The phenomenon of tree marriage found in certain tribes of central India is examined in its cultural and historical context. It is compared with other examples in India of marriage to an inanimate object or to an individual who acts as a symbolic groom but not subsequently as a husband. Many of these examples come from the world of caste and have a number of different rationales, most of which are to do with the maintenance of status. Tree marriage in tribal groups, however, would seem to have more to do with a specifically tribal version of reincarnation which is linked to the kinship system and lacks the ethnical basis of the karma doctrine of the caste society. It is argued that as with reincarnation, so too with marriage to inanimate objects, there may be a certain continuity of form from tribal to caste society, though the significance of the practice varies with the groups among which it is found.
Key words: sociology, indology, kinship with trees
Correspondence: Robert Parkin, 3 Spur Hill Avenue, Parkstone, Poole BH14 9PG, United Kingdom