‘Nata pratha’: In some tribal areas of India, women’s ‘price’ is fixed by village councils
First husbands break marriage and pass on wife to another man
Banswara district, Rajasthan: Last month, India was talking about ‘Bulli Bai’ and ‘Sulli Deals’ - apps that enabled fake online “auctions” of hundreds of Muslim women. But not many may know that some women are “auctioned” offline in India in the name of centuries old ‘nata’ tradition.
This custom is prevalent in some tribal belts of the country. According to the custom, man has to pay money to have a modern day live-in relationship with a woman of his choice, after woman’s first husband breaks the marriage and passes on his wife to other man in return for money.
This money, the “bride price” is fixed by the village panchayat, the sum may range from few thousand rupees to even a few hundreds of thousands, depending upon the paying capacity of person concerned. Men then utilise this amount to “buy” themselves new wives.
Gulf News travelled to Banswara District of Rajasthan State to unearth the truth. And saw many cases of ‘nata pratha’ in the tribal villages of this district. We first met Vimlesh (name changed), uncle of a woman Vimla (name changed) of Maiji village, whose ‘nata’ has been done. As woman was not available for comment, her uncle narrated her story.
“Vimla, a mother of two, did Nata two years back, after her first marriage broke. The man who did nata with her paid Rs100,000, a rate fixed by village panchayat to her first husband, and only after that she was allowed to move in with the second man.”
Allowed to go
We met another ‘nata’ case in Rohanwari village of Banswara district. Again the woman was not available for comment. But her brother-in-Law, Basu (name changed) narrated Meera’s (name changed) story. “Meera decided to do nata, during COVID-19 time in 2020, after her first marriage broke. But village panchayat decided that she can only do nata after her second man pay Rs150,000 to her first husband. Which he did, after which Meera, a mother of two, was allowed to go with a second man.”
It is the panchayat that decides women’s rate for nata. If someone failed to pay the decided amount, than the two parties engage in fighting.
Parmesh Chandra Patidar, an activist associated with Vaagdhara NGO of Banswara district said, “Money in nata is a bad thing, where panchayat decides the amount only after which a woman is allowed to do nata. Such practice should be stopped.”
Jayesh Joshi, secretary of the Same NGO said, “There is no law in the country to curb nata pratha. Police also don’t register cases in such tradition. This tradition is mostly prevalent in Bhel tribe of Rajasthan. Nata tradition is on the decline amongst the educated section of the said tribe.”
Anita Damor, a women’s right activist of the same region, described nata pratha as both good and bad for the women. “It is good in the sense that it empowers women to leave their abusive husbands and go for a live-in relationship with a second man. And bad because the panchayat fixes the rate of the women for nata.”
Banswara Superintendent of Police Rajesh Meena told Gulf News: “There is no law in the country to curb Nata.” When asked about his views where women are auctioned in the panchayat, the SP said: “I cannot comment on this as I have no detailed knowledge of the subject.”