0.0 Introduction

Communities in India have lived together and interacted with each other from an ancient time. The underlying force behind these interactions has had variegated manifestations, such as the silent interactions between the Raji and their Kumaoni neighbours (see Majumdar 1944 and Alam & Jha 2019:41-42, fn 1); the ritualistic politics of alliance between the Bhils and the Rajputs (Tod 2002:347) or between the Paudi Bhuyan and the Bonai Kings (see Skoda 2019); inclusion through expansion during state formation in tribal areas (Pargiter 1922:3); conquest, coercion, and subjugation of the Indian population including the tribes by the British^[I]; exploitation of tribes by British agents like the zamindars, theka- dars, and sahukars (see also Gupta 1974:59-73 and MacDougall 1985:33); conversion to Christianity² and Islam (see Siddiqui 2004); adoption of Hinduism by communities like the Ahoms, the Deoris, and ‘other’ tribes³; reconstruction of identity and changing identity descriptions including being labelled as criminals, tribal, or the Scheduled Tribes during colonial and post-colonial regimes⁴; exposure to government policies and programmes⁵; and several others.