Conclusion

Summary

This book commenced with a critique of the twin concepts of relic forests and relic populations – both seen as mementoes of a time before history, an epoch of either (sadly) lost innocence or (happily) superseded savagery. I have striven to show that forests of varying but always significant extent long co–existed alongside, and among, the cleared lands of peasant settlement, and forest peoples existed as specialists in the optimal use of this niche. They exploited its plants and animals both for consumption and for trade, and thereby modified its size and composition. Woodland – especially the thorny secondary growth that came after human interference – was also a political and military resource. It was both a base and a refuge. Dispossessed elites and aspirant rulers both needed to use it as such, and to secure the support of its denizens. Control over and knowledge of this strategic domain was thus a tradeable resource in the regional political arena. The mobility, resourcefulness and weapon skills of the hunter were easily turned to military ends. Thus the forest folk were early integrated into the regional political economies that periodically linked up to form imperial systems in South Asia. Integration is, of course, not the same as assimilation; in fact specialisation requires difference – and such differences become in turn organising principles in inter-community relations.

All these changes did not leave the woodland communities unaffected.