The volume brings together Sontheimer's English-language articles on Khaṇḍobā, the Maharashtrian deity and the equivalent gods Mallaṇṇa in Andhra Pradesh and Mailāra in Karnataka. The articles take into account the differing traditions of the wide variety of castes and tribes for whose members Khal).qoba (or Mallaṇṇa or Mailāra) is an important God, and make use of the various kinds of source materials that Sontheimer gathered -oral epics of the Dhangar shepherds; narratives, comments and statements made by people belonging to various groups; the songs (padem) of the Vāghyās and Muraḷīs, Khaṇḍobā’s "bards" and "courtesans"; the Sanskrit and Marāṭhī Māhātmyas composed by brāhmaṇas; descriptions and remarks searched out in the literature of Mahānubhāvas, the Vārkarīs, and other medieval saints; and stray reference culled from published and unpublished historical documents.