Which of the following is true for Khasi society?

The correct answer is Option (4) → Structural tensions created by matrilineal system affect both men and women in Khasi society.

Option (1) Khasi women have more power than the men. — False. Khasi women inherit property from their mothers, but women possess only token authority; it is men who are the de facto power holders. Matriliny is not matriarchy.

Option (2) Men are confused beings and face inequality at the hands of Khasi women. — False. Men do face role conflict, torn between their natal house and their wife and children, but they wield the power. It is the women who are more adversely affected, because the system is more lenient to men.

Option (3) Man finds his sister’s home to be a more peaceful place than his own. — False. This turns a fear into a fact. It is the wife who can never be fully assured that her husband does not find his sister’s house a more congenial place; nothing says that men in general prefer it.

Option (4) Structural tensions created by matrilineal system affect both men and women in Khasi society. — True. Inheritance passes from mother to daughter, but control passes from the maternal uncle to the nephew. This separation creates structural tensions which affect both men and women: the man is torn between two houses, and the wife and the sister are both unsure of his commitment to them.

Note: Box 3.3 on the Khasi matrilineal family, and the lines that introduce it, in the chapter ‘Social Institutions: Continuity and Change’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its section on matriliny and matriarchy are still there.