it's called polyandry one woman several husbands it's an unusual arrangement today polyamory only persists in isolated villages in the Himalayas when it was time for Sunita Kumari to Wed her family like many in India made arrangements but they involved more than a dowry of celebration Sunita has not one husband not two systems but three all brothers what must their life be like Westerners might find the practice shocking but for this community it works fine one reason sheer practicality in the Himalayas arable land of scarce farms are tiny give each generation divided each family's holdings everyone would starve polyandry preserves the farm and the family's future unlike most men in India husband's here handle domestic duties they're willing to help with the cooking and childcare in fraternal polyandry a family picks a wife for its oldest son the marriage can also include his younger brothers they don't have to join in but most do no one takes a decision regarding one's own marriage everyone at home sits down together and then it is decided with the consent of everyone polyandry also functions as a form of birth control no matter how many husbands she has a wife can get pregnant only so often if each man were to Wed separately the population here would explode but what about sex the forbidden core of a polyandry taboo in truth it's a matter of scheduling and on the wife's part Baris tolerance is very important the wife has to understand everything up submissive be a Cuby the older brothers nature if the younger brothers Nature had taught over kissing what about jealousy that bane of even the most mundane marry if the wife is smart she will take turns each night and sleep with all the brothers it's not like the older brother wants a whole time I thought that we will kneel until recently no one here much cared with the outside world far isolation had preserved a way of life that had withered everywhere else but a road now links the region to distant cities and on roofs once decorated only with prayer flags satellite dishes sprout this village has entered the modern world whose images of romance stand in sharp contrast to polyamory but polyamory here faces a bigger threat education as more people are becoming more educated we are also practicing family planning if a father has only one son there will be no question about the land therefore common marriages will come to an end in two perhaps three generations polyandry may vanish here but for now those who practices find comfort in the familiar that common marriage is very good I feel like everyone should live like our family even if we do not have anything to eat or drink we sit happily we live peacefully