Alka Kodarvi smiles shyly as she asked about her wedding plans. He sits on a rusted Iron Cot in a newly built house in Mota Pipodar, a quiet village tucked in the Gujarat Banaskantha district near Rajasthan, hiding his face behind his palms. “Maybe in a month or two,” she said blushing, looked at her partner, Bhajabhai. “If he agrees.”
For a 27-year-old mother of a two-year-old boy and her partner, both of the tribal community, the marriage is not the beginning of their story-it is just another chapter in life formed by survival and exile. Since 2019, the couple lived together and raised their son without registering their bond as a marriage. “For us, marriage is just a ritual,” says Alka factually. “We liked each other and decided to live together.”
Both come from the Kodarvi tribe, which was expelled in 2014 after another tribe was forced from its traditional countries after the tradition called Chadotar. After more than ten years of wandering and uncertainty, Kodarvis returned to his native village early this month after a hard -earned ceasefire between communities and fundamental support of the district police.
Among Kodarvis – and in many tribal groups – the ancestors are more than just a place to live. They are central for ceremonies such as marriage and death. Couples only get married in their native village, where the houses lie scattered in agricultural areas. People are also buried there. So, when Bhohabhai lost his home in the village, he also lost a country where a wedding could be held. Now he regained it.
Chadotar and its consequences
In most urban India, life without marriage remains taboo and finding a housing rental or even a hotel room when traveling as an unmarried couple is almost impossible. But for Alka, Bihabhai and many belonging to Kodarvi and other tribal communities rooted in the distant sections of the Aravali mountains, life has always followed different rules – some liberating, others repressive.
In 2014, nearly 300 people out of 29 Kodarvi families fled from their homes in Mota Pipodar at night. When they only took what they could carry, they left their houses, livestock and field after the dabhi tribe from the same village said Chadotar against them.
In Gujarat, Chadotar is a tribal tradition of informal justice that carries the weight of revenge, often focuses on whole families or communities when one of their members is charged with a grave, such as murder, sexual assault or extramarital affair.
The statement followed after killing a man Dabhi, allegedly someone from the community of Kodarvi. “The victim, Naranbhai, was stoned to death, and the villagers said it was Rajubhai Kodarvi, who did it after a drunk fight in the middle of the night 6. April 2014. He was arrested and Chadotar took place for days,” the police say.
In Gujarat’s tribal belts and in Rajasthan Chadotar, it still affects the way of resolving disputes. Traditionally, this concerned older community or Panches (elected members) who meet to mediate and align differences by mutual agreement. Over time, however, this habit has turned into a harsh practice: imposing a henic penalty, forcing exile and threatening violence.
Once Chadotar is declared, the clan is preparing for confrontation – women and children lead the procession, while others follow, armed with swords, sticks and any weapons they can collect. The beating of Dhol-Nagara (traditional drums) signals their progress as they move towards the homes of the rival clan to strike.
“When Chadotar is announced, the entire accused community is often forced to pay the amount granted to Panch or flee,” explains Suman Nala. “Their homes are vandalized, inflamed crops, and the cattle either excluded or let it get lost.” In the case of murder, money is required for blood. If it is unpaid, violence may follow.
Informal conversation
Alka is a cook. In an occasional conversation, Nala remembers that she asks how often Alka visited her Sasural (father -in -law’s home). What followed left Nala. “I’ve never seen Sasural,” Alka told her. She continued to explain that the clan of her partner was declared after Chadotar was declared against them. This not only forced the community to exile, but also broke their social and economic structure.
Alka Kodarvi, her partner Bihabhai and their child in their newly built house in Mota Pipodar. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
Since then, families have been dispersed. Many of them ended up as everyday wage workers in Danta, Palanpur, Surrat and other places in Gujarat, earned barely 200-300 £ 300 a day. Meeting has become rare each other; Survival has become a routine
Bihabhai was married to Niluben two decades ago in the same village. The couple has four children. “Haan, Unke to Hain, Aur Hum Khushi is Rehte Hain (yes, he has two partners and we live happily together),” says Alka.
Bigamy or polygamy remains practice in several tribal communities in India. Several spouses are sometimes officially recorded in government documents. Sometimes these relations include civil servants and election representatives.
Nala brought it with her supervisor, Banaskantha Superintendant Police Akshay Raj Makwany. Just a few days before the conversation of Alka and Nala, a man named Jagabhai Kodarvi and his wife Ambaben filed a request to help the police to return to Mota Pipodary. Both of these factors joined for a police event. “My ASP (NALA) and her team began to identify and address them. They led several rounds of discussions with Panch,” says Makwana.
Restoring Home and Relationships
Now, in the middle of crumbling ruins, new houses are beginning to rise. Older tribe members of a sighted relief when a long -term dream is formed. “We never thought we would come back,” he says much. “For years, one thought has been chasing us: Where we will be buried when we die? We must be laid to rest in the country of our ancestors,” says one of the tribe members.
Before the police mediated peace between the two warring tribes, the Kodarvi clan made several unsuccessful attempts to return to their village. One such effort came four years ago, after the death of Jagabhai’s father, whose last wish was to be buried in their ancestors. Jagabhai and several others feared violence, quietly entered the village and made the last ceremonies. But as soon as the Dabhi tribe got a word about its presence, they accused them of anger. Kodarvis fled to the nearby hills to escape the attack and dispersed again.
The man who once accused the Dabhi tribe of killing a member of their clan was liberated in 2017 by a local court, says Makwana. “He has been living in the same village since. But the rest of his clan remained scattered.”
Makwana explains that if an exiled clan wants to return, it is expected to pay a hefty amount of money – usually between £ 30 to £ £ 40 – a designated Panch. A significant part of this goes to Panch and members of the clan, while the rest is paid to the victim’s family as compensation.
“Panch decides on the amount after the offense. If the hostile clan cannot afford to pay, Panch declares Chadotar and effectively excludes them. These decisions, even if they are illegal in the eyes of the law, continue to be adhered to in the ordinary communities,” adds Sp.
In this case, however, no money did not change his hands on his return. Instead, both tribes agree that the police took over – cleaned 8.5 hectares of land that belonged to Kodarism and facilitated their rehabilitation within the government housing system, supported by financial companies.
The dispute eventually ended when Dabhis agreed to the return of Kodarvis. Panches of both sides watched the tradition of eating coriander seeds and jaggers, a gesture symbolizing the end of hostility and the beginning of peace, says Makwana.
Resettlement
To get into the tribal village, an hourly journey from Palanpur, the car rushes and slips through a narrow, rain track, its bikes slipped into a mud, which now carries the intersections of police jeeps and tractors that threw themselves in and out in the last few weeks. It did not stop raining – it comes and leaving a slight drizzle, carried by the breeze, gently settling on the skin and soil. Petrichor is mixed with the smell of crushed leaves and a weak smoke of damp wood burning somewhere in the distance.
As the quads slows down to a browsing, ruins of stone and mud walls covered with weeds, Mark, where they once stood houses than torn in 2014. When the vehicle finally stops, Kodarvis emerges from under temporary tarpulin, from behind tree suitcases, an open field and a newly built house.
Among them is Prakash, 22 years, son Jagabhai and student of the last year of the diploma. He was just 10 when his family fled from the village and never imagined that she would return. “It was a moment of joy and excitement, a meeting that I dreamed of from the day we left,” he says, recalling the big ceremony of July 17th, when the Minister for Home formally welcomed them. “Everyone had tears in his eyes.” Over the years, the Prakash family has moved through Surrat, Mehsan, Vadgam and other cities, because his parents worked as everyday betting. The constant movement made education more difficult, but he remained determined and never fell, he says.
“We were all dressed. There were so many relatives that I didn’t even know. They asked which son I was and where we were for years,” says Prakash, his eyes lit an excitement of return as the rain still soak up. “During the exile, we lost contact with most of them. I was excited to meet some of my cousins, which I haven’t seen since we left, and their children who were born after 2014. They were just as happy to see my eight -month -old son and my partner, kailash.”
Prakash says he has promised to marry only in his native village. Now the moment finally came. “I’ve always seen my parents want to return. They managed to organize them.
Prakash Kodarvi with his parents in their house, which was destroyed ten years ago. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
As soon as drizzle continues, Lukabhai Bumbadia arrives – one of the members of the Panch involved in the alleged murder case. For him, like many tribes, Hindi remains a distant tongue, which he did not understand or speak well. Lukabhai now says it was a common effort of Samaj (community) and Sarkar (government) that allowed Kodarvis to return. “Chadotar should not have a place today. This practice must be canceled,” he says.
SP Makwana says that such age practices impose serious social and economic restrictions, often tearing communities apart. “These families usually marry in a village and maintain themselves through agriculture. They make them to get their entire way of life.
He adds that efforts are going to be involved in community leaders and raise awareness of long -term damage caused by Chadotar. “If one clan today declares Chadotar, it could be announced tomorrow. It is a cycle that will never break if we do not invent conscious efforts to end it,” says file.
However, the police also claim that a few months ago, the Amirgadh district appeared another Chadotar incident. Before they arrived, everything was already destroyed.
“It is related to the alleged illegal relationship. It is difficult to achieve such remote areas due to the absence of the right roads, and when we get there, the tribe is gathering in large numbers, making us difficult to control the situation,” the policeman says.
Nala says, “Law, love and compassion have joined to solve the problem.”
Deshpande.abhinay@thehind.co.in
Edit Sunalini Mathew
