Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya Bhopal has organized A construction workshop to educate students and visitors about the architecture of traditional houses located in the Tribal habitat open-air exhibition.
Chhajan work of Ghotul housing type of Bastar is being done by 09 traditional artists who came from Bastar Chhattisgarh under the leadership of Balsayan Vadde.
The workshop takes into account the rich diversity of the local climate to meet the daily needs of the local people living in remote areas of India. Special craftsmanship, and social customs, and the workmanship of local craftsmen with local materials are of importance in the construction of the housing type. Repair and maintenance work of this traditional ghotul housing type is being done extensively with the help of mud, stone, bamboo, balli and bhusha.
About this construction workshop the assistant keeper of the museum, Ms. Rashmi Shukla told that Ghotul of Muria community living in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh was established in Tribal habitat Open air Exhibition. The Murias are a sub-group of the Gond tribal group, which mainly resides in Narayanpur district and Kondagaon district of Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. They have a strong traditional village organization through which they solve their social and economic problems. Muria is known for its Ghotul (youth Dormitory) institution. Which separates them from other tribes of Bastar.
Unmarried boys and girls regularly spend the night together in Ghotul. Ghotul is an organization that serves as a centre for learning their traditional culture helpful in providing service towards the social and economic affairs of the village. The Murias maintain their age-old culture through codified laws of Ghotul. The chief of the Ghotul is selected by the villagers with the consent of the patel (headman) and the gayata (priest). He should have good decision-making power over his co-habitants. After marriage the girl never goes to Ghotul, if she does so she is fined heavily. A married person can enter Ghotul but cannot sleep in it.