The material for this account of the village gods of South India has been gathered almost entirely from my own Observation and inquiry. I have been able to get little help from books, as this is, I think, the first attempt at dealing systematically with this aspect of Indian religion. It does not pretend to be anything like an exhaustive account of all the various rites and ceremonies Observed in the worship of the village deities. The variety of ritual and ceremonial in the different districts Of South India is almost endless, and I have not attempted in this book to give an account even of all the various ceremonies that have come within my own knowledge. Perhaps it would be more correct to call the book An Introduction to the Study Of the Village Gods of South India. I believe, however, that all the main types of this particular form Of Hinduism are included in the following pages, and that enough has been said to enable the reader to get a fairly complete idea of its general character and to compare it with similar forms Of religion in other parts of the world.