View source for Polyandry

{{Short description|Mating system in which the female partner may have multiple partners}}
{{About|polyandrous marriage practices|polyandrous animal mating|Polyandry in nature}}
[[File:Draupadi and Pandavas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.20|alt=Illustration of Draupadi, a princess and queen in the [[ancient India]]n epic "Mahabharata", with her five brother husbands|[[Draupadi]] and her five brother husbands, the [[Pandava]]s. Top down, from left to right: the twins [[Nakula]] and [[Sahadeva]] stand either side of the throne on which [[Yudhishthira]] and Draupadi sit between [[Bhima]] and [[Arjuna]].]]
{{Anthropology of kinship |concepts}}
{{Close relationships |types}}

'''Polyandry''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|i|ˌ|æ|n|d|r|i|,_|ˌ|p|ɒ|l|i|ˈ|æ|n|-}}; {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|πολύ}}'' ({{grc-transl|πολύ}})|many||''{{wikt-lang|grc|ἀνήρ}}'' ({{grc-transl|ἀνήρ}})|man}}) is a form of [[polygamy]] in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with [[polygyny]], involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" participants of each gender, then it can be called polygamy,<ref>{{cite journal|author1=McCullough, Derek|author2=Hall, David S.|title=Polyamory – What it is and what it isn't.|journal=Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality|date=27 February 2003|volume=6|url=http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm|access-date=30 July 2015|archive-date=10 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210093927/http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[group marriage|group or conjoint marriage]].<ref name="Zeitzen">{{cite book |last=Zeitzen |first=Miriam Koktvedgaard |title=Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC&pg=PA3 |publisher=Berg |page=3 |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84520-220-0 |access-date=2017-06-08 |archive-date=2020-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801115116/https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC&pg=PA3 |url-status=live }}</ref> In its broadest use, polyandry refers to sexual relations with multiple males within or without marriage.

Of the 1,231 societies listed in the 1980 Ethnographic Atlas, 186 were found to be monogamous, 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygyny, and four had polyandry.<ref name="Atlas">[http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118232413/http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf |date=2012-11-18 }} derived from George P. Murdock's ''Ethnographic Atlas'' recording the marital composition of 1,231 societies from 1960 to 1980.</ref> Polyandry is less rare than this figure suggests, as it considered only those examples found in the Himalayan mountain region (eight societies). More recent studies have found at least four other societies practicing polyandry.<ref name="Starkweather/Hames 2012">{{cite journal |last2=Hames |first2=Raymond |last1=Starkweather |first1=Katherine |title=A survey of non-classical polyandry |journal=Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) |year=2012 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=149–150 |doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x |pmid=22688804 |s2cid=2008559 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub |access-date=2020-11-19 |archive-date=2019-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204020235/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Fraternal polyandry is practiced among [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]] in [[Nepal]] and parts of [[China]], in which two or more brothers are married to the same wife, with the wife having equal sexual access to them.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Dreger |first1=A. |title=When Taking Multiple Husbands Makes Sense |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/when-taking-multiple-husbands-makes-sense/272726/ |access-date=31 July 2018 |magazine=The Atlantic |date=2013 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731183141/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/when-taking-multiple-husbands-makes-sense/272726/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gielen1993">Gielen, U. P. (1993). Gender Roles in traditional Tibetan cultures. In L. L. Adler (Ed.), ''International handbook on gender roles'' (pp. 413–437). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.</ref> It is associated with ''[[partible paternity]]'', the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.<ref name="Starkweather/Hames 2012"/> Several ethnic groups practicing [[polyandry in India]] identify their customs with their descent from [[Draupadi]], a central character of the [[Mahabharta|Mahabharata]] who was married to five brothers, although local practices may not be fraternal themselves.

Polyandry is believed to be more likely in societies with scarce environmental resources. It is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival.<ref name="Gielen1993" /><ref name="Stone2006">(Linda Stone, ''Kinship and Gender'', 2006, Westview, 3rd ed., ch. 6) [http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/marriage.htm The Center for Research on Tibet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121072233/http://case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/marriage.htm |date=2018-01-21 }} Papers on Tibetan Marriage and Polyandry (accessed October 1, 2006).</ref> It is a rare form of marriage that exists not only among peasant families but also among elite families.<ref>Goldstein, "Pahari and Tibetan Polyandry Revisited" in ''[[Ethnology (journal)|Ethnology]]'' 17(3): 325–327 (1978) ([http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/marriage.htm The Center for Research on Tibet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121072233/http://case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/marriage.htm |date=2018-01-21 }}; accessed October 1, 2007).</ref> For example, polyandry in the Himalayan mountains is related to the scarcity of land. The marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife allows family land to remain intact and undivided. If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In contrast, very poor persons not owning land were less likely to practice polyandry in Buddhist [[Ladakh]] and [[Zanskar]].<ref name="Gielen1993" />{{check source |reason=Isn't Zanskar a place within Ladakh? |date=September 2022}}

In Europe, the splitting up of land was prevented through the social practice of impartible inheritance. With most siblings disinherited, many of them became celibate monks and priests.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levine |first=Nancy |title=The Dynamics of polyandry: kinship, domesticity, and population on the Tibetan border |year=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago|isbn=0226475689}}</ref>

==Types==

===Successional polyandry ===
Unlike in fraternal polyandry (where a woman will receive a number of husbands simultaneously), in successional polyandry, a woman will acquire one husband after another in sequence.

This form is flexible. These men may or may not be related. And it may or may not incorporate a [[Hierarchical|hierarchical system]], where one husband is considered primary and may be allotted certain rights or privileges not awarded to secondary husbands, such as biologically fathering a child.

In cases where one husband has a primary role, the secondary husbands have the power to succeed the primary if he were to become severely ill or be away from the home for a long period of time or is otherwise rendered incapable of fulfilling his husbandly duties.

Successional polyandry can likewise be [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]],  where all husbands are equal in status and receive the same rights and privileges.  In this system, each husband will have a wedding ceremony and share the paternity of whatever children she may bear.

===Associated polyandry ===
Another form of polyandry is a combination of polyandry and polygyny; whereas women are married to several men simultaneously and the same men may marry other women. It is found in some tribes of Africa such as villages in northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon. Usually, one of the woman's husbands will be chosen to be the husband of a woman from another tribe who would also have many husbands; this double-polyandrous union serves to form a marital alliance between tribes.

''Other Classifications: Equal polygamy, [[Polygynandry]]''

The system results in less land fragmentation, and a diversification of domestic activities.

===Fraternal polyandry===
{{see also|Polyandry in Tibet}}

Fraternal polyandry (from the [[Latin]] ''frater''—brother), also called '''adelphic polyandry''' (from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''{{Lang|grc|ἀδελφός}}''—brother), is a form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more men who are brothers. Fraternal polyandry was (and sometimes still is) found in certain areas of [[Tibet]], [[Nepal]], and Northern India, as well as some central African cultures<ref>{{cite news|last1=Banerjee|first1=Partha S.|title=Wild, Windy and Harsh, yet Stunningly Beautiful|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020421/spectrum/travel.htm|work=The Sunday Tribune|date=21 April 2002|access-date=19 August 2008|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804121514/https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020421/spectrum/travel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> where polyandry was accepted as a social practice.<ref name="Gielen1993" /><ref name="Levine, Nancy">Levine, Nancy, ''The Dynamics of Polyandry: Kinship, domesticity and population on the Tibetan border'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.{{Page needed|date=August 2011}}</ref> The [[Toda people]] of southern [[India]] practiced fraternal polyandry, but monogamy has become prevalent recently.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sidner|first1=Sara|title=Brothers Share Wife to Secure Family Land|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/polygamy.investigation/index.html|work=CNN|access-date=2008-10-24|archive-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126210132/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/polygamy.investigation/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In contemporary Hindu society, polyandrous marriages in [[agrarian societies]] in the [[Malwa (Punjab)|Malwa]] region of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] seem to occur to avoid division of farming land.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/modern-draupadis-exist-in-mansa-villages/articleshow/7847515.cms|title=Modern Draupadis exist in Mansa villages &#124; India News - Times of India|website=The Times of India|date=2 April 2011 }}</ref>

Fraternal polyandry achieves a similar goal to that of [[primogeniture]] in 19th-century England. Primogeniture dictated that the eldest son inherited the family estate, while younger sons had to leave home and seek their own employment. Primogeniture maintained family estates intact over generations by permitting only one heir per generation. Fraternal polyandry also accomplishes this, but does so by keeping all the brothers together with just one wife so that there is only one set of heirs per generation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn |title=Natural History |year=1987 |publisher=Natural History Magazine |pages=39–48}}</ref> This strategy appears less successful the larger the fraternal sibling group is.<ref>{{cite journal|author2-link=Joan Silk |last2=Silk |first2=Joan B. |last1=Levine |first1=Nancy |title=Why Polyandry Fails: Sources of Instability in Polyandrous marriages |journal=Current Anthropology |year=1997 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=375–98 |doi=10.1086/204624|s2cid=17048791 }}</ref>

Some forms of polyandry appear to be associated with a perceived need to retain [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] titles or [[agricultural]] [[Real Property|land]]s within kin groups, and/or because of the frequent absence, for long periods, of a man from the household. In Tibet the practice was particularly popular among the priestly [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakya]] class.

The female equivalent of fraternal polyandry is [[sororate marriage]].

===Partible paternity===
Anthropologist Stephen Beckerman points out that at least 20 tribal societies accept that a child could, and ideally should, have more than one father, referring to it as "[[partible paternity]]".<ref name=beckerman>Beckerman, S., Valentine, P., ''(eds)'' (2002) ''The Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in South America,'' University Press of Florida</ref> This often results in the shared nurture of a child by multiple fathers in a form of polyandric relation to the mother, although this is not always the case.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Starkweather, Katie|title=A Preliminary Survey of Lesser-Known Polyandrous Societies|date=2009|journal=Nebraska Anthropologist|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/50|access-date=2013-08-04|archive-date=2020-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001170847/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/50/|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the most well known examples is that of [[Trobriand]] "virgin birth". The matrilineal Trobriand Islanders recognize the importance of sex in reproduction but do not believe the male makes a contribution to the constitution of the child, who therefore remains attached to their mother's lineage alone. The mother's non-resident husbands are not recognized as fathers, although the mother's co-resident brothers are, since they are part of the mother's lineage.

==Culture==
According to inscriptions describing the reforms of the [[Sumer]]ian king [[Urukagina]] of [[Lagash]] ({{circa|2300 BC}}), the earlier custom of polyandry in his country was abolished, on pain of the woman taking multiple husbands being stoned with stones upon which her crime was written.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8G43DwAAQBAJ&q=stoned |title=Engaging the Powers: 25th Anniversary Edition |first=Walter|last=Wink |date=October 15, 2017 |publisher=Fortress Press|via=Google Books |page=40 |isbn=9781506438542 }}</ref>

An extreme [[gender imbalance]] has been suggested as a justification for polyandry. For example, the selective abortion of female children in India has led to a significant margin in [[human sex ratio|sex ratio]] and, it has been suggested, results in related men "sharing" a wife.<ref>{{cite news |last=Arsenault |first=Chris |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/10/201110415385524923.html |title=Millions of aborted girls imbalance India |newspaper=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |date=24 October 2011 |quote=While prospects for conflict are unclear, other problems including human trafficking, prostitution and polyandry—men (usually relatives) sharing a wife—are certain to get worse. |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-date=9 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109041205/http://english.aljazeera.net//indepth/features/2011/10/201110415385524923.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Known cases==

[[Polyandry in Tibet]] was a common practice and continues to a lesser extent today. A survey of 753 Tibetan families by [[Tibet University]] in 1988 found that 13% practiced polyandry.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ma |first1=Rong |title=试论藏族的"一妻多夫"婚姻 |journal=《民族学报》 |date=2000 |issue=6 |url=http://www.mzb.com.cn/res/Home/0904/1/%E8%97%8F%E6%97%8F%E5%A9%9A%E5%A7%BB.pdf |access-date=31 July 2018 |language=zh |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731153518/http://www.mzb.com.cn/res/Home/0904/1/%E8%97%8F%E6%97%8F%E5%A9%9A%E5%A7%BB.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Polyandry in India]] still exists among minorities, and also in [[Bhutan]], and the northern parts of [[Nepal]]. Polyandry has been practised in several parts of India, such as [[Rajasthan]], [[Ladakh]] and [[Zanskar]], in the [[Jaunsar-Bawar]] region in [[Uttarakhand]], among the [[Toda (tribe)|Toda]] of [[South India]].<ref name="Gielen1993" /><ref name="Palm">{{cite news |title=Polyandry Practice Fascinates Prince |first=Dee |last=Whittington |newspaper=[[The Palm Beach Post]] |page=50 |date=December 12, 1976 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=blc0AAAAIBAJ&pg=2638,6668094&dq=polyandry+sri+lanka&hl=en |access-date=October 14, 2010}}</ref>

It also occurs or has occurred in [[Nigeria]], the Nymba,<ref name="Palm" />{{Clarify|reason=see Talk:Polyandry#Nymba|date=November 2014}} <!-- 
 making that §reference an actual wikilink 
 {{Clarify|reason=see [[Talk:Polyandry#Nymba]]}}
 screws up the page somethin' awful! 
--> Irigwe<ref>Sangree, W. H. (1980). The persistence of polyandry in lrigwe, Nigeria. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 11(3), 335–343.</ref> and some pre-contact [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] societies,<ref>Goldman I., 1970, ''Ancient Polynesian Society''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press'</ref> though probably only among higher caste women.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=40332354 |pages=261–270 |last1=Thomas |first1=N. |title=Complementarity and History Misrecognizing Gender in the Pacific |volume=57 |issue=4 |journal=Oceania |year=1987|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.1987.tb02221.x }}</ref> It is also encountered in some regions of Yunnan and Sichuan regions of China, among the [[Mosuo people]] in [[China]] (who also practice polygyny as well), and among some sub-Saharan Africans such as the [[Maasai people]] in [[Kenya]] and northern [[Tanzania]]<ref>''The Last of the Maasai''. Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts, John Eames. 1987. Pp. 86–87. Camerapix Publishers International. {{ISBN|1-874041-32-6}}</ref> and American indigenous communities. The [[Guanches]], the first known inhabitants of the [[Canary Islands]], practiced polyandry until Spanish colonization.<ref>{{cite journal |date=October 1891 |title=On Polyandry |journal=[[Popular Science]] |publisher=Bonnier Corporation |volume=39 |issue=52 |pages=804 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CEDAAAAMBAJ&q=polyandry+Guanches&pg=PA801 }}</ref> The [[Zoe (tribe)|Zo'e tribe]] in the state of [[Pará]] on the [[Cuminapanema River]], [[Brazil]], also practice polyandry.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Starkweather |first=Kathrine E. |degree=Master's |title=''Exploration into Human Polyandry: An Evolutionary Examination of the Non-Classical Cases'' |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=anthrotheses |year=2010 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]] |access-date=October 14, 2010 |archive-date=June 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611172207/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=anthrotheses |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Africa===
[[File:Polyandry (bold, color).svg|thumb|Polyandry]]
*In the Lake Region of Central Africa, "Polygyny ... was uncommon. Polyandry, on the other hand, was quite common."<ref>Warren R. Dawson (ed.): ''The Frazer Lectures, 1922–1932''. Macmillan & Co, 1932. p. 33.</ref>
* Among the Irigwe of Northern Nigeria, women have traditionally acquired numerous spouses called "co-husbands".
* In August 2013, two [[Kenya]]n men entered into an agreement to marry a woman with whom they had both been having an affair. Kenyan law does not explicitly forbid polyandry, although it is not a common custom.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23840824|title=Kenyan trio in 'wife-sharing' deal|publisher=BBC|date=26 August 2013|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=11 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811224427/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23840824|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Asia===
{{See also|Polyandry in India|Polyandry in Tibet}}
* In the reign of [[Urukagina]] of Lagash, "Dyandry, the marriage of one woman to two men, is abolished."<ref>J. Bottero, E. Cassin & J. Vercoutter (eds.) (translated by R. F. Tannenbaum): ''The Near East: the Early Civilizations''. New York, 1967. p. 82.</ref>
* M. [[Nicolas Notovitch|Notovitck]] mentioned polyandry in [[Ladakh]] or Little 'Tibet' in his record of his journey to Tibet. ("[[The Life of Issa|The Unknown life of Jesus Christ]]" by [[Virchand Gandhi]].)
* Polyandry was widely (and to some extent still is) practised in Lahaul-Spiti situated in isolation in the high Himalayas in India.
* Prior to Islam, in Arabia (southern) "All the kindred have their property in common ...; all have one wife" whom they share.<ref>Strabōn : ''Geographia'' 16:4:25, C 783. Translated in Robertson Smith: ''Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia'', p. 158; quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=HWAbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq= Edward Westermarck: ''The History of Human Marriage''. New York: Allerton Books Co., 1922. vol. 3, p. 154.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018042907/https://books.google.com/books?id=HWAbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq= |date=2015-10-18 }}</ref>
* The Hoa-tun ([[Hephthalite]]s, White Huns) "living to the north of the Great Wall ... practiced polyandry."<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090529002250/http://www.taiwandna.com/ChineseXinjiangPage.html Xinjiang]}}</ref> Among the Hephthalites, "the practice of several husbands to one wife, or polyandry, was always the rule, which is agreed on by all commentators. That this was plain was evidenced by the custom among the women of wearing a hat containing a number of horns, one for each of the subsequent husbands, all of whom were also brothers to the husband. Indeed, if a husband had no natural brothers, he would adopt another man to be his brother so that he would be allowed to marry."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rick-heli.info/silkroad/eph.html |title=The Hephthalites of Central Asia |website=Rick-heli.info |access-date=6 April 2018 |archive-date=10 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310060957/http://www.rick-heli.info/silkroad/eph.html |url-status=usurped}}</ref>
* "Polyandry is very widespread among the [[Sherpa people|Sherpas]]."<ref>René von Nebesky-Wojkowitz (translated by Michael Bullock) :one research done by one organization about Fraternal Polyandry in Nepal and its detail data find [http://volunteercharitywork.org/polyandry_research.php here] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803141335/http://volunteercharitywork.org/polyandry_research.php |date=2011-08-03 }} ''Where the Gods are Mountains''. New York: Reynal & Co. p. 152.</ref>
* In Bhutan in 1914, polyandry was "the prevailing domestic custom".<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924023234531/cu31924023234531_djvu.txt L. W. Shakespear: ''History of Upper Assam, Upper Burmah and North-eastern Frontier''. London: Macmillan & Co., 1914.] p. 92.</ref> Nowadays polyandry is rare, but still found for instance among the Brokpas of the Merak-Sakten region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kuenselonline.com/feature-all-in-the-family/ |title=Feature: All in the Family |access-date=2014-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511100949/http://www.kuenselonline.com/feature-all-in-the-family/ |archive-date=2015-05-11 |publisher=Kuensel |date=27 August 2007 }}</ref>
* In several villages in [[Nyarixung]] Township, [[Xigaze Prefecture|Xigaze]], Tibet, up to 90% of families practiced polyandry in 2008.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Suozhen |title=西藏一妻多夫婚姻研究 |date=2009 |publisher=China University of Political Science and Law |url=http://xuewen.cnki.net/ArticleCatalog.aspx?filename=2009087442.nh&dbtype=CMFD&dbname=CMFD2009 |access-date=31 July 2018 |language=zh |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731153758/http://xuewen.cnki.net/ArticleCatalog.aspx?filename=2009087442.nh&dbtype=CMFD&dbname=CMFD2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Among the [[Nivkh people|Gilyak]]s of Sakhalin Island "polyandry is also practiced."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/russiannihilisme00buelrich/russiannihilisme00buelrich_djvu.txt ''Russian Nihilism and Exile Life in Siberia''. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co., 1883.] p. 365.</ref>
* Fraternal polyandry was permitted in Sri Lanka under Kandyan Marriage law, often described using the euphemism ''eka-ge-kama'' (literally "eating in one house").<ref>{{cite web |last=Hussein |first=Asiff |title=Traditional Sinhalese Marriage Laws and Customs |url=http://www.lankalibrary.com/rit/marry.htm |access-date=28 April 2012 |archive-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521061007/http://www.lankalibrary.com/rit/marry.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{disputed inline|date=September 2019|talk=Sri Lanka}} Associated Polyandry, or polyandry that begins as monogamy, with the second husband entering the relationship later, is also practiced<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lavenda |first1=Robert H. |last2=Schultz |first2=Emily A |title=Additional Varieties Polyandry |url=http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195189766/student_resources/Supp_chap_mats/Chap13/Additional_Varieties_Polyandry/?view=usa |work=Anthropology: What Does It Mean To Be Human? |access-date=28 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005175758/http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195189766/student_resources/Supp_chap_mats/Chap13/Additional_Varieties_Polyandry/?view=usa |archive-date=5 October 2008 }}</ref> and is sometimes initiated by the wife.<ref>{{cite web |last=Levine |first=NE |title=Conclusion |url=https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action?itemId=6274&itemFileId=10010 |work=Asian and African Systems of Polyandry |access-date=28 April 2012 |archive-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216001112/https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action?itemId=6274&itemFileId=10010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Polyandry was common in Sri Lanka, until it was banned by the British in 1859.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kok |first1=Jan |last2=Bulten |first2=Luc |last3=Leede |first3=Bente M. de |title=Persecuted or permitted? Fraternal Polyandry in a Calvinist colony, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), seventeenth and eighteenth centuries |journal=Continuity and Change |year=2021 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=347–348 |doi=10.1017/S0268416021000308 |s2cid=246905403 |doi-access=free |hdl=2066/247308 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Europe===
[[File:Sepulchral inscription of Allia Potestas (1st–4th century CE) - 200505.jpg|thumb|Sepulchral inscription for Allia Potestas, ''Museo Epigrafico'', ''Terme di Diocleziano'', Rome]]
*Reporting on the mating patterns in ancient [[Greece]], specifically [[Sparta]], [[Plutarch]] writes: "Thus if an older man with a young wife should take a liking to one of the well-bred young men and approve of him, he might well introduce him to her so as to fill her with noble sperm and then adopt the child as his own. Conversely a respectable man who admired someone else’s wife noted for her lovely children and her good sense, might gain the husband’s permission to sleep with her thereby planting in fruitful soil, so to speak, and producing fine children who would be linked to fine ancestors by blood and family."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vico.wikispaces.com/Sparta63|title=Sparta63|website=Vico.wikispaces.com|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728011840/https://vico.wikispaces.com/Sparta63|url-status=live}}</ref>
*"According to Julius Caesar, it was customary among the ancient Britons for brothers, and sometimes for fathers and sons, to have their wives in common."<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/9/3/11934/11934.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625021451/http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/9/3/11934/11934.htm |url-status=dead |first=Henry Theophilus |last=Finck |title=Primitive Love and Love-Stories |date=1899 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |archivedate=June 25, 2010}}</ref>
*"Polyandry prevailed among the Lacedaemonians according to Polybius."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924021847060/cu31924021847060_djvu.txt John Ferguson McLennon : ''Studies in Ancient History''. Macmillan & Co., 1886.] p. xxv</ref> (Polybius vii.7.732, following Timæus)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2078&chapter=157846&layout=html&Itemid=27 |title=Henry Sumner Maine : ''Dissertations on Early Law and Custom''. London: John Murray, 1883. Chapter IV, Note B. |access-date=2009-12-11 |archive-date=2011-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211125743/http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2078&chapter=157846&layout=html&Itemid=27 |url-status=live }}</ref>
*"The matrons of Rome flocked in great crowds to the Senate, begging with tears and entreaties that one woman should be married to two men."<ref>Macrobius (translated by Percival V. Davies): ''The Saturnalia''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969, p. 53 (1:6:22)</ref>
*The gravestone of [[Allia Potestas]], a woman from [[Perusia]], describes how she lived peacefully with two lovers, one of whom immortalized her in his famous epigraphic eulogy, dating (probably) from the second century.<ref name="horsfall85">Horsfall, N:''CIL VI 37965 = CLE 1988 (Epitaph of Allia Potestas): A Commentary'', ZPE 61: 1985</ref>

===North America===
* [[Aleut people]] in the 19th century<ref>Katherine E. Starkweather & Raymond
Hames.  "[http://www.unl.edu/rhames/Starkweather-Hames-Polyandry-published.pdf A Survey of Non-Classical Polyandry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228165115/http://www.unl.edu/rhames/Starkweather-Hames-Polyandry-published.pdf |date=2013-02-28 }}".  Human Nature An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective ISSN 1045-6767 Volume 23 Number 2 Hum Nat (2012) 23:149–172 DOI 10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x 12 Jun 2012.</ref>
* [[Inuit]]<ref>Starkweather, Katherine E. and Raymond Hames. [https://www.academia.edu/1785593/A_Survey_of_Non-Classical_Polyandry "A Survey of Non-Classical Polyandry."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106101913/http://www.academia.edu/1785593/A_Survey_of_Non-Classical_Polyandry |date=2016-11-06 }} 12 June 2012. Retrieved 28 Dec 2013.</ref>

===Oceania===
* Among the [[Kanak people|Kanak]] of [[New Caledonia]], "every woman is the property of several husbands. It is this collection of husbands, having one wife in common, that...live together in a hut, with their common wife."<ref>Dr. Jacobs: ''Untrodden Fields of Anthropology''. New York: Falstaff Press, 1937. vol. 2, p. 219.</ref>
* [[Marquesan]]s had "a society in which households were polyandrous".<ref>{{cite book |first=Roslyn |last=Poignant |title=Oceanic Mythology |publisher=Paul Hamlyn |location=London |date=1967 |page=69 }}</ref>
* [[Friedrich Ratzel]] in ''The History of Mankind''<ref>{{cite web |first=Ratzel |last=Friedrich |publisher=MacMillan |date=1896 |url=http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/courtship-weddings.htm |title=The History of Mankind |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727043227/http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/courtship-weddings.htm |archive-date=2012-07-27 }}</ref> reported in 1896 that in the [[New Hebrides]] there was a kind of convention in cases of widowhood, that two widowers shall live with one widow.

===South America===
* "The [[Bororo]]s ... among them...there are also cases of polyandry."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029884099/cu31924029884099_djvu.txt ''Races of Man : an Outline of Anthropology''. London: Walter Scott Press, 1901.] p. 566.</ref>
* "The Tupi-Kawahib also practice fraternal polyandry."<ref>C. Lévi-Strauss (translated by John Russell): ''Tristes Tropiques''. New York: Criterion Books, 1961, p. 352.</ref>
* "...up to 70 percent of Amazonian cultures may have believed in the principle of multiple paternity"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101110161930.htm|title=Multiple fathers prevalent in Amazonian cultures, study finds|website=Sciencedaily.com|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809212333/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101110161930.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Mapuche polygamy|Mapuche polyandry]] is rare but not unheard of.<ref name=Milla2018>{{Cite thesis|title=Poligamia mapuche / Pu domo ñi Duam (un asunto de mujeres): Politización y despolitización de una práctica en relación a la posición de las mujeres al interior de la sociedad mapuche|last=Millaleo Hernández|first=Ana Gabriel|degree=PhD|year=2018|publisher=[[University of Chile]] |url=http://repositorio.conicyt.cl/bitstream/handle/10533/220808/TesisDocAnaMillaleoCONICYT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|place=Santiago de Chile|language=Spanish|access-date=2021-01-30|archive-date=2019-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711025315/http://repositorio.conicyt.cl/bitstream/handle/10533/220808/TesisDocAnaMillaleoCONICYT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=live}}</ref> The men are often brothers.<ref name="Milla2018" />

==Religious attitudes==
{{Religious text primary|section|date=September 2015}}

===Hinduism ===
[[File:Pandavas with Draupadi OR ayudhapurushas facing Madhu Kaitabha.jpg|thumb|[[Draupadi]] with her five husbands – the [[Pandavas]]. The central figure is [[Yudhishthira]]; the two to his left are [[Bhima]] and [[Arjuna]]. [[Nakula]] and [[Sahadeva]], the twins, are to his right. Their wife, at far right, is Draupadi. [[Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh|Deogarh]], [[Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh|Dashavatara Hindu Temple]].]]

There is at least one reference to polyandry in the ancient [[Hindu]] epic ''[[Mahabharata]]''. [[Draupadi]] married the five [[Pandava]] brothers, as this is what she chose in a previous life. This ancient text remains largely neutral to the concept of polyandry, accepting this as her way of life.<ref>{{cite book |title=The position of women in Hindu civilization, from prehistoric times to the present day |last=Altekar |first=Anant Sadashiv |year=1959 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ |isbn=978-81-208-0324-4 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYG4K0yYHQgC&pg=PA112 |access-date=October 14, 2010 |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921050741/https://books.google.com/books?id=VYG4K0yYHQgC&pg=PA112 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in the same epic, when questioned by [[Kunti]] to give an example of polyandry, [[Yudhishthira]] cites Jatila of the lineage of [[Gautama Maharishi|Gautama]] (married to the seven [[Saptarishi]]) and [[Hiranyaksha]]'s sister Pracheti (married to ten brothers), thereby implying a more open attitude toward polyandry in [[Hindu]] society.<ref name="sacred-texts">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01199.htm|title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Vaivahika Parva: Section CLXLVIII|website=Sacred-texts.com|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=19 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419174401/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01199.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Judaism===
The Hebrew Bible contains no examples of women married to more than one man,<ref>Coogan, Michael D., ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context'', Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 264, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rxBAQAAIAAJ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102034034/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rxBAQAAIAAJ|date=2015-11-02}}</ref><ref>Bromiley, Geoffrey W., ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', Volume 1, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1980, p. 262, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zkla5Gl_66oC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205165035/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zkla5Gl_66oC|date=2015-12-05}}</ref> but its description of [[adultery]] clearly implies that polyandry is unacceptable<ref>Fuchs, Esther, ''Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the Hebrew Bible as a Woman'', Continuum International, 2000, p. 122, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xyvZT6PRsP0C] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030103524/https://books.google.com/books?id=xyvZT6PRsP0C|date=2015-10-30}}</ref><ref>Satlow, Michael L., ''Jewish Marriage in Antiquity'', Princeton University Press, 2001, p. 189, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-tCwHpLFKTYC]</ref> and the practice is unknown in Jewish tradition.<ref>Witte, John & Ellison, Eliza; ''Covenant Marriage In Comparative Perspective'', Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005, p. 56, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9zY2vQ7NPPoC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015182548/https://books.google.com/books?id=9zY2vQ7NPPoC|date=2015-10-15}}</ref><ref>''Marriage, Sex And Family in Judaism'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p. 90, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JFny1k_bv5cC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123175340/https://books.google.com/books?id=JFny1k_bv5cC|date=2015-11-23}}</ref> In addition, the children from other than the first husband are considered illegitimate (i.e., [[mamzer]]s), unless he has already divorced her or died,<ref>{{cite book |title=Principles of Conduct: Aspects of Biblical Ethics |last=Murray |first=John |year=1991 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-1144-8 |pages=250–256 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phoqAAaGMpUC&pg=PA250 |access-date=October 14, 2010 |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921050741/https://books.google.com/books?id=phoqAAaGMpUC&pg=PA250 |url-status=live }}</ref> being a product of an adulterous relationship.

===Christianity===
Most [[Christianity|Christian]] denominations in the [[Western world]] strongly advocate [[monogamy|monogamous]] marriage, and a passage from the Pauline epistles<ref>{{bibleverse||1 Corinthians|7|NRSV}}</ref> can be interpreted as forbidding polyandry.

===Latter-Day Saints===
{{Main|Mormonism and polygamy#Polyandry}}

[[Joseph Smith]], [[Brigham Young]], and other prominent early [[Mormons]] like [[Zina D. H. Young]], [[Sarah M. Cleveland]], [[Heber C. Kimball]], and [[Orson Hyde]], practiced religious [[Mormonism and polygamy#Polyandry|polyandry]] beginning in the mid-1800s.{{refn|<ref name=MormonPolyandry>{{Cite journal |last=Van Wagoner |first=Richard S. |date=1985-10-01 |title=Mormon Polyandry in Nauvoo |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/mormon-polyandry-in-nauvoo/#pdf-wrap |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |volume=18 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/45227986 |issn=0012-2157|pages=2,23,78 |jstor=45227986 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Nalley|first=James|title=Bethel's Patty Bartlett Sessions: The Mother of Mormon Midwifery |url=https://issuu.com/discovermainemagazine/docs/2022_western_lakes_and_mountains/s/21465762 |magazine=Discover Maine|publisher=CreMark|location=Portland, Maine|date=2022|page=79}}</ref><ref name=Expanding>{{Cite journal |last=Hales |first=Brian C. |date=2024-04-01 |title=Joseph Smith's 'Polyandry': Expanding the Narrative |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/jmh/article/50/2/105/386867/Joseph-Smith-s-Polyandry-Expanding-the-Narrative |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=50 |issue=2 |doi=10.5406/24736031.50.2.06 |url-access=subscription|issn=0094-7342|page=105}}</ref><ref name=Trajectory>{{Cite journal |last=Compton |first=Todd |author-link=Todd Compton|date=1996-07-01 |title=A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty-three Plural Wives |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V29N02_21.pdf |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|volume=29 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/45226184 |issn=0012-2157|page=22 |jstor=45226184 }}</ref>}} The performance of new polygamous marriages  in the [[Latter Day Saint movement]]'s largest denomination, the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), was partially ended by the [[1890 Manifesto]], and completely discontinued by the 1904 [[Second Manifesto]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Van Wagoner |first=Richard S. |url=https://archive.org/details/mormonpolygamyhi0000vanw_v2v1/mode/2up|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]] |title=Mormon Polygamy: A History |date=1989 |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-303-9 |edition=2nd |oclc=681161668|pages=41–49, 242}}</ref><ref name=MormonPolyandry/> Existing polygamous marriages, including those of prominent LDS Church leaders, continued into the 1950s.<ref name=1950s>{{Cite web |last=Embry |first=Jessie L. |year=1994 |title=The History of Polygamy |url=https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107044102/https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |archive-date=2018-11-07 |access-date=2018-12-31 |publisher=[[Utah State Historical Society]] |quote=Those involved in plural marriages after 1904 were excommunicated; and those married between 1890 and 1904 were not to have church callings where other members would have to sustain them. Although the Mormon church officially prohibited new plural marriages after 1904, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.}}</ref>

===Islam===
According to [[Islamic marital law]], polyandry is forbidden.<ref name="Rehman2007">{{cite journal|last1=Rehman|first1=J.|title=The Sharia, Islamic Family Laws and International Human Rights Law: Examining the Theory and Practice of Polygamy and Talaq|journal=International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family|volume=21|issue=1|year=2007|page=114|issn=1360-9939|doi=10.1093/lawfam/ebl023|quote=Polyandry is not permitted, so that Muslim women cannot have more than one husband at the same time}}</ref><ref name="wing_2008">{{cite journal|last1=Wing|first1=AK|title=Twenty-First Century Loving: Nationality, Gender, and Religion in the Muslim World|journal=Fordham Law Review|date=2008|volume=76|issue=6|page=2900|quote=Muslim women can only marry one man; no polyandry is allowed.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam |last=Ahmed |first=Mufti M. Mukarram |year=2005 |publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. |isbn=978-81-261-2339-1 |page=383 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkrQ8AbgD1sC&pg=PA383 |access-date=October 14, 2010}}</ref>

==In biology==
{{main|Polyandry in nature}}
Polyandrous behaviour [[Polyandry in nature|exists in the animal kingdom]], occurring for example in certain insects, fish, birds, and mammals.<!--This is not a list, please do not add any specimens of "For example polyandry has been observed in ''Unimportantus rarissimus''", they'll be deleted as soon as anyone notices.-->

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Legal status of polygamy]]
* [[Matrilineality]]
* [[Polygyny in India]]
* [[Polyandry in India]]
* [[Polyandry in Tibet]]
* [[Sacred prostitution]]
* [[Sexual conflict]]
Types of mating, marriage and lifestyle:
* [[Bigamy]]
* [[Cuckold]]
* [[Cuckquean]]
* [[Eusociality]]
* [[Group marriage]]
* [[Monogamy]]
* [[Non-monogamy]]
* [[Open marriage]]
* [[Polyamory]]
* [[Polygamy]]
* [[Polygynandry]]
* [[Polygyny]]
* [[Unicorn hunting]]
* [[Threesome]]
* [[sororate marriage]]
* [[Lavender Marriage]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Levine, Nancy, ''The Dynamics of Polyandry: Kinship, domesticity and population on the Tibetan border'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0-226-47569-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-226-47569-1}}
* [[Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark|Peter, Prince of Greece]], ''A Study of Polyandry,'' The Hague, Mouton, 1963.
* {{cite journal |last1=Beall |first1=Cynthia M. |last2=Goldstein |first2=Melvyn C. |date=1981 |title=Tibetan Fraternal Polyandry: A Test of Sociobiological Theory |doi=10.1525/aa.1982.84.4.02a00170 |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=898–901 |doi-access=free }}
* Gielen, U. P. (1993). Gender Roles in traditional Tibetan cultures. In L. L. Adler (Ed.), ''International handbook on gender roles'' (pp.&nbsp;413–437). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
* {{cite journal |jstor=3629185 |pages=64–74 |last1=Goldstein |first1=M. C. |title=Stratification, Polyandry, and Family Structure in Central Tibet |volume=27 |issue=1 |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |year=1971|doi=10.1086/soutjanth.27.1.3629185 |s2cid=146900571 }}
* Crook, J., & Crook, S. 1994. "Explaining Tibetan polyandry: Socio-cultural, demographic, and biological perspectives". In J. Crook, & H. Osmaston (Eds.), ''Himayalan Buddhist Villages'' (pp.&nbsp;735–786). Bristol, UK: University of Bristol.
* {{cite journal |jstor=3629185 |pages=64–74 |last1=Goldstein |first1=M. C. |title=Stratification, Polyandry, and Family Structure in Central Tibet |volume=27 |issue=1 |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |date=1971|doi=10.1086/soutjanth.27.1.3629185 |s2cid=146900571 }}
*{{cite journal |jstor=4602366 |pages=223–233 |last1=Goldstein |first1=M. C. |title=Fraternal Polyandry and Fertility in a High Himalayan Valley in Northwest Nepal |volume=4 |issue=3 |journal=Human Ecology |date=1976 |doi=10.1007/bf01534287|bibcode=1976HumEc...4..223G |s2cid=153817518 }}
* [[Thierry Lodé|Lodé, Thierry]] (2006) ''La Guerre des sexes chez les animaux''. Paris: Eds O. Jacob. {{ISBN|2-7381-1901-8}}
* {{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Eric Alden |doi=10.1007/s12110-998-1004-3 |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/easmith/Polyandry-HN1998.pdf |title=Is Tibetan polyandry adaptive? |date=1998 |journal=Human Nature |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=225–261|pmid=26197483 |s2cid=3022928 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Trevithick |first1=Alan |year=1997 |title=On a Panhuman Preference for Monandry: Is Polyandry an Exception? |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=154–81}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Polyandry |volume=22 |short=x}}
* [http://anecdotesofananth.blogspot.in/2014/03/bharathi-kanda-puthumai-pen.html Another example for polyandry in India]

{{Close plural relationships}}
{{Types of marriages|state=autocollapse}}

[[Category:Polyandry| ]]
[[Category:Heterosexuality]]
[[Category:Mating systems]]