Read the passage and answer the following questions given below:
The Meghalaya Succession Act (passed by an all-male Meghalaya legislative assembly) received the President's assent in 1986. The Succession Act applies specifically to the Khasi and Jaintia tribes of Meghalaya and confers on 'any Khasi and Jaintia of sound mind not being a minor, the right to dispose of his self-acquired property by will'. The practice of making out a will does not exist in Khasi custom. Khasi custom prescribes the devolution of ancestral property in the female line.
There is a feeling, specially among the educated Khasi, that their rules of kinship and inheritance are biased in favour of women and are too restrictive. The Succession Act is therefore seen as an attempt at removing such restrictions and at correcting the perceived female bias in the Khasi tradition. To assess whether the popular perception of female bias in the Khasi tradition is indeed valid, it is necessary to view the Khasi matrilineal system in the context of the prevalent gender relations and definitions of gender roles.
Several scholars have highlighted the inherent contradictions in matrilineal systems. One such contradiction arises from the separation of the line of descent and inheritance on the one hand and the structure of authority and control on the other. The former, which links the mother to the daughter, comes in conflict with the latter, which links the mother's brother to the sister's son. (In other words, a woman inherits property from her mother and passes it on to her daughter, while a man controls his sister's property and passes on control to his sister's son. Thus, inheritance passes from mother to daughter whereas control passes from (maternal) uncle to nephew.
Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men. They are torn between their responsibilities to their natal house on the one hand, and to their wife and children on the other. In a way, the strain generated by such role conflict affects Khasi women more intensely. A woman can never be fully assured that her husband does not find his sister's house a more congenial place than her own. Similarly a sister will be apprehensive about her brother's commitment to her welfare because the wife with whom he lives can always pull him away from his responsibilities to his natal house.
The women are more adversely affected than men by the role conflict generated in the Khasi matrilineal system not only because men wield power and women are deprived of it, but also because the system is more lenient to men when there is a transgression of rules. Women possess only token authority in Khasi society; it is men who are the defacto power holders. The system is indeed weighted in favour of male matri-kin rather than male patri-kin. (In other words, despite matriliny, men are the power holders in Khasi society; the only difference is that a man's relatives on his mother's side matter more than his relatives on his father's side.)
Which form of family is reflected in Khasi society?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Matrilineal
Option (1) Political — Incorrect. Families are classified by the line through which descent and property pass, or by who holds authority; ‘political’ is not a form of family.
Option (2) Matrilineal — Correct. In a matrilineal society property passes from mother to daughter, and women inherit property from their mothers but do not control it or make decisions in public affairs. That is the Khasi system: a woman inherits from her mother and passes the property to her daughter, while her brother controls it. The Khasis of Meghalaya are named as a matrilineal society to this day.
Option (3) Patrilineal — Incorrect. Patrilineal societies pass property from father to son. Among the Khasi it passes in the female line, so the family is the opposite of patrilineal.
Option (4) Matriarchal — Incorrect. Matriarchy means a society where women exercise authority and dominance. Unlike patriarchy, it has been a theoretical rather than an empirical concept: there is no evidence of any society where women dominate. In Khasi society women have only token authority and men are the real power holders, so it is matrilineal, not matriarchal.
Note: The line that Box 3.3 on Khasi matriliny clarifies the distinction between matriliny and matriarchy was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023; the box and that line have been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), which still explains matriliny and matriarchy and names the Khasis of Meghalaya as a matrilineal society.
NCERT (2025-26): “3.3 Family and Kinship … A patriarchal family structure exists where the men exercise authority and dominance, and matriarchy where the women play a similarly dominant role. However, matriarchy – unlike patriarchy – has been a theoretical rather than an empirical concept. There is no historical or anthropological evidence of matriarchy – i.e., societies where women exercise dominance. However, there do exist matrilineal societies, i.e., societies where women inherit property from their mothers but do not exercise control over it, nor are they the decision makers in public affairs.” “…But the strongest argument comes from the societies that were different from the ‘normal’ or common pattern. If women were biologically unfit to be inheritors and heads of families, how did matrilineal societies (as the Nairs of Kerala used to be, and as the Khasis of Meghalaya still are) work for centuries?…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…The account of Khasi matriliny in Box 3.3 clarifies the distinction between matriliny and matriarchy. It shows the structural tensions created by matrilinear system which affect both men and women in Khasi society today.” |