Matriliny is unilineal descent traced through women. A child belongs to the mother's lineage and clan, succeeds to its name and ritual identity, and in the fuller form inherits its property through the female line. It is frequently, though not necessarily, joined to matrilocal or duolocal residence, in which the husband moves to the wife's house or the spouses continue to live with their own kin. Authority within the group usually rests with a senior man — the mother's brother — rather than the father.
Indian instances
The Nayars of Kerala are the classic case: the taravad, a matrilineal joint property group of a woman and her descendants, managed by the eldest male karanavan, with tali-tying and sambandham unions that gave the husband no rights over children. The Khasi and Jaintia of Meghalaya pass ancestral property to the youngest daughter, the khadduh, with the maternal uncle exercising authority. The Garos are matrilineal and matrilocal, property passing to a chosen heiress and her husband as manager. Among the Muslim inhabitants of Lakshadweep, studied by Leela Dube, matrilineal descent and taravad property persisted alongside Islamic law, an unusually clear case of two normative orders in one society.
Why it matters
Matriliny separates descent, authority and residence, and so proves that they need not coincide. Kathleen Gough's comparative work identified the recurring strain of the matrilineal puzzle, named by Audrey Richards: a man's loyalty is divided between his own children and his sister's, whom his group must support. Tenancy legislation, partition statutes such as the Madras Marumakkattayam Act of 1932 and the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act of 1975, wage labour and migration have since dissolved or weakened most Indian matrilineal estates.
Points of debate
Leela Dube's central point is that matriliny is not matriarchy. Women transmit group membership and property, which gives them security, standing and lower vulnerability to divorce or widowhood, but management, ritual office and political decision typically remain with men. Descent through women is not rule by women.
For the UPSC answer
Define matriliny as descent through females and distinguish it from matrilocality and matriarchy in the same breath. Use Nayar taravad, Khasi khadduh and Garo heiress as examples, cite the matrilineal puzzle, and close with Leela Dube on the gap between female transmission and female authority.
References & further reading
- Gough, K. and Schneider, D. M. (eds.) (1961). Matrilineal Kinship. University of California Press.
- Dube, L. (1969). Matriliny and Islam: Religion and Society in the Laccadives. National Publishing House.
- Dube, L. (1997). Women and Kinship: Comparative Perspectives on Gender in South and South-East Asia. United Nations University Press.