it’s called polyandry one woman several
husbands it’s an unusual arrangement
today polyamory 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 of celebration Sunita has not
one husband not two systems 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 of scarce farms
are tiny give each generation divided
each family’s holdings everyone would
starve polyandry preserves the farm and
the family’s future unlike most men in
India husband’s 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 Baris tolerance is
very important the wife has to
understand everything up submissive be a
Cuby the older brothers nature if the
younger brothers Nature had taught over
kissing what about jealousy that bane of
even the most mundane marry 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 a
whole time I thought that we will kneel
until recently no one here much cared
with the outside world far 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
polyamory but polyamory 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
practices find comfort in the familiar
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