Kings, Spirits and Memory in Central India: Enchanting the State

Description

"Part anthropological history and part memoir, this book is a unique study of the polity of the colonial-princely state of Kanker in central India. The author, a scion of the erstwhile ruling family of Kanker, delves into the oral accounts given in the ancestral deity practices of the mixed tribe-caste communities of the region to highlight popular narratives of its historical polity. As he struggles with his own dilemmas as ethnographer-king, what comes into view is a polity where the princely state is drawn out amidst a terrain of gods and spirits as much as that of law courts and magistrates, and political power is divided, contested and shared between the raja/state and the people. This study constitutes not only an intervention in the larger debate on the relationship between state formations and tribal peoples, but also on the very nature of history as a knowledge practice, especially the understandings of power, authority and sovereignty in it. Combining intensive ethnography, complementary archival work and crucial theoretical questions engaging social scientists worldwide, the author charts an unusual explanatory path that can allow us to meaningfully understand societies/peoples that have historically been marginalized and seen as different. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of history, anthropology, politics, religion, tribal society and Modern South Asia"-- Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Illustrations List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1: The King as “I” 1 Early Impressions Being “Raja” The World of the Anga Deo Thinking History About Kanker Notes Chapter 2: The Realm of the State Colonial Anthropology and the “Primitive” in Bastar-Kanker Administrative Records: Archiving the “State,” Unarchiving the “People” Iqrarnama : Intimations of “Un-State-like” Power and Authority 127 Notes Chapter 3: Liminal Crossings Reflections Notes Chapter 4: The World of the  Anga Deo Ancestral Forces Non-Ancestral Forces The Bhumkal and other Notions of Community Hierarchies of the Bhumkal The Raja’s Functionaries in Village Society The Raja among the Forces of the Bhum Balancing the Forces of the Bhum Notes Chapter 5: The Enchanted Realm The Raja and his Citadel in Kanker Other Citadels in Bansla and Govindpur Clan-Founders as Raja A Realm of many Rajas Realms without Borders Post-Colonial Anxieties Notes Afterword Notes Glossary Bibliography Primary Sources (a) British Library, London (b) National Archives of India, New Delhi (c) Other Primary Sources (d) Internet Sources Secondary Sources (a) Journal Articles (b) Books Index