ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of legal pistis in the ritualization of state-mandated sacrifice, as well as the strategic deployment of rituals as countermeasures, to resist the state authority’s monopoly for the legitimate use of ritual public sacrifice. The ritual significance of the disputed land to the local Dongria Kondh tribe is first and foremost grounded in its material dependency on the densely forested Niyamgiri hills. Thus, the ritual significance of the disputed mining site, for both the local tribe and Vedanta, as well as for the Indian government authority, are grounded in the shared material exigency concerning the distribution of valuable land resources among competing parties. The adaptive ritual-invention capacity of neoliberal rhetoric not only preserves its governmentality, but also strengthens its economic enforceability. The seemingly successful petition by the indigenous tribe in the Vedanta controversy was proved to be a short-lived victory.
