ABSTRACT
in the previous chapters i have discussed dalit experiences of exploitation, their mobilization under the Maoist Movement and their caste-specific identity assertions, mostly focusing on Dumari village. In this chapter I will explore revolutionary and counterrevolutionary violence in rural Bihar in the context of state practices, actions of caste militias (senas) and Maoist organizations. I argue that the practices of state actors, Maoists and the militias created the conditions for or produced violence; at the same time, these actors were themselves refashioned through this violence. To examine this mutually constitutive practice of violence among the state, sena, and the Maoists, this chapter is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on the state in Bihar. I examine the nature and function of the state in the context of agrarian violence in rural Bihar since the 1970s. My analysis highlights how the boundaries of the state are ‘porous’; how the caste, class and religious affiliations of the state actors underpin practices of governance and fashion state alliances with other actors. My primary concern in this section is to explore the ways in which Dalits experienced and responded to the state in rural Bihar.
