Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 7 



usually not very communicative, and what they tell is fragmentary. 

 Many facts have been verified in this way, but very little consecu- 

 tive description has been secured. Among those who have left 

 this worship, many old men can give a great deal of information. 

 It is a tribute to the advancing intelligence and enlightenment in 

 India that those young men whose fathers no longer worship the 

 Dravidian deities, know almost nothing about the ceremonies. 



Another method employed in collecting material was to send out 

 a questionnaire in both Telugu and English to a large number of 

 people who have opportunity to know about the subject under in- 

 vestigation. In these replies, especially those from Indian people, 

 a great deal of useful information has been secured. Still another 

 method, which has proved most fruitful, was to employ and train 

 a young man for the special work of making investigations and 

 collecting information. He soon became an expert, and was able 

 to secure a great deal which would have been entirely beyond 

 the reach of the personal investigations of the writer. 



The written sources of information about Dravidian gods and 

 worship are limited. The most important are the government 

 gazetteers, district manuals, and bulletins of the Madras Govern- 

 ment Museum. The Government of India is doing a valuable work 

 in collecting and publishing information about the varied peoples 

 of India and their many peculiar customs. This information is 

 collected by district officers or by men especially selected for such 

 purposes. 



There is only one of these various reports which deals directly 

 with the subject of this thesis. This is the Madras Government 

 Bulletin, V, 3, by Henry Whitehead, Bishop of Madras. He has 

 made an extensive study of village deities, and has collected a 

 large amount of information. The other reports have various 

 accounts of worship, demon possession, and similar matters, 

 scattered through many pages of description of the people. 



The general works which are named in the bibliography con- 

 tain a great deal of material which is necessary to an understand- 

 ing of the subject, especially in its relations to other forms of Hin- 

 duism. Some of these works include chapters bearing directly on 

 the subject of these minor deities and demons. The sacred books 



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