First impressions, and further --
The headless horseman of central India : sovereignty at varying thresholds of life --
Mitra-Varuna : state power and powerlessness --
The coarse and the fine : contours of a slow-moving crisis --
Contracts, bonds, and bonded labor --
Erotics and agonistics : intensities deeper than deep play --
Divine migrations : neighborliness between humans, animals, and gods --
The waxing and waning life of Kalli --
Bansi mahatmaya (the greatness of Bansi), an erotic ascetic --
Departure, and marriages and deaths --
The quality of life : a daemonic view.

The Indian subdistrict of Shahabad, located in the dwindling forests of the southeastern tip of Rajasthan, is an area of extreme poverty. Beset by droughts and food shortages in recent years, it is the home of the Sahariyas, former bonded laborers, officially classified as Rajasthan's only "primitive tribe". From afar, we might consider this the bleakest of the bleak, but in Poverty and the Quest for Life, Bhrigupati Singh asks us to reconsider just what quality of life means. He shows how the Sahariyas conceive of aspiration, advancement, and vitality in both material and spiritual terms, and how such bridging can engender new possibilities of life.