Mautana

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Mautana

My project with Seva Mandir is to create the first booklet, in English, on Mautana.<span> Mautana is a tradition where the victims family to receive a settlement when one of their own passes away.<span> Mautana was first established with good intentions.<span> The main idea was to protect women who were being married and moved to live with husbands in villages that were far from their birthplace.<span> Mautana was supposed to act as an incentive for husbands to treat their wives well.<span> Should the wives be killed at the hands of their husbands, the husbands immediate family, village and their sub-caste (‘gotre’) are responsible for paying a settlement to the victims family and their sub-caste.<span> The settlement is decided by a third party belonging to other villages and sub-castes, who act as negotiators between the two parties.

This practice has taken a more violent and economically burdensome turn in recent years.<span> In fact, the scope of incidents considered for claiming Mautana, the price of the settlements and the prevalence of Mautana claims are spreading beyond the Kotra region of Rajasthan.<span> The price of Mautana used to be, at most, 50 000 to 80 000 INR.<span> However, the price has since risen to many Lakh rupees in most cases.<span> The scope of incidents considered have increased, it is no longer limited to cases of mistreatment of wives (for example: murder and domestic abuse).<span> Consider the following case: a tribe attended a cattle fair, organized by the local government, in a village.<span> The tribe members purchased cattle at the fair and were attacked by miscreants from the village during their journey home.<span> One man from the tribe was seriously injured during the assault and his fellow tribe members<span> took him to the doctor in Kotra village.<span> They urged the doctor to perform first aid to save his life, however, during the medical procedure the man succumbed to his injuries.<span> The tribe members threatened the doctor to pay Mautana for the death of the man.<span> While the doctor did not pay the full amount requested, the panch (group of negotiators) were able to agree on an amount of 20 000 rupees; which the doctor paid.

I was really surprised when I was being trained on Mautana and heard of this case.<span> In my mind it seems completely unreasonable that a doctor, who did not harm the man but was in fact trying to save him, should have to compensate the victims family and sub-caste for the death.<span> My initial solution to this problem, of wrongful Mautana claims, was to suggest that some sort of village-level institution be established to hear cases of Mautana and establish the validity of each case.<span> What I had not considered, was the threat created by a combination of extreme poverty, the will to kill and greed.<span> The area of Kotra is very dry and desert-like.<span> There are few rivers and an increasing number of droughts.<span> Mautana has become a very lucrative means to make money for both the victims family, their sub-caste and the panch (negotiators).<span> I was informed that should a village level institution be established and a victims community denied the ability to collect Mautana, the family would surely target and murder the persons family who were members of the village level institution.<span> I was and am still shocked at how emotionally ready (perhaps desperate) these individuals are to end another’s life.<span> This threat of murder and retaliation is also what compels the local police not to get directly involved in decision-making related to Mautana.<span> They prefer to simply act as advisors to the panch and try to ensure the security of both parties.

I still have more interviews to complete prior to writing the booklet, drawing conclusions on the impacts on society and making recommendations.<span> I believe that what is required is not the elimination of this tradition but a change in attitudes.<span> How to change the attitudes of people who are deeply entrenched in tradition has baffled me so far… Hopefully I can think of something effective to suggest by the end of the internship.

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