ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 unfolds how the social governance of village space, demography and resources developed and how the sacerdotal and profane norms took shape and were progressively modified. Associated with this was the emergence of Adivasis as historic agents and their later conversion into colonial subjects. The governance of a village is elaborated under the following headings: socialising process, ideology and function of the sacred governance, setting up of exogamic and endogamic norms, origin and split of killis, the development of the notion of property, deployment of social capital, technique of governing the benevolent and malevolent domains, the world of magic and sorcery, practice of witchcraft, secular governance of Adivasi villages during the pre-feudal/colonial phases, village functionaries, governing village resources – land, water and forest, and administration of justice
