Editing Polyandry (section)

===Fraternal polyandry===
{{see also|Polyandry in Tibet}}

Fraternal polyandry (from the [[Latin]] ''frater''—brother), also called '''adelphic polyandry''' (from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''{{Lang|grc|ἀδελφός}}''—brother), is a form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more men who are brothers. Fraternal polyandry was (and sometimes still is) found in certain areas of [[Tibet]], [[Nepal]], and Northern India, as well as some central African cultures<ref>{{cite news|last1=Banerjee|first1=Partha S.|title=Wild, Windy and Harsh, yet Stunningly Beautiful|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020421/spectrum/travel.htm|work=The Sunday Tribune|date=21 April 2002|access-date=19 August 2008|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804121514/https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020421/spectrum/travel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> where polyandry was accepted as a social practice.<ref name="Gielen1993" /><ref name="Levine, Nancy">Levine, Nancy, ''The Dynamics of Polyandry: Kinship, domesticity and population on the Tibetan border'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.{{Page needed|date=August 2011}}</ref> The [[Toda people]] of southern [[India]] practiced fraternal polyandry, but monogamy has become prevalent recently.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sidner|first1=Sara|title=Brothers Share Wife to Secure Family Land|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/polygamy.investigation/index.html|work=CNN|access-date=2008-10-24|archive-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126210132/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/polygamy.investigation/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In contemporary Hindu society, polyandrous marriages in [[agrarian societies]] in the [[Malwa (Punjab)|Malwa]] region of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] seem to occur to avoid division of farming land.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/modern-draupadis-exist-in-mansa-villages/articleshow/7847515.cms|title=Modern Draupadis exist in Mansa villages &#124; India News - Times of India|website=The Times of India|date=2 April 2011 }}</ref>

Fraternal polyandry achieves a similar goal to that of [[primogeniture]] in 19th-century England. Primogeniture dictated that the eldest son inherited the family estate, while younger sons had to leave home and seek their own employment. Primogeniture maintained family estates intact over generations by permitting only one heir per generation. Fraternal polyandry also accomplishes this, but does so by keeping all the brothers together with just one wife so that there is only one set of heirs per generation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn |title=Natural History |year=1987 |publisher=Natural History Magazine |pages=39–48}}</ref> This strategy appears less successful the larger the fraternal sibling group is.<ref>{{cite journal|author2-link=Joan Silk |last2=Silk |first2=Joan B. |last1=Levine |first1=Nancy |title=Why Polyandry Fails: Sources of Instability in Polyandrous marriages |journal=Current Anthropology |year=1997 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=375–98 |doi=10.1086/204624|s2cid=17048791 }}</ref>

Some forms of polyandry appear to be associated with a perceived need to retain [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] titles or [[agricultural]] [[Real Property|land]]s within kin groups, and/or because of the frequent absence, for long periods, of a man from the household. In Tibet the practice was particularly popular among the priestly [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakya]] class.

The female equivalent of fraternal polyandry is [[sororate marriage]].