User:Sumitsurai/sandbox

Anna Liberata de Souza was the Indian maid of Mary Frere whose narrated stories the later penned down in the book Old Deccan Days or Hindoo Fairy Legends, Current in Southern India, Collected From Oral Tradition.

Family And Early Life
Anna's grandfather's family were of the Lingaet Caste. They were originally from Calicut. They later relocated near Goa. During this time her grandfather, along with his family, converted to Christianity. As a result, his father tore all ties with him. Her grandfather was a havildar and her father a tent pitcher in the British army. Both of them won several medals.

Anna Liberata had seven brothers and one sister. They did not have the privilege to go to schools. Their mother often had to work as a coolie. So their grandmother used to take care of them. She was a Christian but still used to respect Hindu temples. If he spotted a red stone or image of Ganpati or any other Hindu gods, she would kneel down there to say her prayers. It is from her Anna and her siblings heard all the stories or Hindu fairy legends, which she narrated to Mary Frere later.

Life With Mary Frere
In 1865-66, Mary Frere accompanied her father for a three months long tour through the Bombay Presidency of India, where he was the governor. Her mother was in England and not accompanying them, and she was the only lady in the group, apart from Anna Liberata de Souza. Anna used to narrate the stories to Mary in English, and the later would write them down. She later read them out to Anna to be sure she wrote everything correctly. Like this, the stories were recorded.

Old Deccan Days
Old Deccan Days was published in London and was later translated into many languages including German, Hungarian and many Indian languages. The book was illustrated by Mary's sister Catherine Frances Frere. Professor Max Müller later noted that one of the stories sounded like it has directly been translated from the original Sanskrit.