Man in India. April-June 1951

The joint household is organized around the head of the house the karta and the mistress of the house the grihini. [...] In matters of social breaches and etiquettes of importance to the comunity the opinions of the kartas and the grihinis of the various housholds of the community may be asked. [...] In a group of brothers the wife of the brother who plays the role of the karta may be expectedRELATIONS IN THE HINDU JOINT HOUSEHOLD OP BENGAL 53 to be the grihini but here again if the wife of another is more capable than the former she may execute all the functions of the grihini regardless of whether or not her status is formally recognized.' When there is lack of agreement and mutual under [...] This feeling of not uttering the name of a senior person is seen in the extreme form in a wife never uttering the name of her husband as stated previously.] Usually the persons residing in the household of either the father or the mother are addressed in the numerical form with the kinship terms attached e. g. sejo kaka or mejo mama. [...] Moreover as the karta and the grihini of the household the grandparents can wield more authority over the children than can be done by the parents of the latter and therefore they are held most in awe.l In the list of kinship terminologies presented a few relationships were marked to be of a joking nature.