This book was written with the general reader in mind. I have therefore tried to avoid overly technical terms and phrases and omitted any diacritical marks. I have attempted to transliterate the Hindi, Sanskrit and Bhojpuri terms in a way that most closely approximates their local pronunciation. Words and terms that are already accepted in English, and found in the Oxford dictionary, like Ramayana, Shiva and Shastra, remain without academic transliteration. Indian terms are pluralized by adding an ‘s’, as in English. Frequently used names and terms have been listed in the glossary at the end of this book