Summary:
The last volume of the trilogy on the Southern sub-continent, following "A Dragon Apparent" and "Golden Earth". It was Norman's belief that much of the old India described by early travellers remained to be re-discovered off the beaten track, and accordingly he undertook a journey of 2,500 miles in search of this. His travels begin, far from the tourist itinerary, in the feudal state of Bihar, currently the scene of a brutal case war in which untouchables attempting to defend their newly-won rights are massacred by higher caste gangs. From these violent happenings Lewis takes refuge in the mountains of the East, investigating the extraordinary customs of some of the 3 million bow-and-arrow tribal peoples who have survived in isolation here defending a seductive life-style. The India Norman Lewis describes is lonely, beautiful and unspoilt.