Gijari , Village Survey Of, Part-VI-No-6, Vol-XX, Himachal
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CENSUS OF INDIA I961 VOLUME XX PART VI No. HIMACHAL PRADESH A Village Survey of GIJARI (Theog Tehsil, Mahasu District) Field Investigation and Draft hy ISHWAR DAYAL GUPTA Editor RAM CHANDRA PAL SINGH of t}le Indian Administrative Service 1964 PRINTED IN INDIA BY THE MANAGER GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PRESS SH!{l.,A FOR TflE MANAGER Of P\JBLICATlONS CIVIL LINES DEl..fll NOTIONAL MAP OF i ... f I REFERENCES HOUSE ................................... ;;;~;· .. ·.... ·· ...... ·· .......... ·r ClW"A;;~;·~;;;;;;~~:.·:::::~ SPRING........... ....... .... II PIPE LIN£............. ... ""-.... - NOrORA'U ROAD........... f'- NULE ROAD ....................-.... 'fIOT AA TN ..................... -- II''''LAGI 'OUNDART. .. ....... '- Contents Foreword III Preface VlI Acknowledgements -ynl 1 The Village 1 Introduction-Ori/?in of the Village-Settlement history--Com munications-Legend behind the origin of the river-Physical aspects -Flora -& Fauna-Size. 2 The People 6 Castrs-Houses-Utensils-Lighting-Fue(-Furniture-Dress; Ornaments-Food habits. 3 Birth, Marriage & Death Customs 18 Birth-Marriage customs-Death custom$. 4 Social & Cultural Life 24 Religious institutions in the village--Fairs and festivals--Recrea tion and games-Dances-Common habits and important customs -Superstitions and general folk-lore. 5 Untouchability & Social Status of Women 32 Social status of women. 6 Education and Medical 34 Medical qnd Public Health II CONTENTS 7 Economy 36 Sources of income-Expenditure-Indebtedness-Drum beating -Local weights. 8 Agriculture 43 Agricultural calendar-Manuring-Agricultural implements Pest and plant diseases-Agricultural superstitions-Animal husbandry-Vegetables. 9 Rural Crafts 53 Basketry--B lacksmi th)I-Carpentry. 10 Community Development, Panchayat & Cooperatives 56 Panchayats-Gram and Nayaya Panchayats-Cooperatives. 11 Kariala and Folk Songs 59 Folk songs Appendices . 67 ApPENDIX I-Write-up on Potatoes. AI'PENDIX II-Language Study. ApPENDIX III-Extracts -on Mahasu Cult. ApPENDIX IV-Wild' Animals lmd Birds Distributed in Mahasu District. ApPENDIX V-Conversion Table. ApPENDIX VI-Schedules Foreword APART from laying the foundations of a picture for the whole State in quantitative demography in this subcontinent, hundred terms on the basis of villages selected statisti years of the Indian Census has also produced cally at random. The selection was avowedly elaborate and scholarly accounts of the varie purposive: the object being as much to find gated phenomena of Indian Iife-·sometimes out what was happening and how fast to those with no statistics attached, but usually with villages which had fewer reasons to choose just enough statistics to' give empirical under change and more to remain lodged in the pinning to their conclusions. In a coun~ry. past as to discover how the more 'normal' largely illiterate, where statistical o_r numen~al types of villages were changing. They were to comprehension of even such a sImple thmg be primarily type studies which, by virtue as age was liable to be inaccurate, an un~er of their number and distribution. would also standing of the social structure was essentIal. give the reader a 'feel' of what was going on [t was more necessary to attain J broad under and some kind of a map of the country. standing of what was happening around one self than to wrap oneself up in 'statistical in A brief account of the tests of selection will genuity' or 'mathematical manipulation'. This help to explain. A minimum of thirty-five vil explains why the Indian Census came to be lages was to be chosen with great care to interested in 'many bypaths' and 'nearly every represent adequately geographical. occupa branch of scholarship, from anthropology and tional and even ethnic diversity. Of this mini sociology to geography and religion'. mum of thirty-five. the distribution was to be In the last few decades the Census has as follows: increasingly turne~ i~ effor~ to. the presenta (a) tion of village statistIcs. This S~I~S the temper At least eight villages were to be so of the times as well as our pohtl~al and eco selected that each of them would contain one nomic structure. For even as we have a great dominant community with one predominating deal of centralization on the one hand and occupation. e.g., fishermen, forest workers, decentralisation on the other, my coJleag~es jhum cultivators, potters, weavers, salt-makers, thought it would be a welcome co?tlnuatlOn quarry workers etc. A village should h~ve a of the Census tradition ~o. try ~o lllvcst the minimum population of 400, the optimum dry bones of village statIstics WIth flesh-a~d being between 500 and 700. blood accounts of social struct~re and SOCIal change. It was accordingly declded .to select (b) At least seven villages were to be of nu a few villages in every State for special study. merically prominent Scheduled Tribes of th~ where personal observatio~ would be .br~:)Ught State. Each village could represe~t a partI cular tribe. The minimum populatlon should to bear on the interpreta~lOn of stat1S~l~S to find out how much of a VIllage was statIc and be 400 the optimum being between 500 and yet changing and how fast the winds of change 700. were blowing and from where. (c) The third group of villages should each Randomness of selec~ion .was, the~efore. be of fair size, of an old and sett~ed character eschewed. There was no mtentlOn to bUlId up and contain variegated occupatIOns and be, FOkEWORb if possible, multi-ethnIc in composition. .By 1959 conference, introductd groups of ques fair size was meant a popUlation of 500-700 tions aimed at sensing changes in attitude and persons or more. The village should mainly behaviour in such fields as marriage, inheri depend on agriculture and be sufficiently tance. moveable and immoveable property, away from the major sources of modern com industry, indebtedness, education, community munication such as the district administrative life und collective activity, social disabilities. headquarters and business centres. It should forums of appeal over disputes, village leader be roughly a day's journey from the above ship and organisation of cultural life. It was places. The villages were to be selected with now plainly the intention to provide adequate an eye to variation in terms of size. proximity statistical support to empirical 'feel', to ap to city and other means of modern communi proach qualitative change through statistical cation. nearness to hills, jungles and major quantities. It had been difficult to give thought rivers. Thus ~here was to be a regional dis to the importance of 'just enough statistics to tribution throughout the State of this cate give empirical underpinning to oonciusions' gory of villages. If, however, a particular dis at a time when my colleagues were straining trict contained significant ecological variations themselves to the utmost, for the success of within its area, more than one village in the the main Census operations, but once the district might be selected to study the special census count itself was left behind in adjustments to them. March 1961, a series of three regional seminars in Trivandrum (May 1961), It is a unique feature of these ,:i11ag~ ~ur- Darjeeling and Srinagar (June 1961), restored - veys that they rapidly outgrew therr ongmal their attention to this field and the importance terms of reference, as my colleagues warmed of tracing social change through a number of up to their work. This proved for t~el1?- an well-devised statistical tables was once again absorbing voyage of discovery and theIr mfec recognised. This itself presupposed a fresh tious enthusiasm compelled me to enlarge survey of villages already done~ but it was the inquiry's scope again and again. It was worth the trouble in view of the possib~ities just as well cautiously to feel one's way about that a close analysis of statistics offered, and at first and then venture further a field. and also because the 'consanguinity' schedule re although it accounts to some extent for a cer mained to be canvassed. By November 1961, tain unevenness in the quality and coverage of however more was expected of these surveys the monographs, it served to compe!lsate the than ever before. There was dissatisfaction on purely honorary and extra-mura~ n~ours of the one hand with too many gene~al state the task. For, the Survey, alo~g WIth Its J:?1any ments and a growing desire on the other to ancillaries like the survey of fam and festIvals, draw conclusions from statistics. to regard of small and rural industry and others. was an social and economic data as inter-relat 'extra', over and above the crushing load of ed processes, and finally to examine the social the 1961 Census. and economic processes set in motion through land reforms and other laws, legislative and administrative measures. technological and It might be of interest to recount brie~y cultural changes. In the latter half of 1961 the stages by which the Survey enlarg~d Its again was organized within the Census Com scope. At the first Census Conference m Sep mission a section on Social Studies which as tember 1959. the Survey set itself the task of what might be called a record in situ of mat.e sumed the task of giving shape to the general rial traits. like settlement patterns of the VIl frame of study and providing technical help to lage; house types; diet; dress,. ornaments and Superintendents of Census Operations in the footwear; furniture and stonng vessels; com matter of conducting surveys, their analysis mon means of transport of goods and pa~sen and presentation. This section headed by Dr. t gers; domestication of animals,. and b.nds; B. K. Roy Burman has been responsible for markets attended; worship of deltIes; f:stlvals going through each monograph and offering and fairs.