Ghotuls- Tales of the tribal Night club!!

After hearing a lot of stories/ rumors and legends for years I got an opportunity to visit Abhujmaar; considered one of the most primitive tribal settlements that still exist in Bastar. Chattisgarh has various tribal ideologies and sects and a majority of them are concentrated in Bastar. Some of the major tribal sects are (a) Muria (b) Madiya (3) Gond and a few sub sects like Abhujmaria Muria, Madiya Gond etc. A visit to Abhujmaar is considered risky due to various reasons and the tribals here avoid outsider’s presence in between them. So to be invited in their village took years of trust building exercise and a complete understanding of their socio-economic and cultural heritage. Government documents suggest that Abhujmaar is atleast 100 years behind in terms of the modern societies and their practices; but what I saw and learned in Abhujmaar and their social structure was shocking to say the least. I couldn’t think of a better expression for what I felt. When I researched on the net I found that there are a couple of people who have done the same kind of research and have considerable data on the lives of these primitive tribals. One person in particular whom I would like to mention is Mr. Verrier Elwin. Elwin was a Christian missionary who abandoned his job as a clergy to dedicate his life to work with the tribals of central India. He worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and later converted to Hinduism, He married a Gond girl to become a ‘participant observer’ as he states in one of his books, but later divorced the girl with two children and married a tribal girl from the north-east part of India when his research took him there coining the same idea of ‘participant observer’ {quite a participative fellow; I must admit}, leaving his first wife and two children to die in poverty, however the point here is not to have a look at Elwin’s personal life but to admire his work and recording on the tribals of Bastar.


A day in the life of an Abhujmaria is same as of other tribal settlements which includes farming and picking forest produce, a majority of them also do wood carving and bamboo works, the shocking part is the equality among males and females. The boys are called chilaks and the girls are called motiyaris, both have long hairs and believe in decorating themselves with junk jewellery, combs made from wood, tusks of boar and colorful feathers. The motiyaris will have mirrors, paper fans and even balloons as decorative items.They have a robust social structure for generations and much of the credit goes to the must talked about Ghotuls way of education and social teachings that are prevalent here. So I decided to enter a territory which is banned for outsiders but the goodwill created by years of association and reference by a couple of tribal friends did the trick

GHOTULS- The primitive lounge bar

Most of the things that I had read and heard about Ghotuls revolved around the rumors prevalent in the city, but the actual experience of visiting one opened my eyes and gave me a never before experience of understanding the practicality of these tribal practices and for the first time in my life I felt that I was a primitive fellow looking at the most modern way of life. Ghotuls are kind of a community centre away from the village, generally a large hut made of bamboo and mud where anyone above the age of six is automatically a member. They are taught farming, wood carving, and other skills along with community living under the Ghotuls system. It’s like a university with no books or texts, every one is a student and every one is a teacher here. The leader of the motiyaris is called ‘Belosa’ and the leader of chilaks is called ‘Siredar’. An important point to note here is that only bachelors are allowed in Ghotuls, married people are barred from visiting Ghotuls and the intervention of the elders is bare minimal. So every evening the youth assemble here in the Ghotuls; the beginning of Ghotul is marked with beating of the drums, which immediately entices loud shrills from children {never saw children so excited to go to school}the motiyaris start teasing the chilaks and the chilaks go to each motiyaris house to accompany them to the Ghotul. In front of the Ghotul music is played using drums and flutes and the motiyaris start dancing in circles, after a while it does gets boring to watch the same steps again and again, tobacco and local toddy is distributed among all and its wonderful to watch people smoking, drinking, singing and dancing together. This is followed by the checking of home work by the elder chilaks given to younger ones on making bamboo combs, leaf stitching etc. The good ones are appreciated and the bad ones are punished {just like school}. The dancing goes on till late in night coupled with tribal style antakshari, puzzles and poetry. The motiyaris flirt with the chilaks who in turn make effort to win the motiyaris, no motiyaris or chilaks is allowed to give special attention to only one boy or girl and are punished if found doing so. The motiyaris steals the comb of the chilaks which is an indication that she likes him.

We are still debating as to when to start sex education for our children, but here in the Ghotul it’s learned through experience and respecting each other. There is not even a slight hint of pervert thoughts or intentions and the entire process of physical intimacy is looked at like a scared process and the respect for each others physical difference and anatomies is of utmost importance. The equality can be understood even better if I tell you that it’s perfectly alright or rather normal for unmarried males and females in Abhujmaar to swim together in the river with no clothing, something our so called modern society might growl at. The entire process is allowed to develop on its own, the males and females sleep together in the Ghotul from their childhood like brothers and sisters and once their genes develop they go further. The Ghotul tradition of the Muria tribals points to the equality and unisexuality of primitive humans. In the tribe, young men and women “date” from the age of ten onwards. The advocates of free sex and safe sex should study this system of natural sex education at the Ghotuls. Since the Ghotuls do not have formal teachers, the students never develop the attitude that the teachers are of a different generation. As a result, children learn about love at an early age, by watching others. They imitate what they see. Mothers typically teach their daughters about the extent to which they can go at the Ghotuls. Should any problems occur, the Motiyari tells the elders and they collectively sort out the problem. Nobody feels embarrassed by this, nor is anybody despised. When grown-up Chilaks (boy students at the Ghotul) are on duty protecting the fields or are away on other work, the younger Chilaks get the chance to spend the time with the Motiyaris. This is how the young ones get educated. There are strict rules of confidentiality regarding the happenings at the Ghotuls.

Since partners are continuously rotated, every pair gets a chance sooner or later. If a Motiyari singles out a boy to treats him specially, she's punished by the other boys. Because of their sexual freedom, at the time of marriage neither is the bride a virgin, nor is the groom inexperienced. Even after so much free sex chilaks and motiyaris are expected to practice monogamy in their married life. If they stray they are punished severely sometimes even with death. It’s the duty of the Ghotul students to provide entertainment on all occasions. They sing and dance all night to provide entertainment to their villagers. They smoke and drink and have fun. The lessons of cleanliness, and the skills learnt in Ghotuls stay with them all their lives. Living for hundreds of years amidst various diseases, wild animals and now Maoists, Ghotuls provide them with the much needed window of entertainment and relaxation.

I was told that earlier outsiders were allowed to come and watch the proceedings of the Ghotuls but then these officers and police men started exploiting the girls, so it was stopped and now the tribals do not allow anybody to see the Ghotul proceedings. I really felt privileged and couldn’t thank my tribal friends enough to have allowed me to watch the Ghotuls and learn the amazing system of education and social norms in the tribal society. For a city dweller in Bangalore Iam sure the description of Ghotul would sound as if Iam describing a new lounge bar. After looking at Ghotuls atleast I believe that the government assumptions are wrong; Abhujmaar is not 100 years behind but 100 years ahead of the so called modern society of ours.