His axe was the pride of this boy. He always carried it around with himself. He was one of the younger chelik in the ghotul of Remawand. The tool had been forged by the smith of his village - and even the iron had been smelted locally. The Muria blacksmiths master the technique of melting the metal from the ore of local earth in clay blast furnaces of about half a man’s height. Besides the smith there was also a potter’s family living in Remawand. Elwin says in his study that as a rule the kids of such craftsmen will not attend the local ghotul. In any case it is not an obligation for the village kids to become a ghotul member. A girl might feel too shy to go there or a school kid may decide that this kind of education rules out the other. At the time of our visit, however, most kids we met did not go to any school at all. The ghotul was their sole place of education.
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