ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Dhorai market from the point of view of its symbolic importance as an indigenous model of social relations. Dhorai is the name of a market village located deep in the hinterland of North Bastar district, Madhya Pradesh. The thatched market stalls are arranged in a concentric pattern, and are divided by narrow streets or defiles, along which customers manoeuvre themselves as best they can in the crush, trying to avoid treading on the goods of less established traders, who make use of every nook and cranny between the permanent stalls to display the wares. The Dhorai market is primarily an institution of 'vertical integration'. The zonal arrangement of market space provides - with certain exceptions - a clear articulation of hierarchical relations, and serves very much as a ground plan of inter-group relations, both within the single market area and beyond.
