2801710 mercados

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2801710-mercados 1/23

The Market Wheel: Symbolic Aspects of an Indian Tribal Market

Author(s): Alfred GellReviewed work(s):Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 1982), pp. 470-491Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801710 .

Accessed: 01/02/2012 10:00

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve

and extend access to Man.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rai

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801710?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801710?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rai

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


THE

MARKET

WHEEL: SYMBOLIC

ASPECTS OF

AN INDIAN

TRIBAL

MARKET

ALFRED GELL

London chool fEconomics Political cience

A weeklymarket n BastarDistrict,Madhya Pradesh, ndia, s analysedfrom hepointof

view of its

symbolic ignificance

s

a

map

of

social relations

n

the rea. The

groupspresent

n

Bastar nteract

n

themarketmore

regularly

han

hey

o

in

any

other ontext. he market

lan

shows their

ierarchical

elationships

learly,

nd

this

message

s

underscored

y

thehierarchical

values attached

o

the

goods

transacted.t

is

argued

that his

ymbolhcnteraction

erpetuates

an

ideological representation

f

Tribal/Hindu

elations

which

confers ertain

ractical

dvan-

tages

on the Tribals at the

expenseof

their

eing

made

symbolicallyeripheral.

Dhorai

is the name of a market

illage

ocated

deep

n

thehinterlandf North

Bastar

district,Madhya

Pradesh

centralndia).'

On non-market

ays

Dhorai

is a

sleepy,

ree-shaded amlet

traddling

n

unsealed oad whichwinds ts

way

through

he forest.

Occasionally

ts rural

peace

is

shattered

y

the roar

of a

passing truck

aden

with

massive

ogs

of teak

timber roduction

eing

the

major ndustry

n

theregion)

or

loud

blasts

from

hehornof the

ocal

bus;

but

these

nterruptions

re

not

frequent. ocial

life n Dhorai

revolves round wo

primitive

ea-shops

with a

clientele f low-ranking

mployees

of

the State

Forest

ervice,

whose misfortunet

has been to be

stationed

n

such

a

distant

andinsignificant

pot.

Dhorai boasts

tumbledownchool,whichdoubles s a

post-office,

n

imposing

Forest

Rest House

(usually mpty),

few

ubstantial

homesteadsbelongingto Hindus, a penumbra f rather ess substantial uts

inhabited

y

tribalMuria

Gonds,2

nd not much else.

Dhorai on

non-market

ays-every day exceptFriday, hat

s-hardly

exists

at

all;

but Dhorai on a

market ay

might

be a

totally ifferentlace. Parked

trucks

am the

road,

in

charge

f their

rivers, urly

ikhsfrom he

north,

r

dark,

polysyllabic elegus

from

Hyderabad.

The

lowlyForestGuardsbustle

about

in

smart,newly-pressed

niforms,

hile themore

mportant

fficials f

the Forest

ervice,

down for

he

day,

oversee

operations

rom heverandah

f

the Forest

Rest House.

They

disburse

payments

o the tribal

abourers,

nd

check

through

he mounds of documentation hich are

the

bane

of

a

forest

officer's ife. In theirquasi-military hakithey ook like the officers f an

occupying

olonial

power,

whose successors

hey

have

ndeedbecome.

While

the officials

old

court n the

Rest

House,

files f Tribalscontinue o

pour

in

from ll

directions,

aden withthe

produce

f the

forest,

f their ields

and of

their

wn manufacture.

hey

are oined

by

Hindu

vegetable

ellers, nd

Man

(N.S ) 17, 470-91

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL

47I

by specialised

craftsmen,

otters,

weavers and blacksmiths.

The

general

impression

s

one of richness

nd

confusion, ompounded

by

the fact

hat

religious eremony, s wellas a market,s inprocess. n frontf the emple f

theState

Goddess,

whichfacesonto the

marketplace,

heuntouchable

boeist

and drummer re

performing,nd a long-haired

scetic nsultshis back with

chains. The whole

world,

t

seems,

s at the

market,

men and their

ivinities

alike.

The

marketplaces a

roughly uadrangular

atch

f

ground, bout

OO

yards

square,

at the centre

of which

there

grows

a

magnificent

anyan

tree. The

thatched

market

talls re

arranged

n a

concentric

attern,

nd are

divided

by

narrow treets r

defiles, long which

ustomersmanoeuvre

hemselvess best

they an

in

the

crush, rying

o

avoid

treading

n the

goods

of ess

established

traders,who make use ofeverynookand

cranny etween he

permanent

talls

to display

their

wares.

Beggary

and

poverty

re not to be seen

at theDhorai

market: he

young

re

all dressed

smartly,

nd

their

lderscontrive

o

convey,

t the

very

east,

an

impression

f

respectableolidity. he

dressiness,he

howiness

f themarket

scene-the

oiled

hair, the

ornaments,

he

brilliant-huedaris, he

mmaculate

shirts

nd

turbans-is

not,

ndeed,

n

aspect

f the

market o

be

ignored: or t

reveals, s clearly

s anything, he

fact hat hemarket

s a

ceremonial swell as

a

commercial

occasion.

Participants

dopt modes of

heightened nd stereo-

typedrole-playing,ppropriate or ceremonial ccasion, and theobligatory

'dressing

p' is an aspect f

this. ndeed,

on

closer

xamination,t s

possible o

perceive

n

the

design f the

market ccasion n

enactmentf the

ocialorder

n

the

widest ense, s

it

mpinges

n

thepeople

n

the ocality. or

distinctiveness

is at a

premium,

nd themarket

provides

n

occasion

par excellenceor the

differentiation

f

groups

and

for

the

articulation f

inter-groupelations,

n

ways

not

possible

n

thecontext

f

the

daily

routine f

village

ife

where hese

diverse

groups

come into

contact

only

spasmodically.

The market

gives

tangible

xpression

o

principles

f

social

structure hich ranscendhe

village

context.

t

locates the

villagers

n a

holistic

ystem

f

sociological

ategories,

and binds themto this ystem ymeansofmarket elations. he intention f

thisarticle s

thus to

explore

the

Dhorai

market rom

he

point

of view of

ts

symbolic

mportance s an

indigenousmodelof social

relations.

The

study

f

markets

'Markets

which meet

periodically

n

ndiahave

been

neglected

y geographers'

writes

Harriss

I976;

cf.

Bromley

974),

and

despite ome

additionsWanmali

I976; I977; Agrawal

978) this emains

rue.

heanthropological

iteraturen

ruralmarketsn India is no less sparse,though hemonographs y S. Sinha

et

al.

(I96I)

and

D. Sinha

(I968)

are

interesting

xceptions.This neglect s

curious,

specially

n

the ight f the

opiousness f market'

tudies

arried ut

in

India's

congener-societies

n

the

developingworld,a

genre nspired

y

the

example

of Trade

and marketn

the

early

mpiresPolanyi et al.

I957) and

culminating

n

such

major syntheses s Bohannan

and

Dalton's Markets n

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


472

ALFRED GELL

AfricaI962) andSkinner's arketingnd ocialtructuren ural hinaI964-65).

In many non-industrialisedocieties markets re arguably central n the

understanding f the social system as a whole. But this view would be

completely eterodox

n

the ndian

ontext,

nd

forperfectlyood reasons, o

doubt, stemming

from the

self-sufficient

ature of

the traditional illage

economy

and the

prevalence

of the

jajmani system Mandelbaum 1970).

Nonetheless,periodicmarketing ystems re a common feature f rural ndia

and

are

worthy

f more attention rom

ociological

observers han

heyhave

received.The question s, what kind f attentionhouldthey ttract? itherto,

theyhave been mainlythe concernof economicgeographers, nterestedn

locationalquestions, periodicities,atchment reas and administrativerob-

lems

(Wanmali I976)

and with

problems

of the

generalefficiencyf rural

marketing rrangements

s means of

distributing

ood

cheaply

and

fairly

(Harriss

1976).

My

concerns

re

quite different,

hich does

not of course

imply

that mean to

deprecate

he

geographers' pproach to applied social

research.What follows

can best be

described

s a

'thickdescription' f a rural

market, ndertakenn

order o demonstratehe tructural

arallelswhich xist

betweenthe microcosmic ystemof the local market nd themacrocosmic

system

of North Bastar

society.

The method

s

the one

adopted

n

Geertz's

famous

account

of the Balinese

cockfightI975;

cf. Geertz tal.

I979).

Following Geertz, take the

market t Dhorai as an

enacted text', whose

meaning can be construedby providingthe appropriate pecification f

context.My argument

s

that,

for

the

participants,

he

market

ives

concrete

representation

f the

ground-plan

f their

ociety, ts

hierarchical

rganisation

and

the schemeof values

which

ustains t. The

market

s

a

secular

vent,

ut t

is also

part

of

the ritual

of

social relations.

Critics

of this

interpretative'

approach may consider hat

t

eaves untouched rucial uestionshaving o do

with

'why' things

are as

they

are in Dhorai market nd in

Bastar

society

generally,

and

I am

willing

to concede this.

However,

it is

heuristically

practical

o

maintain

methodological eparation

etween

problems

f cultural

interpretation

n

the

one handand

problems

f causal/historical

xplanation

n

the other. t is all the more ikely hat might rouseunfulfilledxpectations

with

respect

o the

atter

lass of

problems,

n

that

my topic

s

the

market,

nd

'market' tudieshave

most

frequently

een undertaken

ith

causal/historical

analyticalgoals

in

mind;

were

I

describing

festival r

a

rite e

passagemy

interpretativentention

ould be

moreunderstandable,hough till,

no

doubt,

objectionable

to certain

points

of view. The

present

choice of

problem-

definition s dictated

not

as

a

consequence

of

a

theoretical

rejudice gainst

causal

analysis,3

ut arises

fromdata at

my disposal

which seem

sufficiently

suggestive

to warrant

nalysis

within

narrowly

tructural ramework.

My

theme

happens

to

be the

market,

but this article

s

not intended

s

a con-

tribution o thetheory fmarkets, or moregenerallyoexchange elations.

am

more preoccupied

with the elucidation f a secular

eremonial, ollowing

the

proposal

made

by

Leach

in

a famous

passage

in which he

advises

anthropologists

o

make themselves ware of the ritual'

omponent

n normal

everyday

ctions

Leach I954: I3).

Dhorai market as

a

significant

eremonial

component

n that t

provides

a

mapping,

n

space,

time and

in

the form f

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL

473

marketnteractions,or hegamut f social relations ound n thewider ociety

in the regionof North BastarwhereDhorai market s located.This mapping'

is quite overt n the spatial ayoutof the market, nd here am extending he

range of spatial representationsf social relations lready xemplifiedn such

familiar nstances s the ayout

of

the villageof Omarakana n theTrobriands

(Levi-Strauss964) or the rrangement

f

the

negotiating

able t the

97I Paris

peace

talks ver

VietnamDouglas

973).

This approach

s

familiar nough and only the context, erhaps, s novel.

But

in

the

ndian

thnographic

ilieu t

would

be

strikinglyberrant ere

not

centrally oncerned

with the

symbolic representation

f

hierarchy

n social

relations,

ince the

negalitarian remiss

s

so rooted

n

India,

even in tribal'

Bastar. Here I am perhaps entering n uncharted rea, in thatprevious

discussions

of

hierarchy

n India have not taken nto

accountthe hierarchical

aspect ofmarket elations. would acknowledge he mpetus rovidedby the

work of Carol Smith

I975; I976)

towards he

germination

f the deas

presented

ere.Smithhas summarised er

arguments

n the

following

erms:

Regional entral-placerganisation

n

Guatemalacts

s

a

'negative'

r

deviation-amplifying

feedbackoop between

he

rregularrganisation

f

manyocal entral-placeystems,he thnic

divisions f the

region,

neven ural

evelopment

nd

underdevelopment

nd

political

n-

equality

n

theregion1976: 293).

Whileit should be apparent hatSmith s dealingwithquestions f the most

ambitiouscausal/explanatoryind, whereas am not, the causal processes f

hierarchy-accentuationia marketing rganisationdverted o by Smith an be

accompanied by processes

f

symbolicreinforcementf

hierarchical

elations

of

the

kind do discuss.

This

seemsto be particularlyfeature

f those

parts f

India

most

distantfrom

major

centres f

power,

where state dministration

and Brahminical itual ominance

re

weaklydeveloped.Work

on tribal ihar

(Sinha

et

al.

I96I;

Sinha

I968) supports

his view: markets re most socio-

logicallysalien-t

n

areas which are

'backwaters' ccording o

the historico-

geographicregional ypology

f

SchwartzbergI967).

I must

defer,

o

a

later

occasion,theprovision fthekindofregional eographicalconomic nalysis

provided

by Smith,

which eaves as

an

open question

he

applicability

f her

Guatemalan

model to the

very

different

ircumstances,

nd

very

different

cultural remisses, f NorthBastar.But there eems obe scope for uggesting

some

degree

of

convergencebetween the microcosmic erspective dopted

here (the world

as

seen fromDhorai) and themacrocosmicperspective o

elegantly resented

n

Smith's

work.

Socialcategories

If we are to see

the

Dhorai market

s,

in

some sense, 'map' of social relations,

it is

necessary

o

enumerate he

major categories

f

people

to be

found

n

the

market

area.

I

propose to

list these

groups, simply for the sake of quick

exposition,

but must forestall reasonable

bjection o this dmittedly ather

old-fashioned

rocedure.

t

may

be felt

hat o

ist

eparategroups'

n this

way

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


474

ALFRED

GELL

is to obscure

the

verypoint

hat

am

seeking

o

demonstrate, amely,

hat he

market eflects atterns f intergroup

elationsn the wider social field, ince

by simply numerating roups s separate ntities leaveunclarifiedhenature

of the inter-group elationships upposedly

reflected

n

the market

rena;

I

would, by implication,

e

imputing

o the market

tself ausal

priority

n

the

structuring

f

inter-group

elations nasmuch s

it

is

in

the market lonethat

such inter-relationships

an be

concretely

hown

to exist.

It

would be

more

appropriate,such

a

criticmight insist,

to

depict

the different

roups

as

organically elated

utside he market

ontext

in

a mannerwell known from

the vast bulk of studies

f multi-caste

illage

ocieties

n

ndia

-

before

urning

to the marketplace

where

such

a

givendisposition

f

relationships etween

socially and ritually

anked nd economically ifferentiatedroups could be

seen as 'reflected'

rather

than

as

in

any

sense

primarily onstituted r

established.

This

objection

is

perfectly

n

order,

and it

is not

indeed

my

intention

o

argue

that

the

markethas causal priority

n

bringing bout the

pattern

f

existing nter-group elations.

However,

the

objection oses a great

deal of

its force

s a

result

f

certain onsiderations

eculiar

o

low-density,

dispersed-settlementocieties,

uch as characterisehe Dhorai hinterland.t is

simply

a

fact

that

there

s

very

ittle

ustained aily nteraction etweenthe

major groups

here

discussed,

a

situationquite unlike

that

normallyen-

countered

n

densely-packed, ucleated,

multi-caste

illages

where

complex

web of inter-caste elations s dailymobilised nd continuouslylaborated. f

communal

relations

n

the Indian

village

are

usually,

n

Srinivas's

famous

phrase,

back to

back',

it

would

be

truer

o

say

of the

villages

n

theDhorai area

that

hey

re out of

sight, ut

of

mind.

But

this

s

not to

say

that hese nter-

group relations

re not

clearly rticulated,

hough hey reexpressed, utside

the market ontext,by

the

absence,

rather han

the presence, f association.

For this

reason

t s not

misleading

o

give

an initial

ccount f groups'

n

the

Dhorai

area in the form f a

listing

f discrete ocial

categories, ather

han

n

the

form

of

an

account

of

dynamic nteractionsetween hem.

Gonds.The majority f people in the area servedby theDhorai market re

Adivasis

or Tribals. Around Dhorai the tribal

population

consists f Muria

Gonds

(the largest single group

in North

Bastar)

and to the

west,

in

the

mountainous

nd

unadministered

bujhmar

region,

the Hill

Muria,

another

Gond

group speaking slightly

ifferentialect.Gonds ive

in

mainly ingle-

caste

communities,

o which

may

be

attached nclavesor

colonies

of

caste'

Hindus of various kinds.

Purely

Hindu settlementsluster round he inesof

communications-roads,

rivers nd market entres-while

the hinterland

s

predominantly

ribal

Elwin

1947;

Grigson

936; Agarwal 968).

The

dispersed pattern

f

settlement

een in

Gond villages-houses being

scatteredwidely through he village territory-contraststronglywith the

much more nucleated

pattern

een n Hindu

settlements.

he

Muria Gond

are

settled

griculturalists,rowingpaddy

on

fields

urroundedy water-retaining

dykes

but not otherwise

rrigated.

he

main

annual

paddy crop

s

followed,

weather

permitting, y

a

cash

crop oil-seeds,pulses).

Muria also derive ash

from abouring

for the Forest

Department-work concentrated

n

the slack

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL

475

agricultural eason-and from

collecting

uch forest

roducts

s

tamarind,

teak-seeds nd silk-cocoons.

Around Dhorai, if notalwayselsewhere,Muria tribal ociety s essentially

intact, ts nstitutionsncluding

hefamous

youth-dormitoryghotul)

till

fully

viable, and it would have appeared o havereached stablemodus ivendi

ith

the Hindu presence, nd

with the

government

nd

its

agencies.

The

older

system

of

forest widdening

s

closely controlled,

where it

is

not banned

altogether,

ut in

exchange

he Tribals receive

protectionor heir andrights

from he government, lus

a

permanent vailability

f a

modest

ash ncome

from abouringfor theDepartments f Forests nd

Public

Works,

s well as

from he sale

of

forest roducts,

or

which

there

s always

a

ready

market.

Maraars.

The most

numerous

non-tribal

roup

in

the Dhorai

region

re the

Maraars.

They

claim to

have

migrated

rom

he

Kanker-Chhattisgarh

istrict

where

they

were

market-gardeners

nd

purveyors

f

flowers

maraar

s said to

be

a

corruption

of

mali,

Hindi

for

Gardener').

Maraars are skilled

agri-

culturalists

nd

vegetablegrowers.

Their

settlementsbound

n the

proximity

of

rivers,

on whose

banks

they practise rrigated

orticulture

t

a level

of

intensiveness

ar n

advance of the Gonds.

Since

the

type

of

low-lyingriver-land

sed

by

the Maraars

for

rrigated

cultivation nd the

use theymake

of t

hardly verlap

with hemore

extensive

pattern f agricultureeenamongtribalMuria, t would not be too far-fetched

to see Maraar-Muria relations n terms

of occupancy

of

separate nd

non-

competingecological

niches. This is not

altogether rue,

ince

Maraars

also

have

paddy

land of the

ordinarykind,

and

cultivate

more land on share-

cropping rrangements

rom

Muria landlords

romwhom

they

re

prevented

by

law from

buying

and

outright.

t

would

be

true

to

say, though,

hat

he

two

groups

do

not see themselves s

economically ompeting,

nd

they

re

relatedby ritual ies which

stress

he

primacy f theTribals' ownership f

the

earth.

The Maraars re

specialistgriculturalistsith stronglymarket rientation.

Theyclaimhighritual ank asproviders f flowers)likeBrahmins' hey ay-

and

as

there are

no Brahminsfor miles about to say them nay, they go

uncontradicted.hey are

distinguished rom he tribal opulationnot only n

their bservance

of Hindu

dietary aboos and such, but also linguistically,

n

thattheyrarely peak any

Gondi (the Dravidiantribal anguage).They speak

instead

an

Indo-European regional lingua-franca,albi, and

Chhattisgarhi

Hindi.

Other

Hindu

groups.

he

most

numerous

non-tribal

roup

n the

mountainous

area

to

the west of

Dhorai are

the

Halba, descendants f the Maharashtrian

soldieryof thekingdomsof Bastar andChanda. They have lived among the

tribal

population for so long

that hey re classified s Tribals n the census.

They

are

not numerous n theDhorai area. A more significantroup,though

not a

numerous

ne,

are the

Rawitsor

herdsmen.Most Muria villages ontain

a

family

r two

of

Rawits, migrants

rom

he

northwho

claim

kinship

o

the

important orthern aste group

of herdsmen nown as Ahirs.Rawits, hough

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


476

ALFRED

GELL

maintaining

heirHindu identity

not

eatingbeef,

wearing he sacred

thread

likethe Maraars)

are n effect

service aste

to the

Muria Gonds,whose

cattle

they ook after ndwhose clients hey re.They mostly ultivateandof their

own as well,

but are rarely

well

provided

for n this

respect.

Theymilk the

cows and

sell milk

n

the

market. inally,mention

hould

bemade of

theKallar

or distillers.

This small

Hindu castewas

enabled

to enrich tself uring

he

period,

up

to the mid-sixties,

whenit held

a legalmonopoly

of the trade

n

distilled

iquor.

Distillers ank

high n the caste

hierarchy,

ndown

consider-

able amounts

of

and, from

whichthey

now derive heir

ivelihood,

s the ale

of liquor

has been officially

anned.

Outcasts.Untouchabilityn its moreextreme orms s notencounteredn the

region,

but certain

eef-eating,

on-tribal aste

groupshave

low socialstatus.

Of

these

the

largest

s the Ganda

or weaver

caste.Gandas

are mostly

poor,

landless

or

nearly

andless abourers.

Theyare also

musicians,

nd to a certain

extent

practitioners

f

their

caste occupation

of weaving.

Gandas

sell their

cloths,

whichare

expensive

but

exceptionally

ard-wearingf somewhat

ld

fashioned,

n

the market. Blacksmiths Kachchi)

are

another ow-ranking

occupational

caste. They

are a

sub-caste

f Gonds,

rather hanHindus,

and

produce

mainly agricultural

mplements

n the

villages,

from ron smelted

from ocal

ores. Bronze-workers

Ghassia)

form separate roup.

Ghassia re

Hindus, and specialisemainly n the productionof temple mages, ritual

drinking-vessels,

rumpets,

ells and

so on.

Ghassias are

also occupationally

specialised

as assistants

o

ewellers-cum-moneylenders,

or

whom theyper-

form

debt-collecting

nd

strong-arm-man

unctions. umhars potters)

re

low-ranking

and generally

very poor;

they carry

on theiroccupational

specialisations

nd sell their

wares at the

market.

Outsiders.

he

previously

mentioned

roups

re all

traditional

ccupants

f

the

area,

whose

arrival

n

the

regionpredates

he turn f the

century

t the

atest.

But there remanymuchmorerecent ndless assimilatedasteHindus nthe

area,

particularly

mong

themarket raders.

he caste

tatus

f

these utsiders

is for the

most part

irrelevant,

specially

f

they

are transient

overnment

employees.

Their status

depends

on their

mportance

n terms f the

local

government

nd

Forest

Department

ureaucracy.

ut

sometimes

n outsider's

caste status

s

significant

for xample,

forest fficer

ho is a

knowledgeable

Brahmin

will

be consulted

on matters

ppertaining

o

astrology).

This is

particularly

o

in

connexion

with a

key

ndividual

n

the

Dhorai

market,

he

main

eweller,

whose

stall s the

very

hub

around

which

the market evolves.

This

man

comes,

like

most

ewellers

n the

area,

from

Rajasthan.

He

carries

withhim a distinct irofnorthern,ristocraticulture,ndhe claimshimself o

be a

Rajput.

Most market

raders f

manufactured

oods

are

Hindi-speakers

frommetropolitan

reas,culturally

uite

distinctrom he ocal Hindu

groups.

I

return

o

the

significance

f this

point

ater n.

Having

discussed

the

major groups

of

people

assembled

t the

market,

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED

GELL

477

will now

provide

a brief ketch f

the

pattern

f

market

elations hey

nter

into. There are fivemain kindsofgoods transacted:

(I)

Importedmanufacturedtemsoriginating utsideBastar whichhasno

manufacturingndustry),ncludingewellery silver

nd

gold)

machine

loth,

beads, trinkets, nd

more

mundane tems uch

as

lamps, brass pots, knives,

plates.

(2) Non-locally-produced ood, notably salt, rice, pulse, turmeric,

ried

chillies,refined ugar,flour and other consumables uch as bidicigarettes,

perfumed

air

oil, 'Himalayan

Snow'

face-cream, alc).

(3)

Locally producedfood,

fresh

egetables uch

as

tomatoes,muli, nions,

and

luxury

foods such as

gur locally

made

sugar)

and

parched ice,

to which

should be added locally cured tobacco.

(4)

Local manufacturedcraft)

tems

uch as bamboo

baskets

nd grain-bins,

sleeping

matsof woven

rushes,

he

omplete ange

f

earthenware

ots, ocally

made ironware, xes, knives, rrowheads, nd local khadi cloth.

(5)

Forest products and cash crops collected n bulk at the market nd

despatched

o

metropolitan entres,mainly amarind, il-seeds, ilk-cocoons,

leaves

for

use

as

wrapping, nd teak-seeds.

Corresponding

o these

major categories

f

goods

are

market

oles which

can be listed s

follows:

(i) Stallholders.

These are

without

exceptionHindus,

not fromthe

im-

mediate ocality, rading oods in categories and

2.

Theycanbe subdivided

into

(a) jeweller/moneylender;b)

trinket

ellers; c)

machine-cloth

ellers;

(d) hardware/drygoodsmanufactured

tems

nd

mported oods); e) teashops

(local Hindus).

(2) Open

market

produce

traders. hese consist

f local

Hindus

(Maraars)

and tribal

Muria Gonds. They are divided into (a) parched rice/gur

ellers

(Chhota Dongar Maraars); (b)

fresh

vegetable

sellers

other Maraars); (c)

tobacco

sellers

Maraar

men and

one

tribal); d)

tribal

egetable ellers; e)

milk

sellers

Rawits).

(3)

Open

market

non-produce

raders. hese include

a)

traders

n

baskets/

mats/bamboo-workTribalsfrom heAbujhmar); b) potters; c) blacksmiths;

(d)

weavers.

(4)

Middlemen. Hindus who

buy up tribal orest roducts nd cash crops,

paying

with

salt

or

money.

To

this ist

we

can add

thethree

major categories f customers, ho tend o

be

in

the

marketfor rather ifferent

hings: a)

non-local

Hindus (e.g. forest

officers, fficials); b)

local

Hindus; (c) tribals;

nd the non-customer

oles

Policeman

Kotwal), Beggar (Hindu Sadhu)

and

spectator.

The followingmatrix iagram fig. ) summarises hepattern f transactions

between

the

major categories

f

participantsn the market.The structure f

market elationshown nfig. reposesultimatelyn thepurchasing ower of

the

Tribals,

who are the main

customersfor all categories f goods. The

Tribals'

cash is derivedfrom he exploitation f their elatively ichresource

base.

Wealth derived from

the sale of cash crops, forest roducts nd from

wages

also

circulatesnside he

village,where here s a thrivingasheconomy.

The

intra-villageconomy s rather ifferentn character rom hemarketplace

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL

479

maintain s determined y

the

nature

f the

ccess

that

hey

have to

it,

and this

in turn s cruciallymodified y

the hierarchialisationntrinsic o any regional

systemof communication,ransport,xchange nd distribution.t is outside

the scope of this

rticle o

discussmarket

ierarchyheory

n detail

cf.

Smith

I977; Skinner 964-5). Here

it is sufficiento

identify

hree evels

only:

viz.

'tehsil'markets the highest evel of weekly markets),intermediate'

markets

which

provide

full

ange

f

goods

and

marketing

ervices

n

areas, way

from

district owns, not served

by

permanent

azaar

areas,

and

finally,

minor'

markets

which

provide

ess than

the full

range

of market acilities.

In the hierarchical rder

of the market

ystem

f Bastar as a whole, the

Dhorai market

ccupies

an

intermediatelace;

t s

superordinate

n relation o

thevillageeconomy,definitiven relation o theDhorai-market-areaconomy,

and subordinate

n

relation

o

thetehsil

conomy.People

in

the

Dhorai market

area are

of course

aware

of the existence f othermarket

entres,

f

various

hierarchicalrders,beyondtheDhorai market tself, nd

from ime o time-

especiallywhen themarket

n

question

s

combinedwith eremonies

onnected

with the Goddess

cult-they participate

n

these

markets. n

other

words, t

s

through

the

regional

articulation f the market

ystem,

hat

people

in

the

Dhorai market reaconceptualise

he

tructure

f

whatcan be called,

n

general

terms,

he state.

The market

ystem

f

co-ordinates

tructure

ime

cf.

Bohannan

967).

The

week,of sevendays, s the yclebetween uccessivemarketsnanyone market

area,

and the

days

of

the

week are

distinguished,

nd

hierarchialised,ccording

to the

marketswhich occur on

given days

at

given places.

The fundamental

rhythm

f

the

market-day ycle

is established t

Jagdalpur,

he state

and

previously oyal capital,

over

ISo

km

away.

The

Jagdalpur

market

s held on

Sundays,

which

becomes,

so

to

speak,

the

highestranking ay.

However,

Bastar district

whose

total

rea s

greater

han

hat

f

Kerala)

s much oo

large

to

function s a

single

market

ystem,

o

each tehsil as

tsown

Sundaymarket,

in

imitation

f

the

one

at

Jagdalpur,

t the tehsil eadquarters.

horai is in

Narayanpur ehsil,

o

Sunday

s

Narayanpur

market

ay,

a

day

consecrated

o

the centre and the state. Time and space coincide in expressingpolitical

hierarchy.

anked beneath he Sunday markets, re the second ordermarket

centres uch as Dhorai. The market raders f a

tehsil oncentrate

n the tehsil

headquarters

n

Sunday,

nd

visit ther, mallermarket entres

n

other ays.

Monday, Tuesday

and

Wednesday

re

not market ays Tuesday s

ruled ut as

the Hindu unluckyday,4 nd Monday

and

Wednesday re devoted o

rest nd

replenishing tocks) eaving

Thursday,Friday nd Saturday s second-order

market

ays. Second

ordermarkets re

arranged longroutes f communica-

tion

fanning

ut from

the

tehsil

eadquarters,s shown

in

thehypothetical

model

in

fig.

2.

Pharasgaon and Chhota Dongar markets re thus third ordermarkets

(fig. 3). The spatiotemporal

ierarchy f market entres rticulates etween

village-level ociety

nd the tate: he ehsil-wide arket ystem f Narayanpur

recapitulates

he

organisation

f

the state centering

n

Jagdalpur nd

divided

into subordinate ehsils)

hile

thepattern btainingwithin he ehsil s

a whole

is itself ecapitulated, n a microcosmic

cale, by theorder f eventswithin

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


480

ALFRED

GELL

urdayd

d~~

t~~~~d~~~~ys

FIGURE 2.

Model

oftime co-ordinates.

Pharasgaon

Chhota Dongar

Narayanpur

-----

ora

ay

sunday

/ fday

Size of irclesxpresseshe elativemportancej eachmarket.

FIGURE

3.

Spatio-teniporal

ierarchy

f four iarketeiitres.

single econd-order r

third-order arket rea; thus, eturningo fig. we can

see

that tehsil-widemarket rganisation onsists f an alternation f

market

concentrationnd dispersion

systole/diastole) hich s mirroredwithin he

singlemarket rea-the Dhoraimarket rea etus say-by the

oncentrationf

people

in

the

market

on market ay)

and

their ispersion ack to the

villages

on non-market ays.

In

other

words,

Dhorai

(and the other second-order

centres) re

to

Narayanpur,

s the

component illagesof theDhoraiMarket

area are to Dhorai; and as Dhorai is to Narayanpur, o Narayanpur s to

Jagdalpur.

Markets

re

symbols

of

the social order

because

they

re ts

product.

Along

with battles, ceremonies nd

political ssemblies, hey

fall

nto the class of

necessarily

rather

than contingently

ublic occasions. They

demand the

renunciation f individual utonomyfor the sake of ends (the

exchangeof

goods and information)

hich

can onlybe achievedcollectively.

ecause

of

their

ogistic, o-ordinating,

unctionsmarkets xert profoundnfluencever

conceptsof time

and

space in

peasant

ocieties nd

peasant tates.The rhythm

of market

ystole

and

diastole,emanating romJagdalpur,

s

indeed

nothing

less than the pulse of the state

tself.

The market

lace: equality

nd

nequality

I turnnow to

the mplications

f

fig.4

which

shows

the

ayout

f

the

Dhorai

marketplace.

The

Dhorai

marketplace

s

nothing

ess

than

compendium

f

social relations

n

the Dhorai market

rea. These

can

be

classified

s

relations

between co-ordinate

roups

of

approximatelyqual

social

rank,

nd relations

between

groups

of

differentank. These relations re

expressed

n

two

ways:

(i)

inthetraditionalayoutwhichregulateswhere achgroup its nd transacts

its

business

n

the

marketplace,

nd

(2) by

means of an

implied

hierarchy

f

goods,which

ranks

ny

kindof

goods

in

the

market

s

higher/lower/equivalent

in

relation o

others,

nd

accords

them more

central

r more

peripheral

lace

as

the

case

may

be.

In

abstract erms he

market an

be

imagined

s a

wheel;

at the hub

of

the

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED

GELL

48I

wheel is the

central

banyan tree,

where sits the

Rajput' eweller, and on the

outermost

im of thewheel are the

basket-makers,otters

nd

smiths.

On

the

basisof this nalogy,we can define wo axes of market elations

i)

the radial'

axis

along

which

participants

re

assymetrically

elated s

more/less entral nd

along which different

inds f

goods

are

arranged

s

more/less

restigious;nd

(2) the circumferential'

xis

along

which

participants

re

linkedby relations

that are symmetric, qual

and

competitive,

nd

along which goods of

equivalent symbolic

value are

ranged.

Let us examine these

propositions n

more detail.

The market

map is divisible

nto fiveconcentricones. The

central one

is

occupied by

the eweller,

the

richest,

most sophisticatednd

best educated

trader

n the market.

The

stock

he

carries, nly

a

portion

f

the

tock-in-trade

of his

family,

ewellers

with a

permanent

hop

in

Jagdalpur,

must be

worth

something

n theregion

of 20,000 rupees,5 nd he

has large sumsof cash

as

well. He

mainly ellsrelatively

nexpensive

rinketsn silver such

as hair-clips

at25 rupees ach)

but

every

o often e

sells

a

more

valuableobject,

uchas the

heavy silverneck

ornaments avoured y

tribalwomen

700-I000 rupees),

nd

more rarelya gold necklace, prices for which range up to s,ooo rupees

depending

n the

number f gold

beads used. Just or omparison,

and s sold

between

Tribals non-Tribals

ot

beingpermitted

o

acquire

and from ribals)

at

littlemore than

500 rupees

hectare,

nd

a teamof

ploughing

attle

s worth

about 3

50 rupees.

These gold

necklaces an be

worn

by either

exbutare most

often

worn

by

wealthy

nd influentialribalmen.

DHORAIMARKET LAN

1

baskets mats bamboo-work

|

emple

middleman

tribals

from

Abujhmar

_

,* -

* /

>

6

Muilnar

tribals. \

.

Toriar

tribals

tailor

. *ur gaon

tribalst5k.t

:5

2~~~~

.Umergaon

triball

-t

i t

tio

6

dd

i

m

g

j

<

1

3m

ddrlemasn

6 . *

9t;

$1_

>

0

m~~~~Jiddlema

potters-.<Gaiaar,4

pulses

.

oa rbas |

> N

Li

I j

~~~~~~trinkets

k

N~~~~~~~~~~~~~

middleman

middleman

FIGURE

4. D)horai

narkct

lar3

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


482

ALFRED

GELL

The

main

eweller's

stock-in-trade

re

the symbols f

rank nd

prestige

n

tribal ociety:

and he himself

s the most

prestigiousmarket rader

n both

cultural nd economicgrounds. Surrounded y his Ghassiyahenchmen, e

dominates

the centre f

the

market,

verseeingwhat may be,

at

times, uite

enormoustransactions

ylocal standards. ut at the ame

time

he is a

familiar

and

perfectly

ccessible,

ndeed

genial,

man:when

more

mportant

ransactions

do not

claim his attention

e will

occupy

himselfn

extolling

he

virtues

fhis

cheaperhairclips or

hebenefit f

vacillating

ribal irls

with

very ppearance

of complacency.

And this s an

important oint, or n themarket he eweller

s

the symbolic exponentof ideas of pre-eminent

alue-power, superiority-

but, like

all

symbols,

he remainswithin

he

ordinary, veryday

world,

while

the values

he

represents

ie outside it and transcend

he villagers'

ordinary

experience.

Facing

the

main eweller's

tall

here s

a

second, maller,eweller, lso

from

Rajasthan.

This second

ewellerdepends

more

on the ale of

cheapertems,

nd

is intermediate

n

position

betweenZone

i

andZone 2.

Zone

2 iS

interesting

ecause t s so

seemingly eterogeneous. n

thebasis

of

thehypothesis

fsymbolic quivalencebetween tems ransacted

na given

zone of

market

pace,

our

problem

s

to

determine

he

implications

f the

following

tructure:

We may note, first f all, that all thesegoods are luxuries,but that only

jewellery

is a luxury

which is

also a permanent

toreof

value. Trinkets

re

low-grade,perishable

ewels:

but what

makes

parchedrice/gur

nd

tobacco

different

rom

he

general

unof consumables'

old

in Zone

3?

The

key

eems

to

be the

fact

thatthey

re

processed

r

refined. arched

rice and

gur

re

the

local high-status

uxuryfoods,

and

are

produced

by

the local

'aristocratic'

group-the

Chhota Dongar

Maraars,the

wealthiest,

most ancient, nd

the

largest andowners

mong

ocal Hindus. Women

from hisgroup

re the

main

local traders

nd theydominate

he trade n luxury

ood.

Theirtraditional

ole

in themarket

s

addersof

value' is interestingly

rought

ut n the

onvention

bywhich they xchangeparched icewithTribalsfor tsequivalent olumen

dehusked

paddy. Thus

Tribals, who

are prevented

y a

taboo from

elling

paddy

for money,

will

barter ne

pound,

say,

of paddy

for

the

parched

rice

equivalent

of

perhaps

half

hat mount, ince

ntheprocessing

f parched

ice

the

grains

swell

up considerably.

The

Tribal

has not

offended

he rice

by

'selling' t:

he

(or

more ikely he)

has

valorised' t

in the nterchange

ith

TOBACCO

JEWELS

PARCHED

RICE

TRINKETS

&

GUR SUGAR

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL 483

high-status roup. Similar

considerationspplytogur

and

tobacco,

both

of

which have

been

elaborately rocessed.

Zone

2, then,

s shared

by

luxuries:

down-gradedewellery nd up-graded onsumables. ociologicallypeaking,t

is thezone of the ocally

dominant

Hindus.

Zone 3 is also a 'Maraar' zone of vegetable ellers,mostly

fromMaraar

communities

which are offshoots rom he ncient hhota Dongar settlement,

or more recentimmigrants

rom elsewhere

n

Bastar.

Maraars cultivate

vegetables

n

irrigated ardens, pecialising

n

items which cannotbe pro-

duced,

or

not

in

quantity

r not of suchgood quality,

n

the

Tribals'

own

gardens.These vegetables such

as

onions, chillies,

omatoes,muli, quashes,

aubergines),

re

semi-luxury

tems, ppreciated y

Tribals s additions o their

basicdietofrice,pulsesand millet. t snoteworthyhat heMaraartradersn

zones

2

and

3 (mostly

women, except

for

tobacco

sellerswho are all

male)

while

they

do not avail themselves f

stalls,

do

always carry

o

market stool

to sit

on,

so

as

not to

sit

on the

ground

n

the fashion

f

the

Tribals.

On

the

otherhand no Tribal would presume o make

use

of

a

stool,

o theMaraars re

not only figurativelyut actually

higher' han

he

Tribals.

Zone

4

consists f the talls f Hindu tradersn non-luxury

tems.One half

of this

zone

is

comprised

by the street f cloth sellerswho deal in cheap

machine-made

arees,blankets

nd

such, the otherhalf by

the stalls of the

dry-goodsmerchants. loth

is not a luxury tem, nd the ale

of cloth s not a

prestige ccupation as is the sale of ewelleryor luxuryfoods.Cloth sellers

behave

n an

unrestrained,ociferous, umptious

manner,

uite

differentrom

thecivilised tandards f other

Hindu traders. he dry-goodstalls lso mainly

sell

non-luxury tems, viz.

small

utilitarian bjects or staple

foods. They do

carry

ome

luxury

tems

such as bidi

igarettes

r

biscuits,

utthese renot

such

as to

appeal

much to the

Tribals,

nd are

mainly

old

to

local

Hindus,

for

whom

they

re not

perhaps

uxuries

nyway.

One

form

f ocal

produce

s

sold

in

the

fourth

one, namely

milk. Milk is

not

a

luxuryfood,

and is indeed

generally

isliked s a food

by

the

Tribals,

o that heRawit traders'

utput

s

purchased exclusivelyby

Hindus. The intermediatetatusof the Rawits-

lower than Maraars but higher than Tribals-is clearly expressed n the

confinement

f Rawits to zone

4.

The fifth

one consists f tribal

ellers

f vegetables.

Here we find hemass

of

tribalwomen

selling

mall

quantities f vegetables

n

season,seatedon the

ground n lengthy ows, eachaccording o their illages f origin.

Tribal men

also sit in

these areas, sometimes

elling, ometimesmerely itting.Men are

more

mobile

though,

nd

spend

much of the time n more exclusive

huddles

off n the

bushes at somedistance, onductingmeetings elating o intervillage

affairs

nd

drinking.

The sixth

one, finally,

ncludes

he

ow-ranking

ellers fnon-prestigeraft

items: miths,basketmakers rom heAbujhmar ndpotters.Also located n

this

one

are themiddlemen

who

buy up

forest

roduce

s

it

s

brought

nto he

market

y

Tribals.

These middlemen

seth)

re not

really

in'

themarket t all

(they

re there o

buy

rather han

ell)

and

I

discuss

hem

eparately.

The

zonal

arrangement

f market

pace provides-with

certain

xceptions-

a clear articulation f

hierarchical

elations,

nd

serves

very

muchas a

ground

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


484

ALFRED

GELL

planof ntergroup elations, othwithin he inglemarket

rea and beyond t.6

There is

nothing mmediately roblematic bout the hierarchy f people

expressed herein'Rajput' in themiddle, heMaraars, ocalcasteHindus,then

Tribal, then Abujhmaria ow-rankingGonds and polluting

astes); what is

perhaps

more subtle s the

way

in which

this

hierarchy

f

people s correlated

with

a

hierarchy

f

goods.

Here

the

opposition

eems

to be between ewellery

and luxuriesversus

consumer

goods

and

craft temsof

a

utilitarian

ature.

The two axes mentioned arlier-the radial

and

the

circumferential-may

also be

said

to

define wo axes of

economic

choice

forparticipantsbuyers)n

the

market. Choices

within a zone

(circumferentialhoices)

are

selections

made, on

thebasis

of

value-for-money,

etween

bjectswhose

symbolic alue

is equal, while

choices

between zones (radial choices) are of a

more funda-

mentalkind, betweendifferentypesof value. The zones arehierarchically

ranked

n

that mplicitly buyerof

an

item

n a

higher rder one i or 2 say)

must already

have

a

sufficiency

f the

gamut

of utilitarian

oods

sold

in ower

order zones

(2, 4, 5),

or in other

words

higher

rder

ones

encompass

ower

order

ones, ust

as

according

o Dumont

I966),

Brahminical

eligious

alues

encompass secular-political

nd

economicvalues

n

the aste

ystem enerally.

The full

rigours

of

caste

deology

are

attenuated

n Bastar

society,where,

n

contrast o the

typical

ndian

pattern,

t is

only

he

tatewhich

s

hierarchically

organised.Villages

are

virtuallyingle-caste

nd

politically galitarian.acking

grass-rootsexpression, the conceptof hierarchy ecomes attached o the

market,

nd

is

communicated

ia the

symbolic ppositions

etween

goods

of

various orders. Higher-order oods communicatemessageswhich

mediate

between ndividuals-themselves

onfined

o the

village/subsistencephere-

and the

higher

reachesof

society.

Here

we

encounter

profound

aradox

n

tribal consciousness.

The

paraphernalia

f 'tribal'

body ornamentation,he

heavy silverbangles,

the

golden earrings

nd

necklaces, he

mirrors, hebells,

the

pompoms,

the whole

panoply

of

exotic

finery,

s

whollymanufacturedy

Hindus, largely

outside

Bastar,

to

supply

the tribal

market-since

Hindus

themselves ave

mostly

bandoned hese

particular rnaments. hese

symbols

which so strongly espeak tribalculture'-particularlyo themetropolitan

Hindu-mean

precisely

Hindu' in

the estimations

f

the

Tribals

who

adopt

them.

They

are

glitteringragments

f

theHindu

world,

for

which

heTribals

readily

urrender

heir pare cash, as would an

orthodox

Hindu

to

securea

Brahmin's

blessing.

The radial axis of market

pace,

and

the

equence

of choiceswhich

ie

along

the

radial

axis,

relates

he world

of subsistence

roduction,

hedomestic

nit,

the

fragmente.dillage,

to the

unifying

ore of the tate

nd to

the

ymbols

f

value which emanate

from he

state.But what

of

the circumferentialxis?

n

the market

people

are

'put

in

their

place'

in

a sense rather

tronger

han

s

usually implied by that idiom and this applies equally to circumferential

relations.

These relations

re

symmetrical

nd

competitive,

s

opposed

to

hierarchical

encompassing/encompassedy),

and

competition

oes not lie

between

unequal groups.

n

effect,

ircumferential

elations

n theouter ones

are territorial

nd

segmentary.

t

is an

unspoken,

but

almost

universally

observed

rule that ellers

nd

spectators

rom

given ocality

will

be

seated

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL 485

together,

nd that heir ustomary osition

will

reflect

he

disposition

f

their

village oforigin

vis-i-vis

ther

villages

n the area. Thus Tribals

from

Torinar

(Taragaon, due west of Dhorai) sit on the western ide, theMehima-Gwari

people (whose

village

s slightly orth)

o their

eft,

nd the Burgaonpeople

(slightly outh)

to their ight see fig.

5).

Maraars it more centrally

reflecting

their different

osition

in the statehierarchy) ut within

their one they,

likewise,occupy positions

which orrespond

o the

geographical

isposition f

thesettlements hey

come from.

If one

takesa tour

round

the

periphery

f the

market

laceone is,

in

effect,

traversing

small-scale

model of

a spatial/territorial

elation

n the

Dhorai

market

rea.

One

canreadily

ee

the

ignificance

f thisfor

he

hypothesis

hat

the

marketprovides

a cognitive

model

of

society

t

large.

The

next

section,

which is concerned

with

symbolic

spects

of interaction

n the

marketplace,

says a

littlemore

about the content

f thesecircumferential

elations.

Interaction

n the

market

The market

s a paradigm

f social relations;

nteraction

n the marketplace

s

coloured by factors

xternal

o the

marketplace,

o that

Tribal interacting

with a market

rader oes

not see him simply

s the

purveyor

f somegood

that

he has

in mind

to

buy,

but as a representative

f a

category,

elatively

ranked

n accordance

with a sociological

scheme

of values.

It is

necessary

o

distinguish

his

categorical

spect

of

market elations

thereplacement

fthe

purely economic relationbuyer/sellerwith the sociologicallydetermined

relation

Tribal/Hindu)

from

heeconomic

personalism

ften

ound

n

peasant

markets lsewhere cf.

Davis

1973).

Relations

f a

personal

ature

re

precisely

what these

ategorical

elations

uleout. One

looks

n vain

for

nyanalogue

o

Haitian pratik

r similar

kinds

of

clientele-formation

hrough

he nstitution-

alised extension

of creditby

traders

n

the

Dhorai

market. t would be

going

/to

Narayanpur

Mehima-Gwari

t

M

il

Burgaon

*/ *Bermapal

Chhot

Dongar Umergaon

\ \Sulenga

N

Ka ra

to

Mardapal

Kitelnar

FIGURE

5.

Diagram showing the relation

etweenmarket

pace

and

theterritorial

rrangement

fvillages.

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


486

ALFRED

GELL

too far, hough, o deny that redit

s

ever extended, y any class of trader n

the market, owards ndividualswhose placesoforigin nddegreeofwealth

happen to be known to the trader.The conceptof extending redit laga

arihana)

s familiar

nough

from

he

ntra-villageconomy, nd Tribals re not

too

shy

to ask

for

redit

f

they

onsider

hey

have

some chance

f

obtaining

t.

But it remains

he case that he

greatmajority

f

transactions

n all

categories

are for

ash,

withthe

possible xception

f

purchases

rom

loth-sellers. ore

importantly, rice

evelsare set

on

the

ssumption

f

mmediate

ashpayment:

traders o not quote askingpriceswhich re mplicitly

ssumed

o contain he

coststhey

ncur

n

carrying

heir ustomers'

ong

term

ebts,

arried ver from

week

to

week,

as

the

price

of

clientage.

The dearth

of

higgling-haggling,

which

so

sharply

ifferentiates

horai

from thers escribed n the

ethnogra-

phy

of

markets, erives, think,

rom he

prevailing

otion hat n

asking rice

is an 'objective' price

associated

uniquely

with the

goods transacted,o the

exclusion

of

factors

eriving

rom henature f the ocial

relationship

etween

buyer

and seller. Where credit is

extended,

this is not indicative of

a

'personalistic' lement

n

the economic relationbetween theparties o the

transaction,

ut reflects

straightforward

ommercial

udgement,

n

the

part

of the

seller,

of the

purchaser's bility

o clear thedebt

n

the

reasonably

ear

future.There

is

no

expectation,

n

either

ide,

of a

continuing

r

exclusive

relationship hereafter.

Inspiteof the bsenceofbargaining,ither ver theprice skedfor oods,or

the

quantities

ffered t

a givenprice,

n the

general

un

of

market

ransactions

(again with

the

exception

f

purchases

rom

loth-sellers)

t

remains he

case

that here

s

an

obvious

advantage

o the trader

n

increasing

ales

by offering

marginallymore attractiveerms han ompetitors. ustomers' oodwill

s

not

won

through eniency

n

the

bargaining rocess

or offers f attractive

redit

terms,

ince thesemechanisms

emain

ndeveloped,

ut

s nonetheless

ought

through a device which is much more in tune with the anonymous and

hierarchical thos characteristic

f

this

particular

market. his

is

thedevice

of

pura

kiana

('completing'), which, characteristically,laces

the

buyer

n

the

positionof therecipient fthetrader'sargesse.his is seenparticularlyn the

practice

of

the

Maraar sellersof

foodstuffs,

ho

will

invariably-but only

when

the sale has been

agreed

on-add

a

'sweetener',

n

the

form f an

extra

handful

f

rice

or a

couple

of

additional omatoes,

o

the mountpaid for.The

buyerusually

remonstrates

t

the

nadequacy

f

this xtra

uantity,

nd

may

be

successful

n

extracting

little it more. This could be mistaken or

bargaining

over

the

quantity

f

goods

offered t

a

fixed

price,

but

t s

important

o

stress

that

he sale is

in no

way dependent

n the size of the

extra' mount,having

been concluded

before

nything

dditional

s

offered.What s

bought

nd

sold

is

a

straightforwardommodity,paid

for

at

a

given price;

what

is

given

as

'extra' is a gift, upplicatedfor as traditionalargesse, hich reinforces ier-

archicalrelations

etween ocial

categories.

Category

relations aid down

in

the market re the co-ordinates f social

distance:

where transactions

utually

nvolve

persons

who

belong

to different

orders,

his

distance

s not essened

s

a

consequence-on

the

contrary

t finds

tangible

xpression.

When

a

Tribal seeks to

buy

something

rom

say)

a

dry

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED

GELL

487

goods merchant,

here s

a

notable bsence

of

sustainednteraction;heTribal

indicates

is

wishes often y pointing

o

or

holding

he

object);

themerchant,

as curtly s possible, tates price. f theTribal considers he mount xcessive

he puts

the temback and takeshimself ff, nd fhe s satisfied e pays

cashon

the nail. None but the minimumof words are exchanged,eye contact s

restricted,nd no extraneous ocial signalspass

between

buyer

ndseller.

Radial

relations

re

ipso

acto

elations etween

ocially

distant

ersons;

he

reverse

s trueof circumferentialelations. he circumferentialxisof market

interaction orresponds

o

themajor

channel

f

inter-village

ommunication

and

is

intensely

ociable.

n

particular

t

s at

the

marketplace

hat

marriages

re

arrangedand meetingswhich have

to do with

intra-village

ffairs

per-

formancesof ritual, apprehension f runaway couples, negotiations bout

brideprice

and

the return hereof

n

the

case of

divorce and so

on)

are

conducted. ndividuals eeking pouses visit the marketplace, o

that man

who

says

I

got my

wife t

the

market' oes not

mean that he

was

purchased,

but

simply

thathe

sought

her out there.

For

Tribals,

most of whom

in

any

given week have littleenough to sell and no inclination if they

have the

money)

to

buy,

the most

mportant

spect

of

the market s its circumferential

aspect.

This

gives

rise to a

great

deal of what can

only

be called pseudo-

marketing, articularlyy tribal

women whose strongly ngrained

work ethic

prevents

hem from

simply attending

or

pleasure

nd

social enjoyment.

A

tribalwomen, desirousof visiting he market orpurely social' reasons,will

nevertheless rovideherself ith 'stock-in-trade'and hence n excuse)

n the

form

of, say,

a handful

f

microscopic

nd

mostly

otten

omatoes,

nd

will

proceed to 'sell' this unsaleable

tem

for

the entiremorning. n this

way she

manages

to see

her

neighbours,

riends nd

relatives, pportunities

or ocial

contacts

outside the immediate amily r hamletbeinguncommon t other

timesbecause

of

the

dispersed

attern

f

settlement

n

tribal

illages.

One

can therefore

eneralise y saying

hat nteractions

n theradial xis are

characterised

y

distance

nd

anonymity,

while interactions n the

circum-

ferential xis are

personal

nd

specific. ocial distance

n the

circumferential

axis corresponds o segmentaryndterritorialppositions,whileon theradial

axis it

corresponds

o

category

ppositions

etween anked

roups.However,

there

re

certain nomalies,which may be discussed t thispoint.

The middlemenwho

station

hemselves

round the paths eading

nto the

marketplace, ut outside

the main

area,

are

an

exception

o

the

normal

rules

first

n

that hey

re

Hindus,

but

are

peripheral,

nd

secondly

n

that hey olicit

trade

directly,

ometimes

sing

what

appears

o be

physical

oercion

grasping

a

tribalwoman's basketof tamarind

nd

attemptingo prevent

ergoingto

another

buyer); they

often

peak

Gondi,

and

have Gonds as assistants. he

aggressive,

ociferousmeans

hey mploy

s

deceptive

o the xtent

hat

ribals

are not genuinely oerced ntosellingforest roducts o a buyernot of their

choice,

and

investigations

id

not turn

up any significant

ifferences

n

the

pricesbeing

offered

y

different

iddlemen. heir

profits

re

proportional

o

thevolume

of

trade,

nd each s

in

competition ith

his

colleagues

o

maximise

volume short

of

actually ffering

n

increased

rice

over the consensual ne,

which

does

not fluctuate

ver

a

short-term

eriod. They

are

consequently

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


488

ALFRED GELL

obliged

to

concentrate

n

building up

a

clientele f

regular uppliers,by

developing ocial relationships ithTribals.Eachone has

a

stallwhich djoins

one particular ath leadingto themarket, nd theyconcentraten forming

relationshipswith people fromparticular illageswhich ie along thatpath.

They employ s assistantsmen drawnfrom he elected illage rvillages,who

in

turn nfluence he choice

of

middlemanfor their o-villagers. heir stall

becomes a

kind of

meetingplace

where tribals ike to relax and

exchange

gossip. They

also advance

money

o ndividuals nownto

them, gainst uture

contributions

f produce notfor

nterest,

hich s

llegal).

n

short, hey eally

operate

n

termsof the

village' credit/debtconomy-the personalised,

m-

bedded economy,

n

contradistinction

o

the

anonymous

market'

conomy.

Hence theirperipheral osition, nd the ackofsocial distance etween hem

and their

lientele, onfirms,

ather

han

upsets,

ur

generalhypothesis.

A second

slightly xceptional roup are

the

cloth

ellers.

Bargaining s not

normally

feature f nteractionsetween

ocially ifferentiatedarticipants

n

the market, ut this

s

not

so

wherethecloth ellers re concerned. ribalsdo

usually

contestthe

asking price

for

cloth,

and cloth sellers

ngage

in

patter

routines o try o convincepassers-by hat heir rices eally re rockbottom.

Cloth

sellers xtend redit

o

ndividuals

nown

to

them,

ut

do

not

depend

n

a

regular

lientele.

The

explanation

orthe rathermore

egalitarian

nteraction

between cloth sellers

and Tribals

may

be

due to a

conceptual

dentification

betweenthemand weavers Gandas)who have low social status. twould of

course

be

normal o

haggle

with

Ganda

the

price

f a

handloom loth

Gandas

visit the marketbut

do

not

sit in

any special place, wandering round

the

periphery awking

their

wares).

Concluding

emarks

The

present

ccount

s

intentionally

imited

n

scope;

it would

be

necessary

o

conductmore extensive esearchesntomarkets

n

Bastar,

nd n

other

arts

f

India, to explore the full ramificationsf the relationships etween village

society,

he

market,hierarchy

nd

the tate.

hope

that have

said enough t

least

to

ustify

he dea

that

he Dhorai

market

rovides,

or

hosewho come

within ts

ambit,

a

ground plan

of

group relations,

nd

in

the

hierarchy

f

goods,

a

scheme

of

values

through

which

village

dwellers

ncounter,

n

the

level

of

praxis, uperior aluesemanating

rom he

tate.

All of which

s only o

say

that

he markethas

an

ideological ignificance, ery

much s

a

ceremony,

the

performance

f

a

religiousrite,

r

the

nstallation f an office

older

has

significance. he

problem

that

wish

to

raise,by way

of

a

conclusion,

s

one

common

to all

such value-laden

performances:

iz.

the

ssue

of

truth ersus

mystification. e havebecomeaccustomednotonlyto tease outthe mplicit

meanings

of

ceremonies ut

also to

subject

hem

o

criticism, inding

n

them

labyrinths

f semantic

manipulation,

he net effect f

which

s to

represent

reality

under such

a

guise

as favours he

nterests f certain lements

n

the

social

whole,

to thedetriment

f

others.

f t

s true hat he

market

ccasion s

ideologically ignificant,

s I

have

claimed,

s

it also

true

hat

t

s

manipulative

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL 489

in this sense, depicting he formsof social

reality o as to favour ectional

interests, y mystifyinghe real basis of social relations?

There is one good reasonwhy one mighthesitate o draw

this onclusion.

The Dhorai market s not overtly ceremony t all, but a

straightforwardly

instrumentalnstitution, eared to the economic needs ofpeople in the area.

There is

no

elementof make-believe,

o

communicative

ntent, ehind the

purchase

of a

packet

of

nails

for

eight annas, then,or themyriad f other,

equally matter-of-factransactions hich ollectivelymakeup the

market.

he

market annot distort eality ecause t is reality. he moneymediumof the

market ccurately eflectselative conomic trengthsnd

weaknesses in a way

that the credit/debt conomy within the village may not). Markets are

informationxchanges, ut they ifferrom eremoniesn that he nformation

exchanged is verifiable

and

overwhelmingly

rue-the market

price

of

tomatoes is only in dispute until a sale is made; once

made, the price is

indisputable-while symbolic tatements ade n the ourse f a

ceremony re

always, and only, claims, orwhichno validation an ever be finally ound.

There is thus no element f mystificationn the nstrumentalspectof the

market as

an exchange

of

(price, demand) information nd goods. But at

another evel believe

hat he

Dhorai markets

profoundly ystifying,et

not

in

a waywhich benefits dominant ectional nterestnly,but

n a

way

which

reinforces

he

position

f the

verygroup

who

come offworse

n

the

ymbolic

exchange,namely heTribals. have ndicated heextent o which hemarket

definesTribals

as

peripheral

nd

low, by

contrast o

Hindus,

who

are central

and

high. Moreover,

the

pattern

f tribal

purchases,

heir

ocus

on obsolete

jewels, trinkets, inery

nd

traditional

uxury

oods

as opposed

to the

Hindu

trend

owards

ymbols

f

modernityuch s biscuits nd

filter-tippedigarettes)

categorises

hem

as

childish

nd

weak, easily

seduced

by

baubles.7 n other

words,

tribal

market

articipation,

oth

n

terms

f

the

patial

rganisation

f

the market

nd

the

mage projected y

their valuations

f

goods, perpetuates

and

reinforces

he

stereotype

f

cultural ackwardness

nd

political

nferiority.

This

stereotype,

owever,

has

historically

ad certain

dvantages,

nd

conceals

a rather ifferenteality. he tribal opulation fBastartraditionallynjoyed

the

patronage

of

the

state,

withoutmuch interference

n

the course

of their

daily

ives.

The

Rajah

of

Bastarwas

in

effect Divine

King,

the

iving

mbodi-

mentof the

State

Goddess,

and the

duties

f the

tribal

opulation

n

regard

o

him

were

of

a

ritualnature.

ubsequently,

s

a

result

f

various onvulsions

n

the

state,

which cannotbe discussed

here,

heTribals

of

this

part

f

Bastar,

f

not

elsewhere,

have

developed

a rather

imilar

elationship ith

the

govern-

ment and its

agencies. Legislation

which

protects

ribal nterestss

enforced,

and

the

continuation

f the

nternal

utonomy

f tribal

illages

s

permitted.

The Tribals' basic

motivation s the

continuation

f a hedonistic ifestyle o

which

they

are

deeply attached,

but

the

price paid

for

t is the continuous

exchange

of

myths-the myth

f

tribal

rimitiveness,indu

patronage-with

the

Hindu

population. ntelligent

ribalmen have firm

iews

on the threat o

themselves

osed by any attempt y

Tribals

to

nfiltrate

he

Hindu-dominated

power

structure.

t is

because

the

nterests

f

Tribals

re

protected

y

the ura

of

myth

which

surrounds

hem

that he

exchange

f

these

myths,

whichone

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


490

ALFRED

GELL

can

see taking

place

very learly

n the

marketplace,

ssumes uch mportance.

But

they re only

myths:

heresource

aseon

which

ribal

ociety

estss a

rich

one by Indianstandards,ndit has not passed ntothehandsof outsiders. he

effect

f

the market

s to establish stereotype

f Tribals,

and

tribal-Hindu

relations,

n whichTribals

retain ctual

control f

their esource

ase,

at

the

expense

of

becoming symbolically

eripheral

o Hindu

society,

wards

of

the

state.

For Hindus

it

is the

establishment

f

symbolic

hegemony,

orTribals,

real

security.

NOTES

The

fieldwork eported

nhere

was conductedn

I977-8

and was supported

y thedepartment

of Prehistorynd Anthropology, chool ofGeneralStudies,AustralianNationalUniversity, o

which am

verygrateful.

was accompanied

n thefield

y SimeranGell

who played

largepart

n

collecting

the

data for this

study.

This articlewas

first

resented

t

the

I979 meeting

f the

Australian

Anthropological

ociety

t Sydney

University.

1

Data

relating

o Dhorai market

s itwas in the ate fifties

re to

be found

n

Jay 968.

2

The terms

Tribal'

and Adivasi'

are

standardly

sed

to

coverScheduled

Tribes

s listedn the

Indian Constitution

nd enumerated

n the Census. It

is not to be

supposed,

however,

hat

hese

terms

have

definite

ociological

meaning.

3

I

proposeto turn

o such

mattersn thefuture;

ncollaboration

withDr C.

Gregory

nd with

the support

of

the

S.S.R.C.

and the nternational entre

for hestudy

f Economic and Related

Disciplines

I.C.E.R.D.)

the author s

engaged

on

a

detailed urvey

fmarketingn N. Bastar.

4

Wanmali

1977)

statesthat n Singhbhum, ihar,Tuesday was,

in

I926,

the most

popular

market

day.

Tuesday

has since been

displaced

by

Friday now

the

most

popular)

and by

Wednesday,

Thursday

nd

Monday

as well. The reasons

or hanges uch s these

emain

matter

forfurther

nvestigation.

5

The rupee

was valued

at Rs.

I4

to the

?

Sterling

t thetimeof fieldwork

n I977.

6

If

t

s true, s

I

have argued,

hat hehierarchy

fgroups

n

theDhorai

market rea

s

encoded

in

thehierarchy

f

goods

offeredn the

marketplace,

t

naturally ecomes

question

s

to

how this

hierarchy

f goods

is sustained

n the

process

f

exchange,.e.

the

way

n

whichprices oth

reflect

the

ymbolic

ura

of different

inds

f

goods,

and at the ame time

perate

o as to

perpetuate

he

relative

conomicpositions

f the

groups

who

bring

ach category

fgoodsinto

themarket. he

question

of

pricesetting

s too considerable

o

be dealt

with

here,

nd could only be elucidated

n

thecontext

f

a

full-scale

egional

conomic

urvey, project

he uthor nd his collaborators

ave

on handat present.

7

My colleague,

DrJ.Parry, oints

ut that massing uantities

fjewellery

nd

gold

ornaments

is an

objective

shared

by

virtually

ll sections

of Indian

society,

for reasons

which

have

little

enough

to do with backwardness'

n the sense mplied

here.While accept this

qualification,

think here

s

a distinction

etween he

Muria

estimation

f

ewellery s high-status

onferringy

virtue

of its

symbolic

associations

with the admired

metropolitandeal (mediated

by the

high-status

rader)

ersus

he

more

ophisticated

ttitude hich

ees

ewellery

s

a

convenient

ay

of

storing apital

n

a formwhich

s

both

safe nd ostentatious.

REFERENCES

Agarwal,P.

I968.

HumangeographyfBastar istrict.llahabad:Gogra.

Agrawal, B. I978.

Economicnetworks nd cultural ntegration

n

MadhyaPradesh.

Man in

ndia,

58.

Berry,B. I96

.

Geographyf

market

entresnd retail istribution.nglewoodCliffs: rentice all.

Bohannan, P. & G. Dalton

I962. Markets

n

Africa.

vanston:Northwesternniv. Press.

I967.

Concepts

of time

among

the Tiv of

Nigeria

nMyth ndcosmosed.)J. Middleton.

New York: Natural HistoryPress.

8/12/2019 2801710 mercados


ALFRED GELL 491

Bromley, R. 1974. Periodicmarkets,

aily marketsnd fairs.Melbourne: Monash

University,

Dept. of Geography.

Christaller,W.

I974.

Central laces nsouthGermany. nglewoodCliffs: renticeHall.

Davis, W.

I973.

Social relationsn

a Philippinemarket. erkeley:Univ. of California

ress.

Douglas, M. 1973.

Rules nd meanings. armondsworth: enguin.

Dumont,

L.

1970.

Homo hierarchicus.ondon: Weidenfeldnd

Nicolson.

Elwin, V. 1947.

The Muria nd their hotul. ondon: Oxford

Univ. Press.

Geertz,

C.

1975.

The

interpretationf

ulture.

ondon:

,

H. Geertz& L. Rosen 979. Meaning

nd rdernMoroccanociety. ambridge:

Univ. Press.

Grigson,

W.

I938.

The Maria Gonds

f

Bastar.

Oxford:

Univ.

Press.

Harriss,

B.

1976. Social specificity

n ruralweekly

markets-the case of

Tamil Nadu.

Mainz.

geogr. tud.

0.

Jay,

E.

I968.

A tribal

illage f

centralndia. Calcutta:Anthropologicalurvey

f India.

Leach, E.

1954.

Political ystemsfHighland

urma. ondon:

AthlonePress.

Levi-Strauss,C.

I964.

Structuralnthropology.ew York: Basic Books.

Losch,

A.

1954. Economicsf

ocation.

ew Haven: Yale

Univ. Press.

Mandelbaum,

D.

1970. Society

n

ndia.

Berkeley:Universityf California ress.

Mintz, S. i959. Internalmarket ystems

s mechanisms f social

articulation.n Socialmobility

and

communication

ed.) V. F. Ray. Seattle:AmericanAnthropological

ssociation.

Polanyi, K., C.

Arensberg& H. Pearson

1957.

Trade nd market

n the arly mpires. lencoe:

The Free

Press.

Schwartzberg, . I967. Prolegomena

o

a

study

of

Asian regions

nd regionalism. n regionsnd

regionalism

n

south sia (ed.) R. I.

Crane. Duke University

rogram n Comparative tudies

in SouthAsia Mimeo

No.

4.

Sinha,

D.

I968.

Cultural

hange n an intertribal

arket. ombay:

Asia PublishingHouse.

Sinha, S., B. Dasgupta & H. Banerjee

I96I.

Agriculture rafts nd Weeklymarkets f South

Manbhum.

Bull.

anthrop.

urv.

ndia

0.

Skinner,

G. W.

i964-5. Marketing

nd

Social

Structuren Rural China.

J.

Asian

Stud. 4.

Smith,C. I976.

Regional nalysis.New

York:

Academic

Press.

I975.

Examining

stratificationystems hroughpeasantmarketing rrangements.

an

(N.S.)

io.

Wanmali,

S.

I976.

Market centres nd

the

distribution

f

consumergoods

in

Rural India.

Mainz.

geogr.

tud. 0.

I977.

Periodic markets

n

south Bihar.

Managementab.

Stud.3.

Documents

2801710 mercados