INTRODUCTION

This study of South Indian deities is based on a unique, hitherto unknown German manuscript that belongs to the pre-colonial era. It has preserved valuable firsthand information on numerous socio-religious traditions of the South Indians at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It tells about their Bhakti (‘ardent devotion’). It also narrates how the Bhaktas (‘devotees’) express their devotion to a chosen deity and how they in turn are completely overwhelmed by their deity.