RAJ GONDS - REFLECTIONS IN A PEACOCK CROWN

While the most obvious use of the film would perhaps be in a course in the anthropology of India, I think it would be even more appropriate in teaching about ritual symbolism in general. There is enough presented visually that students could receive an excellent object lesson in the complexities of cultural interpretation.S. Vatuk

55 minutes Colour 1982
Film-makers: Chris Curling, Peter Loizos, Michael Yorke
Anthropologist: Michael Yorke

The once-powerful Raj or ruling Gonds have now been reduced to the status of a tribe that needs the protection of the Indian government for their survival. Even with such protection, the rural Raj Gonds are vulnerable to the more educated and powerful non-Gond landowners and moneylenders. Many Gonds have lost their land, often now having to work at a minimal wage for the new owners. In defiance of their poverty and lack of power, the Raj Gonds every year celebrate Dandari, a ritual of their former authority and of their philosophy. The symbolism of Dandari is complex and in order to make it understandable to the viewer, the film makes heavy use of narration. The result is somewhat bewildering to the viewer who is not a scholar of Indian religion.

Dandari comes at a time when the Raj Gonds are chasing birds from their crops. It is a celebration that keeps away chaos and reinforces the alliances of marriage. Young men travel through local villages that have exchanged brides, at the same time following the path of a former hero to find Yetma, the granddaughter of a god. The duty of these young men, called Gusarks, is to protect Yetma. They abandon normal rules, cover their bodies with ash as an inverse of bathing and act in an abnormal manner. They wear and carry the blessed ritual objects of the god of creation, so becoming gods themselves. One of the objects, a baton, becomes the embodiment of the young man. Upon their heads the men wear peacock-feather crowns. As the god of creation, the Gusarks become a part of nature, holding a distorting mirror to reality. With the Gusarks travel Puriks, young unmarried men who act the part of brides. These men also represent Yetma and are protected by the Gusarks as they travel through the villages. The Gusarks then entertain the village with riddles, games, skits, and dances.

A few men describe how they have been tricked by money lenders, how they have been cheated, how moneylenders have driven them almost to suicide with despair. At Dandari, the riddles and skits mock the moneylenders, allowing the Gonds to laugh at their fate. The Gusarks, through their dress, role, and actions, blur the distinction between gods and men, between men and nature. In essence, the Gusarks, as gods, make a protective barrier between the Raj Gonds and the landowners. By becoming gods for one day, the Gusarks protect all the Raj Gonds.

The film was made for the BBC series, Worlds Apart. Catalogue number (16mm): 5RA134 £18.

V. Elwin, 1958. Leaves from the Jungle: Life in a Gond Village. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

C. von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1948. The Raj Gonds of Adilabad- A Peasant Culture of the Deccan. (Aboriginal Tribes of Hydrebad, Vol. 3, Bk. 1), Macmillan, London.

C. von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1950-1951. `The Pardhans: The Bards of the Raj Gonds'. Eastern Anthropologist, Vol.4, pp.172-84.

C. von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1956. `The Descent System of the Raj Gonds'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, pp. xvii-3

C. von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1979. The Gonds of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and Change in an Indian Tribe. Allen and Unwin, London.

S. Vatuk, 1986. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol. 88, p. 271.