Acknowledgments
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who have helped me in preparing this publication, especially, the hundreds of people of both sexes and all ages in Surinam who came to sing from long distances at the shortest notice and contributed generously of their lore; to the Taalbureau of Surinam and many other friends who lent me their tape recorders; to Dr. J.K. Sukul of Paramaribo who placed at my disposal all his own tape recordings for comparison and Mr. Girûasingh of Nickerie whose advice and help was of great value; to the leaders and members of the Arya Samaj movement in Surinam, too numerous to name, who, in spite of their doctrinal unfamiliarity with the subject matter helped me in all possible ways, in the first place by making my visits to Surinam possible and then through their generous hospitality, financial support, transportation facilities and contacts with the singers.
For scholarly guidance my sincerest thanks go to Professor J. Gonda who not only arranged for me to study and work at the Instituut voor Oosterse Talen of the University of Utrecht under his auspices but also helped me to surmount all scholarly as well as practical difficulties; to Dr. P. Gaeffke, who guided and supervised my work at every step and without whose help this book could not have been completed.
All the illustrations have been drawn by Lalita, my wife, with the assistance of Mr. David Singh of Georgetown, Guyana, to whom I remain specially indebted.
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