Life in an Indian Village

A rare first-hand account of South Indian village life written by an Indian author for a Western audience, Life in an Indian Village takes the reader into the fictional village of Kelambakam, situated on the Palar river between Conjeeveram and Mahabalipuram in the Madras Presidency. T. Ramakrishna, writing with the authority of one who had freely mingled with the villagers for years, introduces each member of the village community in turn — from the headman and Brahmin astrologer to the pariahs and outcastes at the margins of society.

The book is far more than a catalogue of occupations. Ramakrishna weaves in folk tales, poetry, dramatic performances, religious sermons, festival descriptions, and vivid character sketches that bring the village to life. We witness jugglers performing the celebrated mango trick, snake-charmers handling cobras, bards reciting epic tales, and the village drama company staging the story of Harischandra through the night. With an introduction by Sir M. E. Grant Duff, the Governor of Madras, this work stands as a valuable ethnographic document of Dravidian village life before the reach of modernisation.