Choose a statement that is incorrect for Khasi Matriliny Society:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → It is a society where women exercise dominance
Option (1) It is a society where women exercise dominance — False. A society where women exercise dominance would be a matriarchy, and there is no historical or anthropological evidence of matriarchy. The Khasis are matrilineal: women inherit property from their mothers but do not exercise control over it, nor are they the decision makers in public affairs.
Option (2) Despite Matriliny, men are the power holders in Khasi Society — True. Inheritance passes from mother to daughter, but control passes from the maternal uncle to the nephew: a man controls his sister’s property and passes that control on to his sister’s son.
Option (3) It generates role conflict for men — True. Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men, who are torn between their responsibilities to their natal house on the one hand and to their wife and children on the other.
Option (4) Men are defacto power holders — True. By the rules of descent, property goes in the female line, but in practice (de facto) it is the men who control it and take the decisions.
Note: Box 3.3 on Khasi matriliny, in the chapter ‘Social Institutions: Continuity and Change’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This box has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its lines on matriliny and matriarchy are still there.
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.”
Box 3.3, Khasi matriliny, chapter ‘Social Institutions: Continuity and Change’ (NCERT Pre-rationalised) |
