Women and Their Affines: The Veil as a Symbol of Separation

Abstract

In north India, the term ghungat nikalna refers to the practice whereby a woman veils her face from all male affines senior to her own husband. A description of ghungat as practised in Ghanyari, a Himalayan village, is given here. Generally, anthropologists have described ghungat within the context of discussions of household organisation. However, as women extend ghungat to all classificatory and 'courtesy' affines, i.e. to most of the senior men in the village, ghungat is better understood as a practice which controls the activities of women within the village community as a whole, not just within the household. Ghungat limits the interaction ofjunior women with senior males, especially high caste senior males, i.e. those who may be expected to wield most power in the community. It is also a depersonalising device, rendering women socially invisible in public contexts. Yet women in Ghanyari are not social ciphers and the device is not wholly effective. It must be understood as a didactic practice, defining an ideal pattern of interaction with affines which is only partially realised in reality.

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