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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 .
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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