Old Deccan Days

First published in 1868, this volume contains a collection of twenty-four traditional stories from the southern Indian state of Maharashtra. Mary Eliza Isabella Frere (1845–1911) travelled to India in 1863 to stay with her father, Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor of Bombay. She became fascinated with Indian culture and transcribed these stories from her ayah (nanny and chaperone) Anna Liberata da Souza who had been told them by her grandmother. Expressive and detailed, these stories formed part of southern India's traditional oral culture, at risk of being lost. This volume includes an introduction by Sir Bartle Frere exploring the cultural background to the stories and a chapter by Anna Liberata da Souza describing her life and childhood. This volume was extremely popular, being reprinted in four editions by 1889 and encouraging the study of comparative mythology while revealing new information concerning Indian traditional culture.