A historian compares two Muslim communities of the past. The first was a linguistically diverse trading community of the Punjab, Sind and Gujarat, belonging to a branch of a Shi'a sect. Its devotional poems, sung at daily prayer meetings, were passed on by word of mouth for a long time and were written down only much later. The second community lived on the south-western coast of India. There, after marriage, a woman continued to live in the house of her birth with her children, and her husband came to stay with them.
Which term describes the custom followed by the second community?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Matrilocal residence
Option (1) Polyandry — Incorrect. Polyandry is a woman having several husbands at a time. The passage speaks of one husband who comes to stay, which is a matter of residence.
Option (2) Matriliny — Incorrect. Matriliny means tracing descent and inheritance through the mother. The Malabar settlers adopted it too, but it is about descent.
Option (3) Exogamy — Incorrect. Exogamy is the rule of marrying outside one's own group. It is a rule about whom one marries.
Option (4) Matrilocal residence — Correct. Matrilocal residence is the practice where a woman stays in her natal home after marriage with her children, and the husband comes to stay there. Arab traders on the Malabar coast adopted it as a local custom.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.2 The popular practice of Islam … “Matrilocal residence is a practice where women after marriage remain in their natal home with their children and the husbands may come to stay with them.” |