orthodox society is hierarchical in structure. Kinship groups are ranked precisely along a superior/inferior continuum, and individuals within these groups are ranked according to age, descent, and gender. This pervasive ranking reflects the perceived power of ancestors as the source of hasina -life-giving power, which is distributed unequally among individuals and family groups. Royal or noble persons are supposed to possess a greater level of hasina than others, so that their descendants enjoy superior social status. Within families of any rank, elders possess greater hasina than the young not only by virtue of their maturity and experience but also because they are perceived as closer to the dead and thus share in part of their power. Rulers do not rule alone but share their offices in effect with their ancestors, who are, in fact, more powerful and influential than the rulers themselves. Among the Sakalava, it is believed that the soul or spirit of a royal ancestor can take possession of a person in order to make known its commands to the living.

Although the Merina social and kinship pattern is to a great degree common to all the peoples of Madagascar, there are valuable variations based in part on different histories and on ecological variations between the rice-growing and pastoral regions of the nation. The pastoral Bara and the Tsimihety, who are agriculturalists but place great cultural and sentimental significance on herds of zebu, base descent and inheritance on patrilineality more strictly than the Merina.