Polyandry: The Rarest Form of Marriage

Polyandry is a rare form of marriage where one wife may take two or more husbands. The Tibetan, Toda, Sherpa, and Marquesan are the only four societies worldwide that practice polyandry today. There are two types of polyandrous unions: fraternal and non-fraternal. Fraternal polyandry occurs when multiple brothers share a common wife, and non-fraternal polyandry occurs when co-husbands are unrelated to one another. So why did polyandry become the age-old tradition instead of monogamy or polygyny? In order to address this question, we shall turn to the Tibetan case of fraternal polyandry and explore its kinship practices, economic concerns, and presence in serf society.