Bhuiya - Marriage and Family



Marriage. Monogamous marriage is the rule. A second marriage is normally permissible after the death of the first wife. The tribe is endogamous, but villages inhabited by the tribal community are exogamous, since most villages are peopled by one khilli. Marriage within the same khilli is forbidden. The marriageable boys and girls of agnatic villages are wedded only to those villages where suitable cognitive partners are available.

Marriage by elopement and capture are both common and marriage by arrangement has become more frequent Recently. Cross-cousin and sororate marriages are uncommon, but not widow remarriage.

The patrilocal Pauri family is nuclear, composed of Parents and their unmarried children. The grown-up sons live separately with their wives after marriage. A man may divorce his wife on grounds of neglect of household duties, quarrelsomeness, and carrying on intrigue. Children born out of wedlock are taken care of by their father. A divorced woman may remarry.

Domestic Unit. Members who live under the same roof and share food from the same kitchen form the domestic unit. More often it is the smallest unit, the family, which also performs economic and ritual functions in common. Pauri families vary between three and ten members. Some family democracy is maintained, but the authority is patripotestal.

Inheritance. Sons inherit property equally after the death of their father. Unmarried daughters of a deceased person are maintained until marriage and then marriage expenses are met by their brothers. A son adopted from agnatic kin only is eligible to inherit the property of a deceased person.

Socialization. Children are reared up to the age of 7-8 years by their parents within the family, after which boys and girls are encouraged to join the respective dormitory organizations. The latter occupy an important position in Pauri Society and play a significant role in sociocultural life. The dormitories act as schools where the young people are initiated into tribal tradition and the art of community living.


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