Cultural alienation of adivasis Pointers to cultural ethnic cleansing

Abstract

The book ‘Sacrificing People: Invasions of a Tribal Landscape’ under review is a historical re-setting of those tribal images by the Indo-British anthropologist, Felix Padel. This is a new and updated edition of the previous one The Sacrifice of Human Being: British Rule and the Konds of Orissa. The journey of the book, like the struggle of the Konds, is from colonial intrusion to developmental destruction. In other words, the book looks at the colonial roots of the relationships between the ‘Adivasis’ – the indigenous people in tribal areas of India with the rest of the country

The new and updated edition under review has placed sacrifice as part of the life of ‘Uncivilised Konds’, in a contemporary perspective. Padel argues the Konds have stopped this sacrifice, but others have taken over. The victims are now the tribal people and the guilty party is the ‘government’ that once financed everything to stop the sacrifice. Crystals have replaced the turmeric crop. Companies are the new savages and the Meriahs are the Konds now.