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Most of the earlier chapters appeared in serial form in 1929in “Revolt” the weekly English journal published by ComradeE.V. Ramaswamy of Erode. Before the whole series could bepublished, the journal ceased to exist early in 1930.Much water has flowed beneath the bridge since that timeand when some friends asked the writer to republish thosearticles in book form, he was a little diffident about it. Somuch learning and research had gathered round the subjectduring the interval as to have necessitated a recasting of thewhole matter in order to have some semblance of scholarshipabout it. On the other hand, there was never any pretence orprofession of learning when these articles came to bepublished; it was intended, as was stated in the opening article,mainly for laymen. The writer has adhered to the original ideaand therefore this is merely a reprint with slight alterations,amendments and additions, wherever they were deemedabsolutely necessary. The writer thanks ComradeE.V. Ramaswamy for permission to reprint and forencouragement given to the writer to do it.The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to severalscholars and histories who have dealt with this and otherPREFACExii Prefacecognate matters at great length, notably to Messrs.K. Subramonia Pillay, M.A., M.L., P.T. Srinivasa Iyengar M.A., L.T.,S. Srinivasa Iyengar B.A., Paul Appaswamy M.A., Bar-at-Law.,J.C. Gosh M.A., B.L., P.R. Ganapathy Iyer,B.A., B.L.,V. Nagamiah B.A., and ever so many others.The writer was not able to get at a copy of the Despatchof 1841 of the Board of Directors in England to the East IndiaCompany and the connected proceedings by which the BritishGovernment came to give up its control over Hindu temples.But a very good idea of what led to such divestment can behad from the extract taken from “A History of Missions inIndia” by Julius Richter D.D., (Indische Missione-geschichte)and quoted as Appendix A, at the end of this volume. It merelyconfirms the present writer’s inferences dealt at length in thebody of this book.My thanks are due to all my friends who have assistedme in various ways to bring out this book, especially toMr. M.D. Daniel B.A., the Proprietor of the Alexandra Press,Nagercoil, for correcting the proofs, which proved somethingof a nuisance to the writer with his inexperience in thesematters and with his moffusil professional practice.The temples situated on the West Coast have to be viewedfrom a slightly different angle even though some generalobservations contained in this book might be applicable tothem also.The writer hopes to cure some defects and many errorswhich are found in the book in a future edition.