Foreword. It is with great pleasure that I write these words in comImendation of the book ‘Abala Sacharitra Ratna Malê' written by Srimati Kamalamba, the talented daughter of Mr. M. Chengiah Chetty, Retired Deputy Commissioner. The authoress, an accomplished Vaisva lady, has shown herself a very capable authoress in Kannada. Her work gives the life-stories of a very large number of Indian Women, Pouranic and Historical, who carned renoun in various fields of work. The Indian social system, it need scarcely be said, has not been as favourable to the developinent in Indian women of other virtues, as it has been to that of domestic virtues, and Vet in this work, are portrared the lives of great women like Maharani Lakshmammanni of Mysore and Ahalyabai of Indore, who show ed exceptional statesmanship in troublous times ; of great warriors like Veeramatı, Rani Durgavati and Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi ; of literary women like Toru Dutt ; of great devotees like Mira Bai ; and of Pouranic women given to learned contemplation like Gargı. The book is si ritten in simple and readable style and deserves encouragement at the hands of the ‘Kannada-reading public. M. Shama Rao, Retired Inspector General of Education in Mysore.
