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Abstract

Brahmanical tradition importantly emphasises on the norms of monogamy and pativratā for women. Therefore, instances of polyandrous marriages are quite rare and exceptional in the brahmanical literary traditions. The following work have discussed two instances of polyandry from the brahmanical texts of early India and how the myths are structured to fit in within the patriarchal brahmanical tradition by the compilers of these texts. Though, not much information is provided about these types of marriages in the texts, indicating towards the rarity of these practices, an acceptance by the compilers for such marriage practices could be deduced by analysing the stories. How the practice of polyandry was brought up in the brahmanical texts and structured around the patriarchal mechanisms and regulations of the existing society is one of the important questions to be explored in the paper.

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