EXALTING THE KING AND OBSTRUCTING THE STATE - A POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF ROYAL RITUAL IN BASTAR DISTRICT, CENTRAL INDIA

This article offers an interpretation of tribalism in peninsular India based on the political and economic characteristics of 'tribal' kingd oms presided over by 'Hindu' kings. These kingdoms were markedly egali tarian with a relatively direct relationship obtaining between the rul er and his tribal subjects, unmediated by the layers of officialdom ch aracteristic of neighbouring Hindu and Muslim kingdoms. This has been typically explained as an evolutionary and historical consequence of ' primitivism' reinforced by physical isolation and the operation of exc lusionary criteria by Hindu society. However, this article argues that tribals have had more of an upper hand in negotiating status than is hitherto suspected and employs Appadurai's concept of 'coercive subord ination' to re-examine Hindu/tribal relations. By enacting an image of themselves as volatile, forest-dwelling primitives, the tribals ensur ed their relative freedom from state interference and inhibited the de velopment of revenue-extracting institutions, in turn ensuring a state weak in secular function but ritualistically exalted. This is demonst rated by an analysis of the symbolism of the annual Dasara ritual in t he old kingdom of Bastar, during which the Hindu king is subjected to an 'abduction' by the tribal rabble before his confirmation as divine ruler. Such rituals suggest a fresh interpretation be given to the so- called tribal rebellions of 1876, 1910 and 1961 which occurred in the kingdom of Bastar.