1) Is there any explanation as to why the definition of a consanguineous relationship differs from society

to society?
Among the Chinese, and Hindus, the marriage of mother's brother's off-spring or father's sister's children
is allowed. The Chinese justify it by saying that the children in this case are of not of the same surname.
They have taboo in marrying from the same surname. It would correlate with the Gothras among the
Hindus. Brothers, paternal uncles and their of-springs will have the same gothras. Among non-Brahmin
Tamils, a gothra is called as 'kudi'. Such related kudis are considered as 'panggaali's. A panggaali is
anyone who is descended from paternal grandfather or his brothers, father or his brothers and so forth for
7 generations. Usually relationships are considered to be valid for 7 generations. A panggaali literally is
one who has inherited the same property through the paternal connections. A panggaali cannot marry the
daughter or sister of another panggaali. It should be noted that panggaalis will have the same surname if
they had a surname. They will also belong to the same gothra if they had a gothra.
The Westerners do not marry among the same surname groups. They do marry cousins. But they avoid
marrying mother's sister's children. It has been seen that in some royal families marriage with father's
brother's children have taken place. In the olden days, father's sister's children were marriable.
Hitler fell in love with his own sister's daughter. He was very much attached to her. But she died. Hitler
could not take this. He contemplated suicide. Later on he came to himself. But he became a vegetarian in
her memory. He stayed as such until his death. Even Eva Braun could not step into the place that Hitler
had given for his sister's daughter.

2) Is there any reference to uncle - niece marriage in ancient Tamil literature?

Rajaraja Chola's elder sister was Kundhavai I. She was married to Vallavaraiyan Vandhiya ThEvan.
Rajaraja had 15 known wives. One among them was the daughter of Kundhavai and Vandhiya ThEvan.
Here we see a historical evidence of the Maternal uncle marrying the niece.
In history, we normally see that royal princes marry girls from certain mini-royal families. They are
hereditary sambandhapuram. For instance, Rajaraja's daughter Kundhavai marries Vimaladitya, the
Chalukya. Their son Rajaraja Narendra marries Ammanga Devi, the daughter of Rajendra who is the
brother of Kundhavai. Their son is Kulothunga Chola. He marries the daughter Madurantaki of Rajendra II
who is the brother of AmmangaDevi.
In the case of Kuloththunga I, there seems to be very great degree of inbreeding. However, he seems to
have inherited only the very best of the qualities of the illustrious dynasties.