Land reforms and deities as the ‘owners of land’

In Chapter 11, I investigate the effects of the 1970s land reforms, focusing on the responses and experiences of villagers in Perar and on how the changes have affected būta worship. It is necessary to consider the relationships between ordinary farmers and landlords, whose land rights have been authorised through their position as organisers of būta rituals pertaining to particular lands. We also have to investigate how the būtas, regarded as the fundamental ‘owners of land’, have influenced villager practices and decision-making following the land reforms. Land reforms enforced by the government were more than just an intervention into the conventional land tenure system in village society; the new laws also affected how people related to their families, neighbours, lands, and deities, and they compelled a reorganisation of existing systems and relations. The reorganisation of their social relations linked with land makes clear the villagers’ efforts to maintain and renew their relationship with particular lands and deities, while coping with the demands of modern law.