Polyandry Research Paper

Chapter One: Introduction
Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse, it may not always legal but we could find some traces in almost every society and culture. During the early phase of human existence, hunters like to involve in multiple mating practices, whether they were female or male, both the sexes were engaged in multiple relationships. Earlier when the human civilizations started to develop, the wealthiest and powerful men tend to have many wives whereas the weakest do not have even one.
Polygamy is further divided into two parts Polygyny and Polyandry. Polygyny is the case when a man have more than one wife and Polyandry is when a Female have more than one husbands. I have selected the Indian epic Mahabharata in order to work on my research topic that is Polygamy and polyandry in ancient India. Polygamy was a common phenomenon often associated with kings, warriors and noblemen. They were having multiple partners in the harem. In India, in the ancient times and even until fifty years ago polygamy was well freely allowed. Man, especially of higher castes were very much in charge of having more than one wife. In the Mahabharata, or in the old history suggests that the warriors used to have polygamous relation, no restrictions over men for this. If we go into the story of Mahabharata we can see

Dharmashastra or the Hindu law book made some provisions for having multiple wives but only under special circumstances not for the carnal pleasures, but only for the continuation of family lineage. Dharmashastra suggests that women are always dependent to the male partner for the protection. Woman’s role was considered to be of a great wife so that the God and Godesses would respond to the couples requests. In the religious rituals, wife was to be present to use for her