Breaking down the question
The question has two distinct tasks. The first is definitional — define the concepts of descent and alliance, the two great organising principles of kinship theory. The second is comparative — differentiate between the North Indian and South Indian kinship systems, illustrated with examples.
The instruction to give examples means the comparison must be concrete, not merely abstract. A strong answer defines descent and alliance precisely, distinguishing the theoretical traditions they represent, and then maps the North–South contrast across marriage rules, kin terminology and the treatment of affinal ties, drawing on Irawati Karve's classic regionalisation.
For fuller treatment, see the note on types of kinship systems in India.
How to approach it
Open by defining descent and alliance as the two axes of kinship — descent tracing membership through lines of ancestry, alliance organising relations through marriage. Attach each to its theoretical tradition — descent theory associated with Radcliffe-Brown, alliance theory with Lévi-Strauss.
Then differentiate the two Indian systems across clear parameters — marriage rules, cross-cousin marriage, kin terminology, the closeness of affines, and the role of village exogamy. Use concrete examples and Karve's kinship zones. Close with a note on the underlying logic that distinguishes them.
Model answer
Descent and alliance are the two fundamental principles through which kinship systems are organised. Descent refers to the socially recognised connection between a person and their ancestors — membership of a lineage or descent group traced through a line of ancestry. It may be patrilineal (through the father), matrilineal (through the mother) or, less commonly, bilateral. Descent governs group membership, inheritance, succession and ritual obligation. In kinship theory, the emphasis on descent groups as the building blocks of society is associated with A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and the British structural-functionalists.
Alliance, by contrast, refers to the relationships created through marriage — the bonds between the groups that exchange spouses. In Claude Lévi-Strauss's alliance theory, marriage is the central fact of kinship, and the systematic exchange of women between groups is the very foundation of social solidarity and the movement from nature to culture. Where descent theory looks within the group along lines of ancestry, alliance theory looks between groups along lines of marriage. Descent stresses consanguinity and continuity; alliance stresses affinity and exchange. The two are complementary lenses, and Indian kinship illustrates both vividly.
The differentiation of North and South Indian kinship was mapped most influentially by Irawati Karve, who divided India into kinship zones with the Northern and Southern zones as the principal contrast.
In the North Indian system, marriage is governed by strict exogamy. The rule of gotra exogamy forbids marriage within one's own clan, and the four-gotra rule extends the prohibition to the lineages of both grandmothers. Crucially, marriage with close kin is barred — there is no cross-cousin or uncle–niece marriage. Alliance is made with strangers, families with whom no prior kin tie exists, and village exogamy is often practised, so that a woman marries out of her natal village into an unrelated household, frequently at a distance. The result is a sharp separation between consanguines and affines — one's blood kin and one's in-laws are kept firmly distinct, the wife-givers ranking as inferior to the wife-takers, and the incoming bride entering as a subordinate stranger. Kinship terminology accordingly distinguishes affines clearly from blood relatives.
In the South Indian (Dravidian) system, by contrast, marriage repeats and reinforces existing kin ties. Cross-cousin marriage — a man marrying his mother's brother's daughter or father's sister's daughter — is not merely permitted but often preferred, and in some communities uncle–niece marriage (a man marrying his elder sister's daughter) is practised. Alliance is thus made within the circle of kin rather than with strangers, so that affines and consanguines overlap — one's in-laws are already one's relatives. This is reflected in the terminology, where the same terms may cover cross-cousins and potential spouses, merging categories that the North keeps apart. Marriage tends to stay geographically close, and the giving and taking of brides between the same two groups can recur across generations, producing durable, symmetrical alliances rather than the North's one-way, hierarchical flow.
Louis Dumont analysed the Southern pattern as one where affinity is a permanent value, marriage renewing existing bonds, whereas the North treats each marriage as forging a fresh and asymmetric tie. The underlying contrast is therefore between a Northern logic of alliance with the unrelated — exogamous, hierarchical, keeping consanguines and affines apart — and a Southern logic of alliance among the related — repetitive, symmetrical, fusing blood and marriage kin.
In sum, descent and alliance are the two axes of kinship — one tracing membership through ancestry, the other organising exchange through marriage. Indian kinship displays a striking internal variation along these axes, with the North practising strict exogamy that separates kin from in-laws, and the South practising cross-cousin alliance that merges them. Karve's regional map remains the classic guide to this diversity.
Examiner's perspective
Examiners expect the definitions to be theoretically anchored — descent linked to lineage membership and the Radcliffe-Brown tradition, alliance linked to marriage exchange and Lévi-Strauss. A script that defines the terms loosely, without the descent-versus-alliance theoretical contrast, forfeits the opening marks.
The heart of the answer is the North–South comparison, and marks accrue for organising it across clear parameters — exogamy versus cross-cousin marriage, the separation versus the overlap of affines and consanguines, distance versus proximity, and kin terminology. Concrete examples such as the four-gotra rule and mother's-brother's-daughter marriage, together with Karve's zones and Dumont's reading of affinity, lift the answer. The strongest scripts close by naming the underlying logic of each system, which secures the top band.