Inbreeding patterns in rural South India

Rural-urban differentials in consanguinity.

“…The present study confirms these findings and also indicates the significantly higher frequency of consanguinity in the rural areas. The frequencies of consanguinity observed in this study is much higher than that reported so far in southern Indian communities (Dronamraju and Khan, 1963;Centerwall et al, 1969).…”

“…Indications that this frequency would be higher in the rural areas were suggested in a study of one village by Centerwall et al (1969). Detailed analyses for rural areas on the extent of consanguinity, types preferred, and their relationship to specific demographic factors have not been reported so far.…”

Consanguinity and familial mental retardation.

“…Consanguinity is a custom still prevalent in many Consanguinity andfamilial mental retardation parts of south India (Dronamaraju and Khan, 1963;Sanghvi, 1966;Centerwall and Centerwall, 1966) and the significance of utilizing this opportunity for understanding certain human disease states has been emphasized by Centerwall (1965) who has done pioneering work in this field. Consanguinity in marriage is rare in North India (Centerwall et al, 1969) and so far only one report is available on this topic from the north (Sinclair, 1972). During this study it was noted that the rate of parental consanguinity was the same in cases with mental retardation and among controls.…”

“…The distribution of data in the three groups relating to consanguinity among the various religions is indicated in Table III. This difference in the type of consanguineous union noted among Hindus and Muslims is perhaps due to restrictions placed by the two religious groups relating to marriages among parallel and cross cousins. It is also interesting to note that in North India, even Hindus cannot marry anyone who is related to them within five or even seven generations and, therefore, one may assume that consanguinity is virtually absent among the northern Hindus (Centerwall, Savarinathan, and Mohan, 1969).…”

Inbreeding in the State of Karnataka, South India

“…Inbreeding at this level is believed to have been practised by the Dravidian Hindu population for over 2,000 years [Centerwall et al, 1969]. Obviously such disadvantages as may exist from the expression in the pop ulation of recessive iethals due to the in creased homozygosity of the inbred off spring, are held to be out-weighed by the so cial benefits which acme from consangui neous marriages; mainly the maintenance of family structure and property.…”