Polyandry in Tibet

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Polyandry in Tibet was a traditional marriage practice that existed within a milieu whereby a woman could have several husbands.

Rationale behind polyandry

Many anthropological studies have attempted to explain the existence of polyandry in Tibet, especially the more commonly encountered fraternal polyandry. Two reasons have commonly been put forward in traditional literature:

Because of the practice of female infanticide in Tibet, there had been a relative shortage of females. Polyandry resolved the problem by allowing a few men to marry one woman.
Because Tibet lies at a very high altitude, and land was infertile, polyandry was adopted to prevent starvation. Under the circumstances, polyandry, by diminishing the birth rate of every generation, prevented excessive demographic growth that could result in starvation.

The anthropologist, Marcus S. Goldstein (1906-1997), however, questioned both of these explanations, arguing that female infanticide was never institutionalized in Tibet, and that women in Tibetan society had considerable rights. Moreover, there is no demographic evidence of a relative shortage of females in the literature on the subject. Goldstein also disputed the second theory, arguing that polyandry was widely practised only among the land-owning families, and not among the poorest classes where starvation was more likely. He, therefore, counterproposed that polyandry could be better understood in relation to the social stratification of Tibet. In fact, family structures and marriages in Tibet were inextricably tied to a social organization that was distinctly characterized by clearly-defined social classes.

Fraternal polyandry

As has been seen, fraternal polyandry was a form of marriage that was prevalent among the tre-ba class. Traditionally, marriages were arranged by the parents, often when the children were still very young. As tre-ba marriages were decided for patrimonial reasons, the brides' and bridegrooms' personal preferences were of no consequence. In polyandrous conjugal family, the eldest brother was, more often than not, the dominant person in the household. All the other brothers, however, shared equally the work, and had the right to sexual relations with their common wife, who had to treat them equally.

All children were treated equally, and a "father" is not allowed to show any favoritism, even if he knew who his biological children really were, as biological paternity was not regarded as important. Similarly, the children considered all their uncles as their fathers, and a child avoided treating members of the elder generation differently, even if they knew who their biological father was.

Divorce was quite simple. If one of the brothers in a polyandrous marriage felt displeased, he only had to leave the household. Polyandrous marriages were often characterized by tensions and clashes for a variety of different reasons. Conflicts may, for example arise because a younger brother wanted to contest the authority of his eldest brother, or sometimes, sexual favoritism might occur, generating tension among the male partners in the marriage, especially so, when there are significant age differences among the brothers.

Polyandry in Tibet

Rationale behind polyandry

Fraternal polyandry

See also