Offending qoutes from the Bastar Tourism website run by the Government "The Gonds tribals of Bastar have their own 'Ghotul' system in which the un married young mature boys and girls live together in seperately made huts and copulate.During this time they enjoy themselves by participating in dancing , music , local story telling etc in a drunken mood. Inspite of these they gets knowledge of different social activities.The members can get out of the ghotuls to marry.This Ghotul system is mostly found among the Muria Gonds tribes and the origin of this system is related with their goddess 'Lingopan'."
"These people are not cleanly in their habits , and even when a Maria does bathe he does not wash his solitary garments but leaves it on the bank.When drinking from a stream they do not take up water in their hands but put their mouth down to it like cattle." quotes taken from http://bastar. nic.in/tribeinfo .htm Fact 1 - This cultural center is called Gotul and not Ghotul.Meaning a place where God resides.Gotul has very strict rules and regulations where even a small mistake by the members are punishable.May be the person who wrote on this website was comparing Gotul to modern day clubs where people get drunk and have multiple partners.Can anyone tell me any club in India where people get together and talk about their cultures and traditions? Fact 2- "Lingopen" is considered as an ancestor by the tribals of Bastar and he is God and not Goddess as mentioned on the website. Fact 3-About cleanliness this particular author has gone too far.What would be more cleaner than taking bath in a flowing stream unlike what we get in cities? How can a community be dirty when a small thing like brushing their hair with traditional wooden comb is considered spiritual by the tribals? Why won't be things like Salwa Judum happening to the tribals of Bastar when the modern society looks at them as filth?Why would the mainstream media cover the story of the three tribal women whose husband were killed infront of their eyes by the police and the SPOs? Recently when a woman involved in immoral activities was pareded naked by some anti-social elements in Raipur so many organisation came forward in support of this woman which included Human Rights Commision,Women' s Organisation, NGOs,Congress Party and others. But what happened to the above mentioned groups when these three tribal women came to Raipur from Bastar riskning their lives to narrate their story in front of the media?Till now no one has come forward for them. If not for few people they would have never reached Raipur.Because every thing requires money.Travelling, Lodging,Food ect.I am sure that these people who brought them here would have really struggled with financial part of bringing truth infront of the "Deaf modern Society".I salute them because very soon they will also be framed as naxalites by the Chhattisgarh State Government. Prabhat
