Read the passage given below and answer the question.
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).
Pick the correct option:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Khasi society is matrilineal
Option (1) Khasi society is matrilineal — Correct. A matrilineal society passes on property from mother to daughter and traces descent through the mother. Khasi custom prescribes the devolution of ancestral property in the female line, and the passage speaks throughout of Khasi matriliny.
Option (2) Khasi society is patrilineal — Incorrect. A patrilineal society passes on property from father to son. Among the Khasi, inheritance passes from mother to daughter.
Option (3) Khasi society is matriarchal — Incorrect. Matriarchy means that women hold authority and dominance. Khasi women possess only token authority; it is men who are the de facto power holders. Matriliny (descent through the mother) is not the same as matriarchy (rule by women).
Option (4) Khasi society is patrilocal — Incorrect. In a patrilocal society the newly married couple lives with the man’s parents. The Khasi husband lives with his wife and children away from his natal house; that is why the passage says his wife can always pull him away from his responsibilities to his natal house.
Note: Box 3.3 on the Khasi matrilineal family, 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 section on matrilineal and patrilineal societies are still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “The Diverse Forms of the Family … With regard to the rule of residence, some societies are matrilocal in their marriage and family customs while others are patrilocal. In the first case, the newly married couple stays with the woman’s parents, whereas in the second case the couple lives with the man’s parents. With regard to the rules of inheritance, matrilineal societies pass on property from mother to daughter while patrilineal societies do so from father to son. 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, Social Institutions: Continuity and Change (Pre-rationalised NCERT) |
