The whole world is changing with incredible speed towards something radically new yet people
across the globe also show resistance to the forces that homogenize our lives. This book deals
with a community that has found its niche in the remote Niamgiri mountain range of Odisha
(India) and is struggling to preserve its way of life: the Dongria Kond. In recent years they
made the headlines as the real Avatars because they successfully fought a multinational
company's plans to mine the mountains. From the perspective of the Dongria Kond these
mountains are the seat of gods and the whole environment is animated by spiritual forces. This
highly complex cosmic order includes humans and non-humans and rests on a divine law (niam).
This book captures the viewpoint of the Dongria Kond and provides deep insights into their
vision of the world. It offers elaborate accounts of how the Dongria relate to the outside
world conceive of their own society and engage in complex rituals in order to (re-)establish
the cosmos. The book confronts the reader with radically different imaginings of familiar human
concerns: love fertility wealth status and well-being.
