96 SOCIAL SCIENTIST The author refers to the emergence of the 'rich' peasants and small landlords at the beginning of this century. This context saw their attempt to claim dominance. Moreover, south Bihar became transformed into a stagnant but market-oriented region with a closer relationship developing between agricultural production and the market. These features led to the zamindars, maliks and 'rich* peasants transforming both themselves and the agrarian society. The kamias began to be situated as people who lost their natural rights to freedom, given the power of money, grain and land: and, it was their poverty that made these landless labourers debt-serfs. These transformations co-existed with a discourse which began by locating freedom as the essence of humanity, and, subsequently denied it to the kamias. The next chapter (i.e. chap. 4) explores this dimension. As pointed out, the colonialists abolished slavery in 1843 and the kamias were made to appear as people bonded only by their debts. Legitimised by the colonial judicial structure, the kamia-malik relationship emerged as one of debt-bondage. The author contextualises the changes related to the structure of caste as well. Here he makes certain vital observations. Thus, by the end of the 19th century low caste 'rich' peasants also began recruiting kamias. However, the hierarchy of caste determined the position of the maliks. Besides, the kamia ceased to be a status category, which became open to landless people from castes other than the Bhuiyas. Thus, it represented a labour relationship resting on ownership and control of land. As explained, this implied their domination as dependent subjects and the intensification of labour exploitation. Besides it contributed to an expansion of the kamia labour system—not the improvement of agriculture. The colonial government's enquiry into the kamia system in 1934-36 revealed how it was almost like slavery. It responded with legislation, and, when the laws failed, it concluded that the kamias were not interested in freedom. However, the structure of kamia-malik relationship became more organised through documents of loan transaction. Consequently, the kamias were trapped in the judicial discourse of 'rights and duties' and 'dominated' as 'lowly* people by the oppressive/coercive system of caste/domination. 'Contested Power*, the fifth chapter projects the gray-zone of the kamia-malik relationship—i.e. the agricultural process, kamia oral tradition and spirit-cult practices—where domination and resistance were in perpectual combat. He touches upon the basic features of a kamia1's life—acute poverty and hunger—to demystify notions perpetuated by the maliks. He refers to how the maliks wanted the kamias to live, marry and reproduce, especially male children. The very fact that in the Chota Nagpur region 85% of the kamiauti loans were given out for marriage and that gifts from the malik's were given when a male child was born to a kamia, illustrate this phenomenon.