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About The Book : In these legends I have endeavoured to make each tale complete in itself; generally giving the English translations of vernacular words and phrases. The old Bhutt of Chiploon is not an imaginary personage, introduced for mere literary convenience; nor are the seances fictitious. During my twenty years' employment in the Southern Konkan as Assistant Collector and Magistrate, District Collector and Magistrate, and (finally) as Commissioner of the Southern Division of the Bombay Presidency, my duties necessitated my camping for weeks at a time at Chiploon, one of the most important towns in the Ratnagiri District. When young in the service (1859 to1862) I made the acquaintance there of one Raghoba Mahadewrao, a famous Bhutt, there residing, with the object of continuing my study of Sinscrit and perfecting myself in the Maratha language as spoken by Chitpawan Brahmins. He was nearly sixty years of age: he possessed such a collection of ancient Sanscrit sloks (ballads) and tattered manuscripts as would be worth their weight in gold to the Royal Asiatic or any Public Library; but he would never part with one of them: for example, I offered him as many rupees as would thrice cover a manuscript entitled The True Chitpawan Legend. About The Author : Arthur Travers Crawford (1835–1911) was a British government employee and the first Municipal Commissioner and collector of Bombay (now Mumbai), India. Crawford was famous as an able administrator as well as for his allegedly, underhand financial dealings. Crawford acquired the Agri-Horticulture Society's gardens at Sewri in order to build the European cemetery in 1865. Crawford Market in South Mumbai was named after him. When he took over as Commissioner, water supply was scanty, garbage was piling up and the mortality rate was a high 40 per 1,000. Crawford cleaned the streets, fixed the drains and lowered the mortality rate by half from 35,000 to 18,000 over the next two years. However his plans greatly overshot the civic budget and he was accused of financial mismanagement after he refused to heed to warnings that the deficit was ever widening. While criticised by many, he was defended by lawyer Pherozeshah Mehta during the Municipal controversy circa 1870. Back in London, he penned his memoirs on his life in India, titled Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan which was published in 1897. He described many communities in the Bombay region along with their sketches. He meted out special harsh criticism on Brahmins. His fluency in Marathi ironically however led contemporary writer N. C. Kelkar to comment that Crawford could have passed off as a Chitpawan Brahmin had he donned a dhoti. Other books published by Crawford include Reminiscence of an Indian Police Officer, The Unrest in India and Legends of Konkan.