When a girl was married off at the age of eight, and her in-law-s home became a ground of hostilities, where she couldn-t confide or complain, who would she turn to? The question is at the centre of a recent work by Heta Pandit, a researcher on Goan heritage. Pandit, who has been studying the origin of oviyos of ovis—folk songs sung by rural women in Goa—found the answer in a milling stone.

In the early part of the last century, child marriage was rife in Goa, says Pandit, and girls were not allowed to visit their maternal homes, until it was time for their first child to be born. Her first chore of the day was typically at the milling stone, where she-d grind grain, before the rest of the household woke up. The solitary pursuit was often bolstered by the slow, rhythmic sound of the two, circular flat stones grinding against each other. It inspired her to sing poignant oviyos, where she recalled memories of her maternal home, and sometimes even the mythological legends that she had heard, as a child. That-s how the milling stone became her confidante and sakhi.