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Incest in india

Who is your favorite partner in incest ?

  • Mom

    Votes: 235 48.6%
  • Sister

    Votes: 165 34.1%
  • Cousin

    Votes: 92 19.0%
  • Aunty

    Votes: 104 21.5%

  • Total voters
    484

komaalrani

Well-Known Member
21,692
54,995
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Do we really want to discuss it ? OK first thing first , what does the word mean. Secondly , legal position across word and in India and followed by sociological and social , cultural anthropological references along with the history.

let us begin with the meaning , and best way is to look into dictionary


Merriam Webster -
Definition of incest

: sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marryalso : the statutory crime of such a relationship


Examples of incest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the government did not pay for abortions for teens in custody except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the woman's life.— Author: Ann E. Marimow, Anchorage Daily News,
"Judge clears abortions for two immigrant teens in US custody Updates with court action," 19 Dec. 2017
Our great grandchildren will be arguing about the ethics of incest well after we're buried in the cold ground.—

Matt Miller, Esquire,
"There Will Be Absolutely No Shortage of Game of Thrones for the Foreseeable Future," 20 Sep. 2017



First Known Use of incest
13th century, in the meaning defined above
History and Etymology for incest

Middle English, from Latin incestus sexual impurity, from incestus impure, from in- + castus pure —

Oxford -



Sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other.



Before we proceed any further we must make a clear distinction between consanguinity and affinity as the taboo or restricted relations arise from both the categories.

Consanguinity means blood relations - like son and mother , brother sister born by same parents etc,

Affinity means related by marriage, adoption clan and lineage .

Now if we look into the definitions cited above they include two elements

a- Those persons who can't marry each other

b. Those persons ( who can't marry each other ) enter into sexual relations.

Thus if a male and female who can marry each other , do a sexual act , it will not incest. It is irrespective of the fact that they are married or not . It is different from adultery. Like suppose a person enters into sexual relationship with the sister in law of his wife ( Nandoi - Salahaj) . It will be adultery. They can;t marry also as they have living spouse and it will go against the laws of bigamy. However, unfortunately suppose both of them loose their spouse, and alone , certainly neither consanguinity nor affinity prevents their marriage. Thus that relationship will be not an incest .

Similarly , take a case of sister in law ( Bhabhi ) and brother in law ( Jeth / Devar ) . Here the issue are slightly more complicated. With elder brother ( Jeth ) the relationship is of ' avoidance ' and with younger brother ( devar ) , it is joking relationship , where certain levity is permitted. Now again look at the situation suppose both of them loose their spouse , marriage with Devar will not be frowned upon but with Jeth certainly is.

Thus the whole issue will revolve that in a particular society , ' who is permitted to marry whom. '


sexual relations between those who are not permitted to marry will be incestuous.

However, religious , social and legal situations will vary and it will also vary with time. Even in a same religion , there may be different customs and permissions in North India and there may be different rules in western , eastern and southern India , therefore there can't be a pan India answer. Most common example is daughter of maternal uncle ( mameri bahan ) now in Maharastra and Bengal and even in South India as for as i know it is permissible so a relationship with maternal sister ( mameri mauseri behan ) will not be incest but with Paternal sister it will be .

In South India marriage is more 'endogamic' ( close relations, known family ) while in North India, it is exogamic ( as far as possible not in Gotra etc) One can do a detail study in Irawati Karve's seminal work on kinship.

Tribes are totally different ballgame.

In many of them Polyandry ( number of brother marrying one woman ) is acceptable.

Polyandry was mainly prevalent in the Kinnaur Region, a part of Himachal in India which is close to the Tibet or currently the Indo-China border. Apart from Kinnaur, polyandry was practised in South India among the Todas tribes of Nilgiris, Nanjanad Vellala of Travancore. and some Nair castes. It is very common in the Jaunsar-Bawar region in Northern India. Now in these societies the ' normal' concepts will not work.

Even in same area acceptance' change , therefore it will be appropriate to look into various historical, social and legal dimensions to understand this concept rather than taking a general view. I will keep on sharing my limited knowledge .
 
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