Definition and Features of the Joint Family

The Joint Family

It is not incorrect to say that the whole structure of the Hindu social organization and set up stand on two pillars i.e. of the caste system and the joint family. This fact has been rightly pointed out by K.M. Panikkar; when he says, ‘Though in theory unconnected, these two institutions, the caste and the joint family are in practice interlocked to an extent which makes them in effect a common institution. The unit of Hindu society in not individual but joint family. The widest expression of this family is the ‘sub caste’ which often consists only of a few joint families which inter marry and inter-dine-among themselves.’

Many definitions of joint family have been given but notable among these are being mentioned below:

“A Joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who held property in common and who participate in common worship are related to each other as some particular type of kindred”—J. Karve

“The joint family consists of males having a common male ancestor, female offspring not yet married, and women brought into the group by marriage. All of these persons might live in common households or in several households near to one another. In any case, so long as the joint family holds together, its member are expected to contribute to the support of the whole and to receive from it a share of the total product” --- Davis

“The Hindu Joint family is a group constituted of known ancestors and adopted sons and relatives related to these sons through marriage”.------Henry Maine

Features of the Joint Family

From the definitions mentioned above following characteristic features of a joint family can be pointed out:

1. Joint Habitation: Joint family resides under one roof that is to say members of the family live in one house where father, sons, son’s wives and their children live together. No separation or particularization of accommodation is unthinkable in the joint families. According to Sir Henry Maine joint Hindu family ‘is a group constituted of known ancestors and adopted sons and relatives to these sons through marriage’. However it must be noted that this feature is not always in all joint families.
2. Common Eating Place: The members of a joint family get food from a common kitchen. The time two separate kitchens are used for preparing meals for some of the members, from that very moment, the family ceases to be a joint family. The food for all old and young, man and woman is cooked in one kitchen. It was commented by Brahaspati, that the people who have a joint kitchen their ancestors, gods and Brahmins are worshipped at the same place. It implies that the existence of a joint family kitchen facilitates the members to perform other activities at a single place. It is opined that as soon as kitchen is separated, the joint family disintegrates.
3. Common Ownership of Property: In addition to common eating place, a common shelter, another striking feature of joint family is joint property. This happens as such that ‘the members of the family jointly undertake production and consumption and are joint owners of the wealth of the family. Because of its joint ownership and presence of co-operation among the members it has been called a co-operative institution. All work together and eat together and no distinction is made between the members on these grounds.
4. Ruled by Karta: The head of the family discharges the function of the trustee and he manages all the affairs of the family in such a way so as to provide material and spiritual benefit to all the members equally. He is called as the Karta of the family. He controls, supervises and looks after the affairs so the family. He receives the total earning of the family as its head and utilizes it in the interests of all the members of the family.
5. Common Origin: Joint family has a common origin and members are kin. According to Sir Henry Maine, “The joint family is a group of springs of some known common percentage or a group that arises out of their marriage.

Thus a joint family refers to the group life of the kin deriving their origin from some common source, living, working and sharing together the fruits of joint endeavor under the rule of their karta.

Demerits of Joint Family System

The joint family system was praised for its many merits out it has also not less been vehemently denounced. The main defects that are pointed out against the system are the following:

1. Home of Idlers: It is asserted that because of its joint share in food and shelter, joint family becomes the home for idlers and domes as the non-earning members do not want to work to earn their livelihood. The lazy become lazier at the expense of other member of the joint family.
2. Encourages Litigation: The joint family system it is pointed out encourages litigation, for at the time of the partition of common property generally disputes crop up which are not settled generally without a recourse being taken to law. In case of agricultural families partition leads to fragmentation of holdings which is harmful from the view point of agricultural progress. Litigation regards the progress of the families who already are not in a sound financial position.
3. More Quarrels: It is the hot bed of quarrels and bickering especially among the female members. There is also the clash of ideas and temperaments on account of which there are constant quarrels between the elder and younger members of the family.
4. No Privacy: In a joint family privacy is denied to the newly-wed couples. They do not find a private place to share their views, because of joint family.
5. Unfavorable for Individual Savings: It is not favorable to an appreciation in accumulation of capital. When one has to share one’s income with large family, it is not possible to save much. One feels discouraged in this circumstance to save.

Thus the joint family system has got both its strong followers and the agricultural families the systems still largely overcome. It is not doubtful that under the economic pressure the system is gradually breaking down. The expediency of time has brought radical modification in this form of family life and this system has given way to modern nuclear families.

Explain the factors responsible for the disintegration of joint family system in India

The institution of joint family is very old. The fact now is that there is a disintegration of this system of familial organization. No single factor can be pointed out as the sole cause of this disintegration. The breakdown of the joint family in India has often been forecast on the grounds that joint families were suited to the old agricultural societies but are dysfunctional under present conditions. Hence a sharp break between the ‘traditional’ joint family and the ‘modern’ nuclear family is supposed to occur. However this view has been challenged by some studies in this area. It is asserted on the basis of these studies that ‘the form of the family is not so closely linked to the type of economic organization.

It is recognized by the most students of the family, in certain terms that there is a general tendency in modern societies toward placing greater importance on the conjugal bond between husband and wife and toward decreasing the demands of the consanguine ties, especially those among siblings, but this is a long term trend rather than a cause for abrupt revision of family relations. Besides the studies conducted by Kapadia (1966) and Singer (1968), A.M.Shah is one of the scholars who has sharply questioned the approach to family studies that assumes ‘an inevitable trend from large and complex to small and simple households. He points out that the normal, cyclical development of an Indian family must be distinguished from basic changes in family organization.

Disintegration of Joint Family

Major factors that have acted as agents of disintegration of joint family system are briefly discussed below:

The following factors are responsible for its disintegration

1. Industrialization: The joint family is most suited to agricultural families as the members did not look for jobs. But in wake of industrialization and the establishment of new factories have motivated the workers from the villages move to the cities and it breaks up the joint family. Industrialization affected the cottage and village industries and workers started searching for jobs in industrial towns.
2. Extension of Communications and Transport: Now the villagers are no more isolated from other areas. Earlier, difficulties of communication and travel in ancient times compelled all the members of the family to live together and carry on the family occupation in agriculture and trade jointly. Today when the means of communication and transportation have been extended, it is no longer necessary for men to stay with the family and carry on the family occupation. Now they go to the city and take up any other occupation or even living in the village adopt some other trade and when they adopt a trade different from the family’s trade, they establish a new home.
3. Decline of Agricultural and Village Industries: The joint family system in India flourished when agriculture and trade in the villages were in a sound position. Today with the establishment of factories the commodities produced by the village craftsmen cannot compete in quality or price with those produced in factories with the result that the village industries suffer a loss and after some time close down. With the closing down of the village industry the workers in villages also are compelled to go to the city to find a job there.
4. Lack of Entertainment and Urban Luster: Besides the decline of agriculture and trade there are other causes as well which induce people to move to the city. These are due to lack of facilities for entertainment and recreation, less opportunities for employment for the educated and inadequate opportunities for the education of children.
5. Impact of the West: Westernization, to some extent, is also responsible for the disintegration. India today has been greatly influenced in the social outlook by Western thought and ideology. Out modern laws relating to marriage and divorce has been enacted on Western patter. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Hindu Succession Act, 1995 have influence the solidarity of the joint family. As a consequence of the Hindu Marriage Act, the number of divorces is increasing. The Hindu Succession Act has given to the girls the right to share equally in the property of their father. The result is that joint family is disintegrating at a rapid rate. Our education is entirely foreign in outlook and approach. We have begun to look at the family as a partnership and not as a sacrament. Our view especially of the young men and women and family relations have undergone a change. The influence of individualism has made deep in roads in the Indian outlook. The Civil Marriage Act gave a blow to the authority of the family head over its members. The educated young men and women prefer to live a married life separate from the family. All this has contributed to the disintegration of joint family.
6. Changing Role of Women: There has been a change in the role of women in the society. More worked change is becoming apparent in the family roles of women. The women of the household are not so firmly dependent on the men and so segregated from them as they used to be. A wife’s fate is not quite so totally dependent on her husband in that windows are now being allowed to remarry in some of the higher castes to in which widow remarriage used to be absolutely prohibited. It has found that the wives of the educated men usually have some education also and they gain in personal confidence because of their education. Such women do not accept the complete sub-ordination of the young wife as readily as did then uneducated mother and grandmothers. Now women resist oppression and with the growing enlightenment, they are becoming more and more independent. This has contributed towards the emergence of nuclear families.
7. Family Quarrels: In the joint family there is bound to be clashes between the members because of their diverse interests, different incomes. In such a household, the feminine quarrels become a matter of routine affair. Those who are married face several hardships. It becomes difficult in these circumstances to live peacefully in a joint family and the consequence is the disintegration of the joint family system.
8. Over-population, scarcity and Problems of Accommodation: Increase in population has brought an additional pressure upon the agricultural land, leading to unemployment, reduced per capital income, food problem and thus disintegration in the joint family system.

Scarcity of materials required for living has created fissures in the joint living. Problem of accommodation especially in urban areas has been one of the leading causes of the disintegration of joint family system.

In addition to these factors, there have been other causes responsible for the disintegration of the joint family system. Legal provisions giving sweeping powers to the Karta of the joint family caused rapid division in the family property between brothers immediately after the death of their father. Laws providing better deal to the women in the society have also promoted the cause of the nuclear families.

Types of Hindu Marriage Prevalent During the Ancient Times

 The Hindu scriptures mention following eight forms of marriage

1. Brahma Marriage.
2. Prajapatya Marriage.
3. Arsha Marriage.
4. Daiva Marriage.
5. Asura Marriage.
6. Gandharva Marriage.
7. Rakshas Marriage.
8. Pishacha Marriage.

These are being briefly discussed below:

1. Brahma Marriage: This form of marriage was considered as the best. Under it the girl is decorated with clothes and ornaments, and she is offered to a learned and gentle bridegroom. Even now, this form of marriage is most prevalent.
2. Prajapatya Marriage: In this form of marriage, the father offers his daughter to the bridegroom and the couple is blessed with the enjoyment of married bliss and fulfillment of Dharma.
3. Arsha Marriage: This was the most typical form of marriage prevalent earlier. In this form of marriage the girl was offered to a Rishi in exchange of cow or bull and some clothes. These articles did not signify any price but they symbolized the promise of the Rishi to lead a domestic life.
4. Daiva Marriage: In this form of marriage the girl was well adored and decorated. ‘The bride was then offered to the priest (Pandit or Purohit) who conducted a yajna function. The man not conducting the function of a Purohit or Pandit, was not offered the bride. Thus the performance of certain functions was necessary in this form of marriage.
5. Asura Marriage: In this form of marriage the parents of the bride used to accept money in exchange of their daughter. According to this form of marriage Pandu was married to Madri. They money was regarded as the value of sacrifice by the girl’s parents.
6. Gandharva Marriage: The basis of this form of marriage was mutual affection and love of the intending bride and bridegroom and not money or gift. First example of this form of marriage is the marriage of King Dushyanta with Shakuntala. In this form of marriage religious ceremony can be performed after the sexual relationship between the two lovers. In Kama Sutra this form of marriage has been categorized to be of ideal type of marriage. According to Taittariya Samhita, the nomenclature of this form of marriage is after the Gandharvas among whom this type of marriage was prevalent.
7. Rakshasa Marriage: This form of marriage was named because of its degenerated type and it was prevalent in the age when women were considered as the prize of man. The brides were taken forcibly by the invading bridegrooms after killing or wounding her relatives. In other words it was force able abduction of females.
8. Pishacha Marriage: This was the most degenerate type of marriage in which a man entered into sexual relationship when the woman was sleeping, drunk or even unconscious.

None of these forms of widespread today in the same old spirit and form Commenting upon the forms of marriage that exist today.  D.N. Majumdar said, “Hindu society now recognizes only two forms, the Brahma and the Asura, the higher castes preferring the former the backward castes the latter, though here and there among the higher castes the Asura practice has not died out”.

Merits of Joint Family

Joint family system enjoys following merits:

1. Division of Labor: In the joint family the division of labor is maintained. Every member in the family is given work according to his abilities.  Family’s work is managed by all members including the women and children and it creates a good performance on work. 
2. Economy: Joint living enjoys economy of expenditure because as the things are consumed in large quantities and low prices. In this way a large family can be maintained work to participate all.
3. Leisure: The joint family provides a lot of time for all. The female members of the family divide their household work within the female members. They finish their work within little time spending and rest of time is leisure. It promotes the feeling of comfort among the members.
4. Social Insurance: In the joint family, the orphans and incapable find a comfortable asylum. Similarly widows are assured of their proper living in joint family. The old, the sick and the incapacitated can depend on the joint family. This is one of the happiest sides of a joint family system.
5. Promotion of Social Virtues: It raises great social virtues like sacrifices, love, co-operation, selfless service, broad mind among the members of the family. Elders want to check the Younger's behavior. They are prevented the younger to get lost from their path and they help to use self-control. These checks help in building a social moral character.
6. Check on Fragmentation of Holdings: Joint family system ‘puts a check on the fragmentation of holdings and evils inherent therein. Besides this it helps to increase production for family. Because their use a vast land. 
7. Socialistic Organization: According to Henry Maine, “the joint family is like a corporation, the trustee of which is the farther. Everyone in the joint family earns according to his capacity but gets according to his needs”.