Historical story

Chapter – 26 – Family Life in India (c)

Joint Family System

The joint family system is the biggest feature of the Indian way of life. Large families are mentioned in the Grihyasutras. Families used to be large even in the Buddhist era. There have been mentions of such families in many Jatakas which used to run with the help and support of their members. There have also been mentions of such families whose members, according to their wishes, left their fathers unhappy and were initiated into Buddhism and they themselves blocked their right in property. Women too, having been initiated into Buddhism, used to live in a Buddhist Vihara or Sangharam, away from their families.

Foundations of Joint Family

Two bases of a joint family have been considered - (1) the mutual relations of the members. (2) Performing duties towards the family. That is, the relations between the members of the family should be cordial and each member should perform his duties towards the family. If a person earns money living away from his family and his property and place of residence are separate, but if he performs those duties towards his family which are necessary for a member of a joint family, then the family living far away is nuclear. Not considered.

Rights of home owner in joint family

In ancient and medieval times, it was necessary to have a joint family to protect the child and property of a person and to get the means and skills of livelihood. The eldest male in the family was the head of the joint family. He was called the homeowner. He disciplined the members of the family, showed them the path of righteousness, protected the family members and made arrangements for their fulfillment.

He used to take decisions related to auspicious works, yagya rituals, and to stabilize marital relations in the family and also used to divide the family and property at the appropriate time. Generally other members of the family did not have the right to interfere in the orders and decisions of the householder.

Due to not understanding the nature of joint family properly, western writers have described the head of joint family as autocrat but this is not true. Although the authority of the head of the family was very wide, he took care of the feelings and needs of other family members and consulted them before taking important decisions.

Rights of members in joint family

All the members of the joint family lived together in the same building or building-complex. The food of all the members of the family was prepared in the same kitchen. All male members had equal rights in the property of the family. Many members of the family used to earn money, but the income of all of them was not separate but the joint fund of the family was used to meet the expenses of the whole family. In this sense the joint family was an economic unit. The joint family was the center of religious, social and economic activities. All the male and female members of the family used to participate in the worship of God and religious rituals.

Importance of son in joint family

The importance of the son in a joint family was immense. The belief was prevalent in the society that the soul is born in the form of a son. (Atma Vai Jayate Putra:). Thus as a son man attains immortality and continuity. The main purpose of marriage was to produce a son. Father 'Paternal Debt' when a son is born was freed from. Even among sons, the position of the eldest son was special in comparison to other sons. In Shradh, only the eldest son is entitled to offer Pind and Tarpan. After the death of the father, it was the duty of the eldest son to take care of his younger brothers as sons.

Division of Joint Family

Hindu-Theology does not accept the division of the family as justified. Manu has written that the members of the family incur a sin when they leave the family. After the death of the father, sons can share his property equally, but it is appropriate that the younger brother should live with his elder brother as he used to live with the father. In Narada Smriti, it has been instructed to distribute property from the father who is angry, subjective and conducts against scripture.

In the pre-medieval ages, two ideologies developed regarding the division of property. The first of these was the Mitakshara propounded by Vigyaneshwar and the second was the Dayabhaga promoted by Jimutivahana. According to the first ideology, as soon as a son was born, he had a right in the property. According to the second view, after the death of the father, the son's right over the property was created. In this period, the common property of the joint family was the right of the house owner and only that member had the right on the property acquired by a member of the joint family.

Benefits of Joint Family

(1.) Social Security Shield

Joint family is the security cover of every member of the family. In times of crisis, he gets the help of family members and can face any adversity, whereas nuclear family members have relatively less ability to cope with adversity.

(2.) Social respect guaranteed

The qualification and experience of each member is different in a joint family, which benefits each member of the family. Due to this, the members of the family get prestige and respect in the society. The bad people of the society are not able to dare to make an exception on that family, to create a quarrel or to throw mud.

(3.) Living with less expenses

Due to the living together of all the members of the family, more resources are mobilized in less expenditure and there is no need to raise resources separately for each person. Due to this, it becomes possible for more people to live in less expenditure.

(4.) Co-operative and Allied Society

In a joint family, all the women of the house take care of the children together. Similarly, each member decides his own work. Due to this the family becomes a co-operative institution. All the members of the family consider it their duty to cooperate with each other.

According to Jawaharlal Nehru, the joint family system acts as an insurance-shield for the members of the family and in this all the protections are available even for the mentally and physically weak people. Patient's service-suffering is also better in joint family.

(5.) As a means of livelihood

There is a need for the employment of more than one person in activities like agriculture, animal husbandry, cottage industry and trade etc. In joint family system this labor power becomes available within the family itself. Being completely reliable and efficient in its ancestral business, it gives better results than the man-power retainers.

(6.) Equal opportunities and facilities for personal growth

In a joint family, all the members get equal facilities for personal progress. The weak member also gets the benefit of the skill and efficiency of each member of the family equally. Due to this the weak member also gets more opportunities for personal growth.

(7.) Personality Development of Children

In a joint family, the children of all the brothers easily get guidance and rites from the elderly members of the house. While living in a joint family, narrow thoughts like Tera-Mera do not arise in the child and they develop the tendency to eat and live together.

(8.) Coordination of Rights and Duties

In a joint family, every member has to respect and obey his elders and give help and protection to the younger and weaker member. This enables them to strike a balance between rights and duties.

(9.) Creation of Bliss

In a joint family, all the members live together, celebrate Teej-festivals and family celebrations. Due to mutual dialogues and jokes, they do not have to face loneliness and dullness, but love increases among family members and a joyful atmosphere is created.

Due to the cries and child-friendly efforts of the small children of the family, every member feels happy. Brother-sister's love, mother's affection, brother-in-law's humor-joke, grand-grandchildren's and grand-grandson's grandson or grandson etc., are possible only in joint family.

(10.) Motivation of social service

The members of joint family have more respect, friendship and compassion towards other human beings. Therefore, they prove to be responsible citizens for the country and society. Living in a joint family keeps the moral standard of a person high. They also do work like social service by rising above personal selfishness.

(11.) Conservation of agricultural land

Due to joint family, the pace of division of agricultural land slows down. Whereas in nuclear family system, the division of agricultural land is fast.

Weaknesses and disadvantages of joint family system

Despite having many merits in the joint family system, there are also some drawbacks, due to which and due to the changed circumstances of the country and society, the joint family system is on the verge of extinction.

(1.) Negligence towards responsibilities

In a joint family, some people have to work a lot, while some people enjoy all the facilities without doing anything. In such a situation, members with a tendency to avoid work assume that others are working, so what is the harm if I do not do it! While the working members think that when the other member is not working then why should I do it! Due to this tendency, disintegration starts in the family.

(2.) The factor of mutual conflicts

In a joint family, members of different tendencies have to live together, which often lacks harmony. The daughters-in-law coming into the family come from different family environment and often feel insecure in the new environment of the in-laws' house. Due to this there is conflict of personality between mother-in-law-daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, devrani-jethani. These conflicts also start among male members and often become so severe that families are torn apart.

(3.) Violation of women's freedom

In a joint family the freedom of women is limited. Due to family responsibilities and presence of other members, they do not get opportunities to talk with their husband and children, cook food of their choice, wear clothes as per their wish and go out of the house freely. He has to veil from the elder members of the house and keep himself under cover.

One has to be extra careful while speaking also. Sometimes she also has to listen to sarcasm and taunts about her husband's low income or weak financial condition of Pehar people. If the husband is unemployed, the wife has to work as a maid. This has a bad effect on the psychology of that woman and her children.

(4.) Obstacles in personality development

Being in a joint family, a person can neither eat nor wear what he wants. He cannot even buy what he wants. He has to take care of the needs of other members before fulfilling the wishes of his wife and children. Because of this every member of the family has to curb his desires.

Reasons for disintegration of joint family

(1.) The mainstay of Aryan culture 'family' Whereas Western culture believes in individual liberty. When western ideas entered the country, Indians also 'individualism' adopted. Trends like destruction of cottage industries, industrialization and urbanization forced people to leave villages in large numbers and move to cities in search of work.

(2.) Due to the government jobs and distant postings of the members of the joint family in big companies, the joint family also disintegrated and people became used to living among their wives and children and urban amenities.

(3.) The people of the old generation are in favor of the old traditions and want to run the family on the same method, whereas due to the rapid change in the beliefs of the new generation, they do not agree with the things of the old generation. This also led to the rapid disintegration of joint families.

(4.) In the traditional family, the mother-in-law wants to keep her daughter-in-law under her discipline, but the daughter-in-law wants to stay away from her considering the mother-in-law as a useless burden. Mother-in-law wants the daughter-in-law to cover the veil, not to come out of the boundary wall of the house, to touch the feet of mother-in-law in the morning, not to talk to her husband in the presence of mother-in-law and silently accept whatever the mother-in-law says but read The written daughter-in-law considers the words of the archaic mother-in-law to be nebulous. Due to this also the joint families went on breaking up fast.

(5.) Due to increasing aspirations and needs, the expenditure of the family is no longer supported by the income of one member. So women also want to work. It becomes difficult for such people to live in a joint family. जब घर की कुछ औरतें नौकरी करती हैं और कुछ नहीं करतीं तो उनमें बराबरी के अधिकार को लेकर संघर्ष आरम्भ हो जाता है। कमाने वाली औरतें अपने धन पर अपना अधिकार समझती हैं जबकि न कमाने वाली औरतें और पुरुष सदस्य औरत की कमाई पर पूरे परिवार का अधिकार समझते हैं। इससे घर का वातावरण प्रेम-युक्त नहीं रह पाता।

संक्षेप में कहा जा सकता है कि व्यक्ति-स्वातंत्र्य के इस युग में न तो नई पीढ़ी ही पुरानी पीढ़ी के नियंत्रण में रहना चाहती है और न पढ़ी-लिखी नारी ही संयुक्त परिवार के दायित्वों का निर्वहन करना चाहती है। इस कारण संयुक्त परिवार की परम्परा लगभग लुप्त हो गई है, विशेषकर नगरीय क्षेत्रों में।