Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/572

 534 Reviews.

HvMNS TO THE GoDDESS. Translated from the Sanskrit. By A. and E. Avalon. Luzac & Co., 1913. 8vo, pp. xii+ r8o. 4s. n.

The Holv Land of the Hindus. By the Rev. R, L. Lacev. Robert Scott, 1913. Large cr. 8vo, pp. xii + 246. Map

+ 24 ill. 3s. 6d. ;/.

The long-felt want of a compendious account of the ethnography of India is, to a large extent, satisfied by the work of Sir A. Baines. He is well qualified to undertake the arduous task, having been in charge of the Census of the Bombay Presidency in 1881 and of the India Empire in 1891. Beginning with a brief ethnological introduction, he passes on to a historical and descriptive account of the social organization. He then considers the Castes and Caste-Groups under the heads of Brahmans, Rajputs, Trading Classes, and Writer Castes. Turning to the village community, he discusses in turn Landholders, Specialized Cultivators, Cattle-Breeders, and Village Craftsmen. Then come the Subsidiary Professional Castes, such as Bards, Astrologers, and Priests. Then he takes up the L'rban and Nomadic Castes, and Hill Tribes, and ends with the ^Mohammedans. The book thus gives a bird's-eye view of the Indian people. It suffers under the disadvantage that these groups are not homogeneous, — for a certain class of artizan in the Panjab may be of very different rank from the same workmen in Madras. It contains a large amount of well-arranged material, which is naturally more complete in the region, — Bombay and the Deccan, — with which he is best acquainted. In other parts of the Empire he has consulted the best authorities, of which Mr. W. Siegling has provided an excellent bibliography. Needless to say, the book is fuU^ of valuable comments on ethnographical problems, but in the text there is a complete absence of references, and, strangely enough, the reader is forced to wade through a. mass of detail without the aid of an index or ethnographical map.

Mr. Srinivas Iyengar's book is an excellent example of the useful work which native scholars are qualified to undertake. It may best be described as a summary of the religion and sociology of the Vedic Age. The writer brinsjs together under each head of