Himalayan Tribe Where Brothers Share A Wife

When marriage is talked about, the picture is always of a man and a woman. It is rare to picture two or more men and a woman much less brothers.
However, in the Himalayan region of Nepal, brothers marry one wife and this form of marriage is called polyandry. This is mainly as a means of survival because families own very small portions of land and they prefer to still keep the property in the family.

Most of the time the women marry their first husbands and when the other brothers come of age, they also marry her and they all live together in the same house. Some women even help raise their husbands until they are mature enough to get married and have sexual relations.

In this family setting, there is no jealousy amongst the brothers since they are engaging in this to survive. It is also a means of birth control for the woman since she cannot be pregnant as often as her husbands have sexual relations with her.

The women feel somewhat assured because they are never alone when one husband dies. They also believe that children have a better chance of survival and a brighter future with this practice.

Although this practice is slowly dying some people still practice it because of the scarcity of land and resources in the area.