Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to trace the changing nature of the relationship between the state and the people with reference to the Mundas and the Hos of Chotonagpur in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Paper long abstract:

The world of the adivasis today vis-à-vis the Indian nation state is marked by a set of contradictions, with adivasis making brief appearances in the mainstream at particular moments of crisis, and always, as the subject of received wisdom concerning development, education and in some cases, of leadership as well. The roots of this alienation of the adivasis from the state could be traced to colonial rule. This paper seeks to trace the changing nature of the relationship between the state and the people with reference to the Mundas and the Hos of Chotonagpur in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The two-way process of integration at a political and cultural plane under the indigenous rulers, the Nagbanshis of Chotanagpur and the Simha dynasty of Singhbhum, came to be replaced by a policy of paternalism and protectionism, a policy that was retained to a large extent by the post-colonial state.