ABSTRACT
In describing the induced abortion of Koki, an unmarried Bauri woman, Muli introduces us to an aspect of Indian life rarely discussed. In Muli’s village, a pregnant unmarried high-caste woman brings disgrace on herself and her family. If her lover is discovered to be of a different caste, she is usually expelled from her village. Some women have drowned themselves in wells rather than be publicly humiliated. Although more flexible than the high castes, the Bauris also believe that the sexual behavior of a woman affects the prestige of her family. Ideally, an unmarried woman should not have lovers, and when married, she should remain faithful to her husband. In practice, Bauri women often have lovers; if discovered, the lover may be beaten by the woman’s irate relatives, and the woman herself married off quickly to a family that lives too far away to have heard of the scandal. If an unmarried woman becomes pregnant by an unmarried male of her own caste, the woman’s family and ward leaders sometimes force the two to marry. Usually the leaders try to find a compromise that will enable the woman and her family to maintain their prestige. If, however, the biological father is believed to be a man from another caste, the Bauri woman often is expelled from her community and thus is forced to become an openly acknowledged prostitute. Fearing this fate, Koki desperately sought an abortion, no matter what the danger.
Muli acts as a facilitator, an indispensable go-between who locates and hires an abortionist and convinces Koki’s two high-caste lovers to pay the abortionist’s fees. Throughout his life, Muli takes such roles to make high-caste men dependent on him in the hope that they will become his friends and give him gifts and money. Usually they give him less than he expects. A such moments, Muli portrays himself and his Bauri women as victims exploited by high-caste men.
Muli provides a glimpse of the strange activities of powerful exorcist-magicians who both cause and cure demonic possession, as well as perform abortions. He also shows how women use gossip as a powerful means of controlling behavior.
