|
A marriage in the village is a high point in its social life. There
is much ostentatious display and expenditure of money by the family concerned.
All the occupational castes, gets involved with the wedding through well
defined customs, rules and regulations. It provides an occasion for the
caste-men to strengthen their ties with the jajman. To a lesser
degree the same is the case with funeral and the other major samskaras
an upper caste Hindu goes through in his life-cycle. These are mundan
when the child's head is shaved off, janaeoo or investiture of sacred
thread and vidyarambha or initiation into student life. The expenditure
involved in rites and rituals from birth to death keeps most of the families
perpetually in debt.
An occasional dangel (wrestling bout) or
inter-village kabaddi match can keep the village agog for a long
time. A form of the folk theatre (nautanki) ,the village puppet
show (kathputli) and the recitation in the rainy season of the heroic
deeds of two Bundela warriors (Alah-Udal) are longed for events. Bazars
are held weekly, bi-weekly or tri-weekly at suitable points from where
the villages obtain their house hold requirements.
A three-tier democracy is at work in the countryside.
At the district level is the Zila Parishad, at the block level the Kshetra Samiti
and at the village level, the Panchayat. To solve minor disputes there
is the Nyaya Panchayat or the village court. All these are statutory bodies
and form what is called the Panchayati Raj. Election to the Panchayats
is by adult franchise and secret direct vote. Election to the Kshetra
Samities is by indirect vote, Panchayat in a block constituting the electoral
college. The Zila Parishad has both ex-officio members and elected members.
The ex-officio members include the members of Parliament, Assembly and
the council of the district. A lot of Government money in the shape of
loans, assistance and advances for rural development is funneled through
these institutional bodies into the villages.
The emergence of political bosses at the grass-root level
is a new development in village life. Together with prosperous farmers
and caste leaders they constitute the new rural elite. The Nyaya Panchayat
perform certain statutory functions in village disputes but it is the
caste Panchayats among the backward classes and the scheduled castes which
are more formidable. Most caste disputes are settled by them. These caste
Panchayat also perform certain other functions. They help to alleviate
the difficulties of poor families to some extent, fixing limits to dowries,
the number of persons to participate in marriage party and so on.
They also regulate the customary dues involved in the system of Jajmani
relationship. |
