ABSTRACT
One of the most immediately noticeable features of rural Jat Sikh society is the separation of the sexes. This separation reflects the strength of consanguinal bonds, and of the companionship of men and the weakness of conjugal ties. Rules of separation between men and women are, therefore, also related to the honour of the family of which a woman becomes a part. Links with other families are established through women and if the honour of a family’s women is lost so also is the family’s entire public position. The Jats perceive three types of relationship as important: kinship ties, affinal ties and ties of reciprocity, between friends and between a leader and his supporters. Family power was dependent on and achieved through the local concentration of the family in one place, in combination with the possession of a large landholding and a wide network of linkages outside the village built up through affinal connexions and through factional contacts.
