The establishment of the Kolhan Government Estate in 1837 is the decisive moment in the history of the HO tribe of Jharkhand and Odisha. It enabled them to continue their life without much outside influence and loss of land. It set a standard for tribal policy in India.

This outcome was not easily reached. Using a wealth of contemporary documents and eye witness accounts, the author reconstructs the confrontations between army officers, local rajas, and HO leaders. Each of these groups was at times opposed to the other groups; each was divided itself. After 20 years of trials and errors, in 1837-1842, Samuel Richard Tickell got the task to organise the Kolhan Government Estate under direct British rule.

A grandson of one of Britain's leading opera singers, and himself a pioneering ornithologist, Tickell also wrote a grammar of the HO language and an extensive, sympathetic account of the people and their land.

This study gives a fascinating insight into the origins of tribal policy, as well as into the tribal life of eastern India at the start of its march towards modernity.