...This article) examines Hindu-Muslim differentials in polygamy... (and) also... whether practice of polygamy can really lead to a higher growth of a community by way of higher fertility.

Polygamy actually means having more than one wife or one husband at a time. Having more than one wife is called polygamy whereas having more than one husband is called polyandry... There is no evidence of practice of polyandry either among Indian Muslims or Muslim communities in other countries.

Polygamy exists among both Hindus and Muslims. Among Hindus it has no legal sanction but has social sanction. In the past a few studies were conducted to know the extent of polygamy among different communities. According to the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (1975, pp. 66-67), during the decades 1931-41, 1941-51 and 1951-61, the percentage of polygynous marriages among Hindus was 6.79, 7.15 and 5.06. The corresponding percentage for Muslims was 7.29, 7.06 and 4.31 and among Tribals 9.53, 17.53 and 17.98. Thus polygamy was the highest among tribals and for the later two decades, it was lower for Muslims than for Hindus. Also the incidence of polygynous marriages has been declining among both communities. Another survey conducted by the Census authorities in 1961 reveals that the incidence of polygynous marriages was found to be highest among the tribal communities (15-25 percent), Buddhists 7.97 per cent, Jains 6.72 per cent, Hindus 5.8 per cent and Muslims 5.7 per cent. Thus incidence of polygynous marriages was about the same for both communities...

What have demographers to say about the effect of polygamy on fertility? K.C. Seal and P.P. Talwar in their article 'Impact of Polygynous Marriages on Fertility in India' in the book Studies on Population and Family Planning in India (1974, pp. 111-114) argue that in polygynous marriages fertility rates are expected to be lower as compared to monogamous marriages for the following reasons: The number of coiti which a man can have remain almost unchanged whether he has one wife or more than one; If the coiti are randomly distributed over the menstrual cycle of a woman, a fixed number of coiti per man is likely to lead to higher chance of fertilizing a woman in case of one wife compared to the case of more than one wife, depending on their ovulatory cycles; Death of a man in a polygynous marriage prevents reproduction among more than one woman for a period... From a study of fertility of polygynous marriages in urban India, Kanti Pakrasi in his article 'Marriage System and Its Impact on Family Formation and Family Planning' in the report Recent Population Trends in South Asia, Proceedings of the Conference, New Delhi, 1983, (pp. 357-369), observed that the polygynous couples in general had lower rate of live births than what is shown by the total couples surveyed in urban India. From the point of view of fertility differentials polygyny is not important because the proportion of women marrying into polygynous marriages is minute. Caldwell in the journal Population and Development Review (June, p. 201) states: 'In polygynous societies in Eurasia, the proportion of marriages with multiple wives is usually no more than three to four per cent, evidencing either the husband's unusual wealth or position or the ineffectuality of the first wife.'

Pakrasi observed that 'in the selection of second wives, the Muslims depend more on relatively aged women and this should have its due effect on reproductive achievements of their second wives. On the other hand, Hindu polygynists are noted to prefer very young wives below 15 years in age in both first and second marriages relatively more strongly than the Muslims. In comparison to the Hindu polygynists the Muslim males with first wives only maintained the highest average of children born alive, but with second wives, they yielded the lower average. The Hindu polygynists produced through their second wives distinctly more live births on the average than their Muslim counterparts. Polygynous form of mating does not appear to be an essential prerequisite to invest the distinction of superior fertility with Muslims of India.

Thus it is very clear that the extent of polygyny among Muslims is either same or less than among Hindus and secondly due to polygyny the Muslim population growth cannot be higher than the Hindu population growth.