THE MURIA

30 minutes Colour 1982
Film-maker: Chris Curling

The Muria of Central India live in a forested area encircled by mountains. Their relative isolation has allowed them some differences from the rest of India, in particular their lack of caste. Their land is protected by the government, each family is ideally self-sufficient, and marriage, which unites the four clans of the Muria, is seen as the basis of social order.

The focus of this film, like the ethnographies of V. Elwin (1947) and S. Mansingh Gell (1984), is on the institution of the ghotul in Muria society. The ghotul is a dormitory within the village where all people from about the age of twelve until their marriage must stay. The ghotul is governed by the young people, cared for by them, and in many ways is a society of youth within the larger society of Muria village life. The years of the ghotul are seen as a time for freedom and exploration, as a preparation for adult life. An aspect of the ghotul which captured the Western imagination is its relation to the trinity of sex, love, and marriage. Elwin's original ethnography, of which abridged versions are available in French, Italian, and English, portrayed ghotul life in a way that continues to embarrass the Indian government as well as raising ethical questions about the anthropologist's use of public and private information. The anthropological advisor for the film, S. Mansingh Gell, asked that her name be removed from the credits because, in her opinion, the final version of the film does little to correct the sort of stereotype found in Elwin's study.

Despite these problems, The Muria is an interesting and informative film that does try to explain the ghotul and its relevance to Muria society. The ghotul is in some ways opposed to the rest of the society. During her ghotul years, a girl has a choice of partner, while afterwards her bridal partner is chosen by others. During ghotul years, the young have more money, more friends, and more freedom than they will have again in their lives. All this creates a deep nostalgia for the ghotul; young and old alike remember their ghotul years as the happiest of their lives.

The film deals extensively with one of the conflicts created by the ghotul. Although boys and girls have special partners in the ghotul, possessiveness is frowned upon and one should never forget that a ghotul relationship is just a preparation for marriage, not a substitute for it. To emphasize this, ghotul partners are often kin who would not make proper marriage partners. Despite these regulations, ghotul partners sometimes elope or the girl becomes pregnant (since a couple are considered fertile only when they are in love, this is treated as the same kind of problem as elopement). In such cases, the couple are brought back to the village, the girl's marriage date bought forward, and she and her ghotul partner must publicly renounce their connection to the satisfaction of the prospective groom's family. If a girl does not like her first husband, she can leave him and another will be chosen for her, but she cannot return to her ghotul partner. In this way, the separation between ghotul and adult life is maintained.

This film, like the other films of the BBC Worlds Apart series, makes extensive use of informal interviews and subtitles, a technique which creates a human and sympathetic portrayal of the Muria. Catalogue number (16mm): 5RA/132 £15.

V. Elwin, 1947. The Muria and their Ghotul. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

V. Elwin, 1968. The Kingdom of the Young. Oxford University Press, Oxford. [Abridged version of The Muria and their Ghotul].

A. Gell, 1980. `The Gods at Play: Vertigo and Possession in Muria Religion'. Man N.S., Vol. 15, pp. 219-48.

S. Mansingh Gell, 1984. The Ghotul in Muria Society. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra.