The Roots of the Periphery: A History of the Gonds of Deccan India

Is primitivism a consequence of the natural evolution of some human societies? Or is it a conscious choice by such societies to evade state power? In The Roots of the Periphery, Bhangya Bhukya sets out to answer these questions by taking as his focal point the case of the Gond dynasty of the erstwhile Chanda region of Deccan India. Arguing that the ‘periphery’-the adivasis (or the indigenous peoples)-have their roots in the ‘centre’, he demonstrates how the British colonial government in India created an administrative divide between the plains and the hills, thus stereotyping hill and forest communities as isolated, primitive, barbaric, and uncivilized.

This book examines the evolution of Gond society over a prolonged period-from Mughal rule to the colonial era-with an interdisciplinary approach that uses both oral narratives and folklore along with archival sources. In so doing, it challenges the isolationist and assimilationist perceptions about adivasi society and asserts that the ‘difference’ imagined and articulated by the Gonds was deeply rooted in self-rule and self-determinism.