Drawing on the previous enquiry on statues, this chapter is invested in discussing the significance of samadhi sthals (mausoleum sites) and stone slabs, often used in burials, in Jharkhand. These sites offer a unique intersection between material-memory culture and the rituals of nationalism. While Birsa Munda's samadhi sthal is located in the urban industrial settlement of Ranchi, a memorial pillar is located at the top of Dombari Hill amidst a village surrounded by a forest in Khunti district. They present an account of a concerted effort by the state and political elites to build a ‘site of memory’ and, with it, political tourism. Contrary to statues, they represent a unique affective turn by dovetailing both material memory and commemorative practice. That is to say, they allow us to move away from treating the material installation as a merely aesthetic display and instead treat them as sites of emotion. In such a rendering, the representation of Birsa Munda becomes a tool of memory for political mobilization.

In this chapter, I argue that the relationship of the state with the past of Adivasis vis-à-vis the production of capital provides a new lens to understand the politics of commemoration. I illustrate the processes involved in making the space for remembrance of the dead by using two gripping case studies that are tied with field narratives, political discourse and popular representation. These materials highlight the muzzling of the voices of subaltern Adivasis in the mainstream representation of Adivasi icons by political elites and the state. I also show the changing notion of Adivasiness within the urban political spectrum. That is to say, the architectural design and spatial arrangements shape the textures of commemoration. Together they create conditions for political mobilization in the state that now rests in unthinkable possibilities.

The chapter offers competing notions of commemoration and asks how far material objects succeed in attaining glimpses of the past and allowing the subaltern Adivasis to reimagine their belonging.