Consider the following statements about Gell's account of Dhorai:(A)…

Consider the following statements about Gell's account of Dhorai:

(A) Dhorai is a market village in North Bastar district.
(B) Tribals bring the produce of the forest, of their fields and of their own manufacture.
(C) On non-market days, Dhorai is a busy, tree-shaded hamlet.
(D) Social life in Dhorai revolves around two tea-shops.
(E) A magnificent peepal tree grows at the centre of the marketplace.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → A, B and D only

(A) Dhorai is a market village in North Bastar district. — Correct. Gell describes Dhorai as a market village deep in the hinterland of North Bastar district, Chattisgarh.

(B) Tribals bring the produce of the forest, of their fields and of their own manufacture. — Correct. On market day, files of tribals pour in carrying the produce of the forest, of their fields and of their own manufacture.

(C) On non-market days, Dhorai is a busy, tree-shaded hamlet. — Incorrect. On non-market days Dhorai is a sleepy, tree-shaded hamlet that hardly exists at all. It becomes busy only on Friday, the market day.

(D) Social life in Dhorai revolves around two tea-shops. — Correct. Social life in Dhorai revolves around two primitive tea-shops. Their customers are low-ranking employees of the State Forest service.

(E) A magnificent peepal tree grows at the centre of the marketplace. — Incorrect. The tree at the centre of the marketplace is a magnificent banyan tree. No peepal tree is described there.

NCERT (2026-27): “Caste-based markets and trading networks in precolonial and colonial India …
Dhorai is the name of a market village located deep in the hinterland of North Bastar district, Chattisgarh … On non-market days Dhorai is a sleepy, tree-shaded hamlet straddling an unscaled road which winds it’s way through the forest … Social life in Dhorai revolves around two primitive tea-shops with a clientele of low-ranking employees of the State Forest service, whose misfortune it has been to be stationed in such a distant and insignificant spot … Dhorai on non-market days – every day except Friday, that is – hardly exists at all; but Dhorai on a market day might be a totally different place. …”

“… They disburse payments to the tribal labourers … While the officials hold court in the Rest House, files of tribals continue to pour in from all directions, laden with the produce of the forest, of their fields, and of their own manufacture. They are joined by Hindu vegetable sellers, and by specialised craftsmen, potters, weavers and blacksmiths. The general impression is one of richness and confusion, compounded by the fact that a religious ceremony, as well as a market, is in process … The whole world, it seems, is at the market, men and their Divinities alike. The marketplace is a roughly quadrangular patch of ground, about 100 yards square, at the centre of which there grows a magnificent banyan tree. …”