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The relationship between a spiritual master and his disciple (piri-muridi) becomes important when one witnesses day after day the large numbers of Muslims and non-Muslims flocking to spiritual masters (pirs) stationed at the various dargahs of India. "This work discovers that piri-muridi aims at making the disciple see God in all things while very often allowing him to enjoy wordily success. This is achieved through a lenghty socialization process that spans a period of time ranging from twelve years to a lifetime. This socialization process is very painful, and some disciples (murids) run away. Most, however, remain bound to their pir, by their vow of allegiance to him, the pir's friendliness, sympathy, material, magical and psychological assistance, and when that is not enough, fear of his magical power. During this period the murid learns to fall in love with the pir whom he strives to see as the representative of God, by observing, serving, and seeing the pir's hand in everything that befalls him, and frequently recalling and concentrating on a mental image of the pir while believing that his actions are prompted by the pir. Having thus attained union with the pir, he one day suddenly realizes that the pir is just a curtain or veil that hides something else -- that which he has truly loved all the time in the image of the pir is God himself. The book is a mine of empirical information collected in the Nizamuddin dargah, showing how a set of beliefs contained in constantly narrated stories and experiences are used to forge, structure, maintain and further the relationship between the pir and his murid. It will be of interest to scholars of Islam, Indian history and sociology, Sufi thought and the place of religion in the modern world.

K S Singh was a versatile scholar apart from being an administrator and an ardent practitioner of historical ethnography. In course of his long tenure of explorations on tribal matters, spanning over four decades, Dr Singh penned many essays on tribal movements, tribal peasant interactions, tribal customary law, tribal economy and so on. Much to the chagrin of historians and anthropologists, he had adopted a combined methodology of historical research and anthropological field work in making his points before the readers and decision makers. The present volume presents a selection of those landmark essays penned by Dr Singh on tribal movements in India.

Tukoba (Tukaram) was a seventeenth-century Bhakti Sant (saint-poet) of the Varkari movement in Maharashtra. He is still considered the best Marathi poet. These new translations by Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar seek to capture the wonder of his writing, his lyricism and his profound meanings.