A Contract in Social Relation-The Samband Edipa Ceremony among Coorgs in South India

The Samband Edipa Ceremony among Coorgs in South India Veena Poonacha The study of kinship and marriage in India so far has been within the conceptual framework of the Vedic Aryan tradition, dominated by the Brahaminical hegemony which in turn was further nurtured by a colonial regime. This discourse did not recognise that within the so-called 'Hindu' fold are a number of communities and ethnic groups with their own strong self identity and socio-cultural patterns. As a response to questions raised by women's studies about the realities of women's lives and the basis of allocation of roles and status in society there is growing awareness of the need to understand better these smaller communities and groups. These existing alternative models provide evidence that the legitimated and dominant pattern of female subordination is neither a truth for all times nor an unalterable Natural' law.