The non-economic characters of the market are:
(A) symbol of inter-group social relations
(B) expression of hierarchy and social distance
(C) buying and selling of forest products
(D) indigenous banking system of 'hundi'
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) and (B) only
(A) symbol of inter-group social relations Correct. The anthropologist Alfred Gell found that the weekly market at Dhorai in Bastar has significance much beyond its economic functions: its layout symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations of the region. The high-ranking jeweller and the local Hindu traders sit in the central zones, and the tribal sellers in the outer circles.
(B) expression of hierarchy and social distance Correct. The way goods are bought and sold also carries social meaning: interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders express hierarchy and social distance rather than social equality.
(C) buying and selling of forest products Incorrect. This is the market’s economic function itself: the forest produce brought by the adivasis, such as tamarind and oil-seeds, is bought by traders who carry it to towns.
(D) indigenous banking system of ‘hundi’ Incorrect. The hundi was a bill of exchange, an instrument of exchange and credit, that allowed merchants to trade over long distances. It is part of the economic working of trade, not a non-economic character of the market.
Note: The paragraph on Alfred Gell’s reading of the Dhorai market — that its layout symbolises hierarchical inter-group social relations and that its transactions express hierarchy and social distance — in the chapter ‘The Market as a Social Institution’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This paragraph has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its Box 4.1 on the Dhorai market are still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Sociological Perspectives on Markets and the Economy … The forest produce that is brought by the adivasis is purchased by traders who carry it to towns. In the market, the buyers are mostly adivasis while the sellers are mainly caste Hindus. Adivasis earn cash from the sale of forest and agricultural produce and from wage labour, which they spend in the market mainly on low-value trinkets and jewellery, and consumption items such as manufactured cloth.” “Caste-based markets and trading networks in precolonial and colonial India … These traditional trading communities or castes had their own systems of banking and credit. For instance, an important instrument of exchange and credit was the hundi, or bill of exchange (like a credit note), which allowed merchants to engage in long-distance trade. Because trade took place primarily within the caste and kinship networks of these communities, a merchant in one part of the country could issue a hundi that would be honoured by a merchant in another place.” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…According to Alfred Gell (1982), the anthropologist who studied Dhorai, the market has significance much beyond its economic functions. For example, the layout of the market symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations in this region. Different social groups are located according to their position in the caste and social hierarchy as well as in the market system. The wealthy and high-ranking Rajput jeweller and the middle-ranking local Hindu traders sit in the central ‘zones’, and the tribal sellers of vegetables and local wares in the outer circles. The quality of social relations is expressed in the kinds of goods that are bought and sold, and the way in which transactions are carried out. For instance, interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders are very different than those between Hindus of the same community: they express hierarchy and social distance rather than social equality.” |