The environment of western Rajasthan is harsh and rainfall is very unreliable. The rural people depend on an agro-pastoral economy which operates in the context of great uncertainty about rainfall and subsistence.This book explores the ways in which the people of the region adjust to uncertainty in a situation where drought and famine are frequent, but unpredictable, occurrences. In particular it explores the apparent contradiction involved in the fact that disastrous famines often resulted from drought in the past, but have not occurred in recent droughts, despite the fact that the population of the region has increased several-fold.Applying an ecological anthropological approach, the author shows how different socio-economic and caste groups adopt different adaptive strategies and demonstrates the interrelationships between physical, social, economic and political factors in the human ecology of the region. The book presents a view that the study of human ecology must focus on locally and historically specific processes.