A journey through the pages of history… a mystical era… fiercely valiant tribes and attempts by a colonial army to subjugate them… some glimpses of colonial military life… Untold Story of Chota Nagpur retells a forgotten story of how the mythical Chota Nagpur (today Jharkhand) shaped its destiny through colonial domination, the challenge it posed to the British authority during 1857 and how it went on to become the first multi-national military base of India.

In 1841, the Welsh sent their first missionary, Thomas Jones, to evangelise the tribal peoples of the Khasi Hills of north-east India. This book follows Jones from rural Wales to Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth and now one of the most Christianised parts of India. As colonised colonisers, the Welsh were to have a profound impact on the culture and beliefs of the Khasis. The book also foregrounds broader political, scientific, racial and military ideologies that mobilised the Khasi Hills into an interconnected network of imperial control. Its themes are universal: crises of authority, the loneliness of geographical isolation, sexual scandal, greed and exploitation, personal and institutional dogma, individual and group morality. Written by a direct descendant of Thomas Jones, it makes a significant contribution in orienting the scholarship of imperialism to a much-neglected corner of India, and will appeal to students of the British imperial experience more broadly.