ker of Oxford for those from _La Cite Antique_
of M. Fustel de Coulanges. Much assistance has also been obtained
from Sir E. B. Tylor's _Early History of Mankind_ and _Primitive
Culture_, Lord Avebury's _The Origin of Civilisation_, Mr. E. Sidney
Hartland's _Primitive Paternity_, and M. Salomon Reinach's _Cultes,
Mythes et Religions_. The labours of these eminent authors have made
it possible for the student to obtain a practical knowledge of the
ethnology of the world by the perusal of a small number of books; and
if any of the ideas put forward in these volumes should ultimately be
so fortunate as to obtain acceptance, it is to the above books that I
am principally indebted for having been able to formulate them. Other
works from which help has been obtained are M. Emile Senart's _Les
Castes dans I'Inde_, Professor W. E. Hearn's _The Aryan Household_,
and Dr. A.H. Keane's _The World's Peoples_. Sir George Grierson's great
work, _The Linguistic Survey of India_, has now given an accurate
classification of the non-Aryan tribes according to their languages
and has further thrown a considerable degree of light on the vexed
question of their origin. I have received from Mr. W. Crooke of the
Indian Civil Service (retired) much kind help and advice during the
final stages of the preparation of this work. As will be seen from the
articles, resort has constantly been made to his _Tribes and Castes_
for filling up gaps in the local information.
Rai Bahadur Hira Lal was my assistant for several years in the
taking of the census of 1901 and the preparation of the Central
Provinces District Gazetteers; he has always given the most loyal and
unselfish aid, has personally collected a large part of the original
information contained in the book, and spent much time in collating
the results. The association of his name in the authorship is no
more than his due, though except where this has been specifically
mentioned, he is not responsible for the theories and deductions
from the facts obtained. Mr. Pyare Lal Misra, barrister, Chhindwara,
was my ethnographic clerk for some years, and he and Munshi Kanhya
Lal, late of the Educational Department, and Mr. Aduram Chandhri,
Tahsildar, gave much assistance in the inquiries on different
castes. Among others who have helped in the work, Rai Bahadur
Panda Baijnath, Diwan of the Patna and Bastar States, should be
mentioned first, and Babu Kali Prasanna Mukerji, pleader, Saugor,
Mr. Gopal Datt
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