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Old Deccan Days

INTRODUCTION 5

THE COLLECTOR'S APOLOGY 12

THE NARRATOR'S NARRATIVE 15

1. PUNCHKIN 27

2. A FUNNY STORY 44

3. BRAVE SEVENTEE BAI 51

4. TRUTH'S TRIUMPH 81

5. RAMA AND LUXMAN; OR, THE LEARNED OWL 98

6. LITTLE SURYA BAI 113

7. THE WANDERINGS OF VICRAM MAHARAJAH 129

8. LESS INEQUALITY THAN MEN DEEM 161

9. PANCH-PHUL RANEE 164

10. HOW THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE WIND WENT OUT
TO DINNER 194

11. SINGH RAJAH AND THE CUNNING LITTLE JACKALS 196

12. THE JACKAL, THE BARBER AND THE BRAHMIN WHO HAD
SEVEN DAUGHTERS 199

13. TIT FOR TAT 218

14. THE BRAHMIN, THE TIGER AND THE SIX JUDGES 220

15. THE SELFISH SPARROW AND THE HOUSELESS CROWS 225

16. THE VALIANT CHATTEE-MAKER 227

17. THE RAKSHAS' PALACE 236

18. THE BLIND MAN, THE DEAF MAN AND THE DONKEY 248

19. MUCHIE LAL 258

20. CHUNDUN RAJAH 268

21. SODEWA BAI 280

22. CHANDRA'S VENGEANCE 291

23. HOW THE THREE CLEVER MEN OUTWITTED THE DEMONS 314

24. THE ALLIGATOR AND THE JACKAL 326

NOTES 333

INTRODUCTION.

A few words seem necessary regarding the origin of these stories, in
addition to what the Narrator says for herself in her Narrative, and
what is stated in the Collector's "Apology."

With the exception of two or three, which will be recognized as
substantially identical with stories of Pilpay or other well-known
Hindoo fabulists, I never before heard any of these tales among the
Mahrattas, in that part of the Deccan where the Narrator and her
family have lived for the last two generations; and it is probable
that most of the stories were brought from among the Lingaets of
Southern India, the tribe, or rather sect, to which Anna de Souza
tells us her family belonged before their conversion to Christianity.

The Lingaets form one of the most strongly marked divisions of the
Hindoo races south of the river Kistna. They are generally a
well-favored, well-to-do people, noticeable for their superior
frugality, intelligence and industry, and for the way in which they
combine and act together as a separate body apart from other Hindoos.
They have many peculiarities of costume, of social ceremony and of
religion, which strike even a casual observer; and though clearly not
aboriginal, they seem to have much ground for their claim to belong to
a more ancient race and an earlier wave of immigration than most of
the Hindoo nations with which they are now intermingled.

The country they inhabit is tolerably familiar to most English readers
on Indian subjects, for it is the theatre of many of the events
described in the great Duke's earlier despatches, and in the writings
of Munro, of Wilkes, and of Buchanan. The extraordinary beauty of some
of the natural features of the coast scenery, and the abundance of
the architectural and other remains of powerful and highly civilized
Hindoo dynasties, have attracted the attention of tourists and
antiquaries, though not to the extent their intrinsic merit deserves.
Some knowledge of the land tenures and agriculture of the country is
accessible to readers of Indian blue-books.

But of all that relates to the ancient history and politics of the
former Hindoo sovereigns of these regions very little is known to the
general reader, though from their power, and riches and long-sustained
civilization, as proved by the monuments these rulers have left behind
them there are few parts of India better worth the attention of the
historian and antiquary.

Of the inner life of the people, past or present, of their social
peculiarities and popular beliefs, even less is known or procurable in
any published form.

"1100856220"

Old Deccan Days