Redefining the way history and anthropology view tribal India, this book explores the expansion of the state in Bastar over the past two centuries. Adivasis have always been part of a 'mainstream', but a 'mainstream' whose contours they have debated. Nandini Sundar studies the pre-colonial economy and polity, the critical rebellions and growing restrictions on customary rights in colonial times, and the relationship between colonial anthropology and the formation of laws. The second edition brings the book up to date discussing the contemporary socio-political developments in Chhattisgarh and the contradictions faced by tribal societies today.