The extensive presence in the legal archives of cases of non-normative conjugalities in Garhwal cannot be explained as exceptions or cultural vestiges as colonial observers tended to do. By tracing their recurrence using the temporal depth of historical sources, the article is able to rehabilitate what appeared as deviant, marginal or even immoral practices at a given time, as culturally available strategies. They are interpreted in this article as practical solutions to the reproductive needs of the small peasant household. These conjugal arrangements were particularly useful when the support of lineage members was undependable or even hostile, as frequently in the case of widows. Such households could not be sustained, however, if their land were to return to the lineage on the death of its head. This conundrum forced them to negotiate the rule of patrilineal inheritance. While men were historically empowered to contest lineage rights under the colonial interpretation of local custom, women’s property was subject even more strictly to the reversionary right of patrilineal heirs. The article examines how women deployed custom and laws relating to debt to deal with unequal property rights.
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