A young Indian woman has spoken out about being married to five husbands, all of whom are brothers. Rajo Verma, 21, lives in one room with the siblings and they sleep on blankets on the floor.
一名年轻的印度女性称,她嫁给了兄弟五人。21岁的拉乔-维尔玛和这些兄弟们住在一起,他们平时都睡在地上的被子里。
The mother-of-one, who sleeps each night with a different brother, does not know which of her five related husbands is the father of her 18-month-old son.
她已经成为了一个孩子的母亲,每天晚上轮流和一个不同的兄弟在一起,而她自己也不知道孩子的父亲到底是谁,孩子已经有18月大了。
The set-up may seem peculiar, but it is tradition in the small village near Dehradun, Northern India, for women to also marry the brothers of their first husband.
这种组合看似独特,但是其实却是北印度德拉敦附近这个小村庄的传统。在那里,女人不仅要嫁给丈夫,还要嫁给她第一个丈夫的兄弟们。
She told the Sun: 'Initially it felt a bit awkward. 'But I don’t favour one over the other.'
她在接受英国《太阳报》采访时说:“一开始我觉得有点尴尬,不过我并不会特别青睐某个人。”
Verma and first husband Guddu wed in an arranged Hindu marriage four years ago. Since then she has married Baiju, 32, Sant Ram, 28, Gopal, 26, and Dinesh, 19 - the latest in the line of husbands - who married her as soon as he turned 18.
4年前,维尔玛和她的第一位丈夫古都结婚,是传统的印度包办婚姻。之后她相继嫁给了32岁的拜诸、28岁的桑特、26岁的戈帕尔和19岁的迪尼斯,迪尼斯是她丈夫兄弟中最小的一个,迪尼斯一到18岁维尔玛就嫁给了她。
'We all have sex with her but I’m not jealous,' first husband Guddu - who remains the only official spouse - said. 'We’re one big happy family.'
“我们和她都会发生性关系,不过我不会感到妒忌,我们是一个大家庭。” 第一任丈夫古都说。一直到现在为止,古都还是她唯一官方的配偶。
The ancient Hindu tradition of polyandry was once widely practised in India, but is now only observed by a minority.
古印度一妻多夫的传统曾经在印度非常普遍,不过现在只有一少部分人还这样做。
It sees a woman take more than one husband, typically in areas which are male dominated. In fraternal polyandry the woman is expected to marry each of her original husband's brothers.
遵从这种传统,一个女人要嫁给几个丈夫,在以男性为主导的地方更是如此。在一妻多夫制的情况下,女人一般也会嫁给她原本丈夫的兄弟。
It is thought to have arisen from the popular Sanskrit epic of Mahabharatha, which sees Draupadi, daughter of the King of Pancha being married to five brothers. The practice is also believed to be a way of keeping farming land in the family.
这种传统的起源据说是梵文史诗《摩诃婆罗多》,在史诗中,国王旁遮的女儿就嫁给了五兄弟。人们认为,这种传统也能保证家中的耕地不至于四分五裂。
Verma said she knew she was expected to accept all of her husbands, as her own mother had also been married to three brothers.
维尔玛说,她原先就知道她要接受丈夫的所有兄弟们了,她自己的母亲也嫁给了三兄弟。
She said they sleep together in turn, but that they do not have beds, just 'lots of blankets on the floor'. She added: 'I get a lot more attention and love than most wives.'
她说他们轮流睡在一起,不过他们没有床,只有“地上的一堆被子”。她又补充道:“我比起大多数妻子来说能得到更多的关注和爱。”