Far Pavilions (188 page)
Chota hazri
literally, small breakfast (early morning tea with fruit)
Chowkidar
night watchman
Chuddah
sheet; shawl
Chunam
polished plaster; lime
Chuppatti
flat cake of unleavened bread
Chuppli
heavy leather sandal with studs on sole, worn on the Frontier
Chutti
leave
Dacoits
robbers
Daffadar
sergeant (cavalry)
Dai
nurse; midwife
Dâk
mail; post
Dâk-bungalow
posting- house; rest-house
Dâk-ghari
horse-drawn vehicle carrying mail
Dal
lentils
Dawaza
door; gate
‘Dekho!’
‘Look!’
Dhobi
washer of clothes; laundryman
Dhooli
palanquin
Durbar
public audience; levee
Ekka
light two-wheeled trap
Fakir
religious mendicant
Feringhi
foreigner
Fu–fu band
village band of Indian instruments
Gadi
throne
Ghari
any horse-drawn vehicle
Ghari-wallah
driver of the above
Ghazi
religious fanatic
Ghee
clarified butter
Godown
storage room or shed
Gur
unrefined cane sugar
Gurral
mountain goat
Gurrh-burrh
tumult; noise
Hakim
doctor
Halwa
sweetmeats
Havildar
sergeant (infantry)
Hazrat
Highness
Hookah
water pipe for smoking tobacco
Howdah
seat carried on back of elephant
Hukum
order
Huzoor
Your Honour
Istri-dhan inheritance
Itr
scent
Izzat
honour
Jawan
literally, young man; used for soldier
Jehad
holy war
Jehanum
hell
Jellabies
fried sweets made of honey and batter
Jemadar
junior Indian officer promoted from the ranks (cavalry or infantry)
Jezail
long-barrelled musket
Jheel
shallow, marshy lake
Jung-i-lat Sahib
Commander-in-Chief
Kala
black
Khansamah
cook
Khidmatgar
waiter at table
Kila
fort
Kismet
fate
Koss
two miles
Kus-kus tatties
thick curtains made of woven roots
Larla
darling
Lathi
long, heavy stick, usually made from bamboo
Lotah
small brass water-pot
Machan
platform built in a tree for hunting big game
Mahal
palace
Mahout
elephant driver
Mali
gardener
Malik
tribal headman
‘
Maro!
’ ‘Strike!’; ‘Kill!’
‘Mubarik!’
‘Congratulations!’; ‘Well done!’
Mullah
Mohammedan priest
Munshi
teacher; writer
Narwar
coarse webbing
Nauker
servant
Nauker-log
servants
Nautch–girl
dancing girl
Nullah
ravine or dry water-course
Ooloo
owl
Padishah
Empress
Pan
betel-nut rolled in a bay leaf and chewed
Panchayat
council of five elders
Patarkar
small firework
Piara
(-i) dear
Pice
small coin
Pujah
worship
Pulton
infantry regiment
Punkah
length of matting or heavy material pulled by a rope to make a breeze
Purdah
seclusion of women (literally, curtain)
Pushtu
the language of the Pathans
Raja
King
Rajkumar
Prince
Rajkumari
Princess
Rakhri
pendant worn on the forehead
Rang
colour
Rani
Queen
Resai
quilt
Resaidar
junior Indian officer promoted from the ranks (cavalry)
Risaldar
senior Indian officer promoted from the ranks (cavalry)
Risaldar-Major
the most senior Indian officer promoted from the ranks (cavalry)
Rissala
cavalry (regiment)
Sadhu
holy man
Sahiba
lady
Sahib-log
‘white folk’
Saht-bai
‘seven brothers' – small brown birds which go about in groups, usually of seven
Sepoy
infantry soldier
Serai
caravan hostel
‘Shabash!’
‘Well done!’
Shadi
wedding
Shaitan
devil
Shamianah
large tent
Shikar
hunting and shooting
Shikari
hunter, finder of game
Shulwa
sleeved tunic
Sikunder Dulkhan
Alexander the Great
Sirdar
Indian officer of high rank
Sirkar
the Indian Government
Sowar
cavalry trooper
Syce
groom
Tálash
inquiry
Tamarsha
show; festival
Tar
telegram (literally, wire)
Tehsildar
village headman
Tiffin
lunch
Tonga
two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle
Tulwar
curved sword
Yakdan
leather trunk, made to be carried on mules
Yuveraj
heir to the throne
Zenana
women's quarter
Zid
resentment
Zulum
aggression
*
baby; child
*
great man
*
Sleep baby sleep, Butter, bread, sugar, The bread and butter are finished, My baby is asleep.
*
light two-wheeled trap
*
sowars = cavalry soldiers; sepoys = infantry
*
uproar, tumult
*
The battle that gained India for Clive and the East India Company in 1757. (There was a legend that the rule of the Company would only last a hundred years from that date.)
*
Hindu holy man
*
tight-fitting three-quarter-length coat
*
doctor
*
pronounced Ma-darn
*
Be silent!
*
a Hindu form of blessing, literally ‘Live long’
*
cart or carriage
*
village headman
*
1
koss
= 2 miles
*
drivers of horse-drawn vehicles
*
mail carriage (
dâk
literally post, mail, posting-house)
*
sun-blind made of split cane
*
for me too
*
thanks be to God
*
Princesses
*
nonsense (literally, stupidity)
*
kaka = paternal uncle
*
Highness
*
nymphs of the Mohammedan paradise
*
part of the Vedic literature
*
Your honour
*
You have permission to go
*
Literally young men: but also used colloquially to mean soldiers.
*
my son
*
Before India was taken over from the East India Company by the Crown, the title was Governor-General. The last of these was Sir John Lawrence.
*
Fear not. Be strong. Bravo!
*
Thank you
*
Now it is finished
*
Here lies Barbur the great Emperor. May his fame live for ever.
*
Go back and get your muskets. On! On!
*
Forward, brothers. On – Victory to the Guides.
*
strike; kill.
*
Please. Enough. Stop!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. M. Kaye was born in India and spent most of her childhood and much of her early married life in that country. Her ties with India are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the Raj, and her grandfather's first cousin, Sir John Kaye, wrote the standard accounts of the Indian Mutiny and the first Afghan War. When India achieved independence her husband joined the British Army, and for the next nineteen years she followed the drum to all sorts of exciting places she would not otherwise have seen, including Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Berlin. M. M. Kaye is known world-wide for her bestselling historical novels
The Far Pavilions
and
Shadow of the Moon
(both of which are published in Penguin), and
Trade Wind
; and for her detective novels
Death in Berlin, Death in Kenya and Death in Cyprus
(which are published in one volume by Penguin as
Murder Abroad
), and
Death in Zanzibar, Death in Kashmir
and
Death in the Andamans
(which are published together in Penguin as
House of Shade
). Penguin also publishes three volumes of autobiography:
The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon
and
Enchanted Evening
. M. M. Kaye has also written a children's story,
The Ordinary Princess
(1991).