Polyandry has been practiced here for centuries, but in a single generation it has all but vanished. That is a remarkably swift change in a country where social change, despite rapid economic growth, leaping technological advances and the relentless march of globalization, happens with aching slowness, if at all.<\/p>\n
After centuries of static isolation, so much has changed here in the Lahaul Valley in the past half-century \u201d\u201d first roads and cars, then telephones and satellite television dishes, and now cellphones and broadband Internet connections \u201d\u201d that a complete social revolution has taken place. Not one of Ms. Devi\u2019s five children lives in a polyandrous family.<\/p>\n
\u201cTimes have changed,\u201d\u009d Ms. Devi said. \u201cNow nobody marries like this.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Polyandry has never been common in India, but pockets have persisted, especially among the Hindu and Buddhist communities of the Himalayas, where India abuts Tibet.<\/p>\n