Synopsis As a trustworthy authority on the state of India from 1792 to 1838, this work will always retain its value not only to Sanskrit scholars , but to all who take an intelligent interest in this wonderful country - India.  Translated from the Author's later French Ms and edited with notes, corrections and biography by Henry K Beauchamp with a prefatory note by F Max Muller, this 1999 edition of a classic work is sufficient proof of the high value which is still attached to the Abbe's observations and of the wide popularity which this work still enjoys. The impression may be felt in many minds that a book written so long ago can be of little practical use at present; but the fact is that the Babe's work, composed as it was in the midst of the people themselves, is of a unique character, for it combines, a recital of the broad facts of Hindu religion and Hindu sociology with many masterly descriptions.