The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.110

c8.110

The fact is that polyandry was not in vogue among the Aryans even in the Vedic age; whether it existed in any earlier period among them is also very doubtful. Its unexpected occurrence in the Mahābhārata has surprised and puzzled its readers, and so later commentators have sought to explain it away as best as they could. Polyandry is still current to some extent among a few non-Aryan tribes of Kashmir and Tibet, and it is probable that the Pāṇḍavas were following a custom which they may have borrowed from either of these provinces. This would suggest that they belonged to a stock of Aryans different from that of the Kauravas, and that they entered India via the Gilgit pass in Kashmir or through Nepal. It is of course not possible to discuss the pros and cons of this interesting theory in this work.