David M. Knipe studies four generations of ten families living in the Godavari Delta of coastal Andhra Pradesh, examining their lives; ancestral lineages; choices as pandits; relationships to wives and children; and ways of coping with an avalanche of changes in modern India. These are the virtually unrecognized survivors of a 3,700-year-old heritage, the last in India who perform the ancient animal and soma sacrifices according to Vedic tradition.