A joint family, ideally consists of three or four patrilineally related generations, all living under one roof, working, eating, worshiping, and coope- rating together in mutually beneficial social and economic activities. Despite the  growing impact of urbanization and Westernization, the traditional Indian joint family remains the primary social force in the lives of most Indians. Loyalty to family is a deeply held ideal for almost everyone.

Many Indians also live in nuclear families—a couple with their unmarried children, like the most common pattern in the West. However, in spite of staying separately,  there are strong networks of kinship ties through  economic assistance and other benefits among the family members. Family members living in the same city or in the near by areas  easily  respond to the give and take of kinship obligations. Even when they cannot actually live in close proximity, they typically maintain strong bonds of  kinship and attempt to provide each other with economic help, emotional support, and other benefits.

Splitting of the joint family is often blamed on quarrelling women and for property. But in reality a perfect joint family is just like a heaven on earth.