Family and Kinship

Introduction
Family in Rural India
Changes in Family
Lineage and Kinship

Introduction

The family is the basic unit of almost all societies. This is especially true in India, where a person's true identity depends on the status and position of their family and social status.

Family in Rural India

The family is one of the most important social institutions forming rural society. It satisfies needs and performs functions essential for continuity, integration and change in the social system, such as reproduction, production and socialization.

In general, there are two types of families: (a) a nuclear family consisting of a husband, wife and unmarried children, and (b) a joint or extended family with a few more relatives than the main type. Important dimensions of the family union are co-residence, commensality, sharing, generational depth (three) and the fulfillment of kinship obligations and the sentimental aspect. Co-residentiality means that members of a family live under the same roof. Community means that they eat together, that is, share a kitchen. Co-ownership means that they have co-ownership of a property. Also, the generation depth includes three or more generations, i. H Grandfather, father and son or more. Family members also have obligations to their loved ones. Moreover, they have a sentimental attachment to the ideal of a common family.

The rural family functions as a unit of economic, cultural, religious and political activities. In social life the collectivity of the family is emphasized and feelings of individualism and personal freedom are very limited. Marriage is viewed as an interfamilial affair rather than an interpersonal affair. It is governed by kinship rules.

Changes in Family

The traditional joint family occupied a predominant position in rural India. It was widespread among the landed nobility and the priestly caste. But there was also a nuclear family in India. Lower caste families whose main occupation was agricultural work tended to be nuclear. However, they cherished the ideal of a close-knit family. Various studies have been conducted to diagnose the transformation of the family in India with increasing industrialization and urbanization, changes in economy, technology, politics, education and law in modern times. There are two approaches. The first assumes that the family structure in India has gone through the process of unilinear change from the common form to the nuclear form as in the West.

Second, Desai I P (1964), Dube SC (1955), Madan TN (1965) and others argue that it is necessary to view the family as a process. They apply a development cycle approach to understand changes in family structure in India. They argue that the presence of nuclear families should be viewed as units, which will grow into joint families as the children grow up and marry. The "developmental cycle" approach means that a family structure continues to expand in a cyclical order over a period of time, with birth and marriage, and ends with death and division.

Furthermore, empirical studies show interregional and intraregional variations in the distribution of family types. This is the conclusion of the research of Pauline Kolenda (1967) who, on the basis of 32 publications, carried out a comparative study of family structures in thirteen regions of India. In Uttar Pradesh, among the Thakurs of Senapur, joint households make up 74.4% and nuclear households only 25.5%; but the untouchables have 34% joint families and 66% nuclear families. In the hilly area of Uttar Pradesh state, Sirkanda village, where Rajputs make up the majority of the population, joint families make up only 39% and nuclear families 61%. In Maharashtra, Badlapur village has 14% joint households and 86% nuclear households. In Andhra Pradesh, in the village of Shamirpet, the share of united families is 18.5 percent and that of nuclear power is 81.5 percent.

Lineage and Kinship

Within the village, a group of families descended from a common ancestor and knowing all the ties form a lineage; and children of the same generation behave like brothers and sisters. They form a unit to celebrate great ritual events. Sometimes the word kul is used to describe these entities. Usually these families live close to each other and a guest of one of them (eg a son-in-law) can be treated as such in all these families. These family ties can go back 3 to 7 generations. People do not marry within this group. In addition to the known links, are there any other links? humans know the common ancestor, but cannot trace every link. Such families use a more generic term like "bhai-bandh" as they are separated. They are also exogamous. The word gotra or clan can be used for them.

Adrian Mayer (1960) studied a village in Malwa and distinguished between the type of cooperation and the type of recognition. The first of these is the smallest unit where collaborations are offered and accepted without formalities.

The second is a larger unit that meets on specific occasions through information and invitations. These relationships can span several villages for each caste. Thus, Mayer studied them within a caste and its region, a point we need to remember in order to understand the distribution of a caste/sub-caste across towns and cities. This is also referred to as horizontal caste dispersion.

There are some differences between North and South India in terms of marriage rules. Irawati Karve (1965) noted these differences. Later, an American anthropologist, David Mandelbaum, included them in his popular work on society in India (1972). He reiterates the position: "Generally speaking, a Southern family seeks to strengthen existing kinship ties through marriage, while a Northern family tends to join a distinct group of people with whom they are not not already connected. This is evidenced by the prevalence of village exogamy rules and "gotra" exogamy in the north, but not in the south. In the north, no one can get married in their own village. Marriage alliances are made with people from other villages belonging to a similar caste. But in the south there are no such bans. Also, in the north one cannot marry within one's gotra. In contrast, cross-cousin marriage, that is, marriage between the children of a brother and a sister, is preferred in the South. Thus, in North India, there is a centrifugal tendency, i.e. the direction of marriage is outward or away from the group. In contrast, in southern India, there is a centripetal trend in the formation of matrimonial alliances and in the formation of kinship ties. In other words, marriages take place internally or within the group.

Family and Kinship

Contents

Introduction

Family in Rural India

Changes in Family

Lineage and Kinship

Further Reading

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