Desiree Levi s intelligent and passionate description of her 1921-1922 journeys, DANS L INDE: DE CEYLAN AU NEPAL, was first published in Paris a century ago and appears here for the first time in English translation. Madame Levi s honest, unvarnished prose paints a vivid, detailed picture of India s cultural, political, and social life at a crucial moment in the struggle for independence and recognition. She had a front-row seat to Gandhi's anti-colonial efforts, visited Hindus, Jains, Parsees and Sikhs in their homes and temples, and socialized with the common men and women too often ignored by Europeans of the period. Thanks to her husband, Sylvain Levi, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and author of a monumental history of Nepal, she gains access to aspects of life in India and Nepal that otherwise would have eluded her.