India is a modern country of some two hundred million people intermingled with a timeless country of 800 million souls. Understanding Modern India is not all that difficult as it is much like the United States. However, even in modern India, people retain many of the religious beliefs and superstitions which they have absorbed from timeless India. "Village Life in Bengal" by Tara Krishna Basu and "Hindu Customs in Bengal" by Besanta Koomar Bose, describe part of the life which exists just under the surface of modern India.