not like the older
brother wants her the

whole time.

Until recently, no
one here much cared

what the outside world thought.

Isolation had

preserved a way of life that had

withered everywhere else.

But a road now

links the region
to distant cities.

And

on roofs once decorated
only with prayer

flags,

satellite dishes sprout.

This village has

entered the modern
world whose images of

romance stand in
sharp contrast to

polyandry.

But polyandry here faces a

bigger threat: education.

As more people

are becoming more
educated we are also

practicing family planning.

If a father

has only one son
there will be no

question about the
land, therefore, common

marriages will come to an end.

In two,

perhaps three
generations, polyandry may

vanish here.

But for now, those who

practice it find
comfort in the familiar.

I, myself, feel that common
marriage is very good.

I feel

like everyone
should live like our

family.

Even if we do not have anything

to eat or drink, we
sit happily, we live

peacefully.

English (auto-generated)