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About the Book :Dr. Behram Mehta’s voluminous work on the Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands is the outcome of ten years of arduous research both at the Tata School of Social Sciences as well as in the field. What began as a socio-economic survey of the Tamia Development Project area in Chindwara district, Madhya Pradesh virtually assumed the proportions of a gazetteer of the area and its inhabitants, the Gonds. In effect, Dr. Mehta’s volumes constitute a multidisciplinary study of the dynamics of Gond society with special reference to the habitat, socio-economic conditions, religion, economy and culture of the population of the Tamia Project.The original report completed in 1966 and running into two massive volumes, was produced by the Department of Tribal Welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay and sponsored by the Research Programmes Committee of the Planning Commission, Government of India. This excellent study includes the historical background of Gond society, the acculturisation of the Gonds in Central India; the application of Geddes’ Valley Section theory to the region and its people, and a detailed documentation and analysis of the available material on Gond society. Fundamental social research, applied research and action research have all been utilised in this monumental work on the Gonds. The posthumous publication of Dr. Mehta’s painstaking work will, it is hoped, benefit geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, social workers and development administrators. Environmentalists and others will find it of interest too as will the lay reader.