POLYANDRY IN A CENTRAL HIMALAYAN COMMUNITY - AN ECOCULTURAL ANALYSIS

Polyandry as a social institution has often been connoted as a cultura l oddity or an ethnographic fossil in the evolution of family. In part , this view has resulted from a fragmented or isolated analytical fram e work. This article, in contrast, takes a more holistic point of View to express the institution in its ecological, economic-and cultural p erspectives through a study of the Jaunsaries, a Central Himalayan com munity of India. The Jaunsaries have undergone a number of classificat ion and development changes. At present, the Jaunsaries are a schedule d tribe, and have been so since the Jaunsari-Bawar area was declared s cheduled tribe area in 1967. This article begins with the analysis of the socio-economic situation of the Jaunsaries and identifies the role and influence of polyandry in their social development and economic s ustainability.