ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the socio-economic context of nonmarriage in Chumik, describing the social institutions that make nonmarriage feasible, the conscious strategies that result in nonmarriage and late marriage in individual cases, and the social norms of which large scale nonmarriage is an unintended consequence. Fraternal polyandry, along with a virtual absence of polygyny, and the fact that there are more adult women than men in the population, is one important factor skewing the incidence of marriage by concentrating eligible men in polyandrous unions. In Tsang, one of the villages in Limi where Goldstein conducted research in 1974-1976, 20 of the 52 marriages recorded were polyandrous; a total of 23 women and 54 men were included in the 20 polyandrous marriages. In rare instances, an illegitimate male whose mother marries and who grows up with his "legitimate" brothers may be included with the legitimate brothers in a polyandrous marriage.
