Seniority
For the Gadaba, it is a transgression (dos) to enter into marriage alliances with Dombo or accept food from them. The Dombo are of clearly lower status than the Gadaba, and transgressions of the matrimonial and commensal prohibitions lead to exclusion from the Gadaba community (jati). In these cases, those excluded must “buy” their status back (jati kiniba) with a feast, and feeding with tsoru plays a decisive role in their reintegration. In Gudapada, I know of two cases in which a Gadaba woman married a Dombo or went to live with him; in one of the two, the Dombo is a respected young man of the village. His wife became a Dombo, and he had to finance a feast so that her family could buy back their status. The commensality rules are also strictly observed, and I did not observe any violations of them. The Gadaba can accept liquor and uncooked food from the Dombo; beer and cooked food are not even offered. When the Gadaba are guests of the Dombo, they receive liquor and raw foodstuffs, which they prepare themselves. These raw foodstuffs are called batia, which suggests cooked rice (bat) and obscures the gift's raw condition.
Along with marriages and commensal relationships between Gadaba and Dombo, it is dos for a Gadaba to be struck by a Dombo, to play the moiri, to weave, or to produce oso (fermentation starter); in these cases as well, loss of status (jati) threatens in the event of transgression. Trade is not a transgression of niam for the Gadaba, and although I do not know any Gadaba for whom trading is his primary occupation, as in the case of the Dombo, some do pursue side businesses, selling tobacco at the weekly market, for example, without damage to their reputation or status. In contrast, no Gadaba works as a middleman, as I have described for the Dombo above, although this is not explicitly considered dos.
Gadaba and Dombo justify these rules of behavior on the grounds of the junior status of the latter, considered a san jati (more junior community). When people talk about the hierarchical relationships of the different jati, they fundamen?tally talk about seniority, not about purity or pollution. In a myth told by a Dombo, the incestuous relationship between a sibling pair made unrecognizable by pox resulted in twelve brothers: Gadaba, Rona, Dombo, Gorua, etc. God (:maphru, bagwan) assigned them their communities (jati), and they spread out across the whole world. This story of a common origin with the Dombo is not disputed by the Gadaba; they themselves say that the gods established the order of things (niam) at the beginning of the world, how many bonso and jati there are, and which rules apply to the individual groups. This includes the Gadaba’s senior status vis-a-vis the Dombo and the latter’s activities as weavers, musicians, and traders.
The two groups live both in close proximity to one another and in relative separation, something that could also be said of the Sisa and Kirsani. As a rule, a Gadaba does not enter a Dombo house and vice versa; they sit on the veranda. Touching a Dombo or drinking liquor with him are ordinary occurrences for the Gadaba. Gadaba and Dombo help one another with larger tasks,[1] [2] but joint projects like leasing a cashew plantation are more likely to take place within the Gadaba and within one sai. 121
The Gadaba and Dombo do not differ in their diet; both groups eat beef, at least, which distinguishes them from many other Desia, such as the Rona and the Mali. The Gadaba also eat the carcasses of their own cattle, and the Dombo are not needed to dispose of dead livestock. Cattle hides are often sold to the Dombo, but if an acceptable price is not offered, they are also passed on within the Gadaba.
- [1] Labor help is either reciprocal (badul) or compensated (buti, cooked or raw food or money).
- [2] In tasks that concerned the lower sai, no Dombo were usually involved, but more likely theGoudo and the Kamar, who also belong to this side of the village. In the upper sai, collaborationbetween Dombo and Kirsani on the basis of neighborhood residence may have been closer.
