the
manners and customs of the inhabitants of a village in the Madras
Presidency. The author first depicts his little community, and then
proceeds to describe the avocations of all the leading personages. As
Kelambakam may be taken as a type of thousands of such villages, the
book will be found particularly interesting to those who are likely to
be brought into contact with the natives of India. Sir M.E. Grant Duff
has written an Introduction, in which he suggests how the simple
villagers can be benefited by their European neighbours.--_Morning Post_
(London).
The book itself is excellent, and gives a sketch of Indian village
society from inside. It is possible, however, that the ordinary English
reader will prefer to take his view of "the black men" from Mr. Kipling
rather than from a representative of the natives themselves. If he
wishes to have a native view of native life he will find it in this
work.--_Athenaeum_ (London).
India is always fertile in surprises for English readers. We know
something of those among its peoples which have given us trouble; but
here is a "dim population" of which many Englishmen will scarcely have
heard the name--the Dravidians of the Madras Presidency, and we learn
with something like astonishment that they number more than the
inhabitants of England. The village which Mr. Ramakrishna describes for
us is one of more than fifty thousand, averaging about five hundred
inhabitants apiece. The first thing that strikes us in his account is
its highly organised condition. It is a self-sufficing little
commonwealth, in which a quite surprising variety of professions or
occupations are represented.--_Pall Mall Gazette_ (London).
We welcome this little book as a much truer picture of Indian life than
many more ambitious works.--_St. James's Gazette_ (London).
The work is written in admirable English--even the blank verse is
perfect. The story of Harichendra alone is worth the cost of the
volume.--_Literary World_ (London).
We have read with great pleasure the book, "Life in an Indian Village,"
as it deals with an interesting and not at all unimportant subject in a
plain and unpretending way. Simplicity has a powerful charm of its own;
and we recommend the book to all whose heart can still be touched by
inartificial descriptions of idyllic, gently flowing, country life. He
who does not assume the tone of "India, what can it teach us?" but cares
to profit by teaching, will learn a grea
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