This book explores the idea of the Indian village in historical and contemporary context. It examines the ways in which this idea has ideologically interacted with the state. It brings out the reasons for the considerable analytical and theoretical significance that the idea of the village has had for Indian sociology. The book is particularly concerned with the ideological and political implications of the idea of the village. It argues that the village is constituted as a category through specific discourses and practices of the state. It is not a pre-given social morphological entity alone. The uncanny presence of the state distinguishes the thickening nexus between the state and the village.