Nightrunners of Bengal (38 page)

sarhe
(sahray), half-past; and a half.

sari
(sahry), female outer garment.

schapska
,
lancer’s headdress, shaped rather like a scholar’s mortarboard.

secondary jungle
,
jungle which has once been cleared: marked by denseness of undergrowth.

Shaiva
(Shye-va), one of a sect of Hindus who regard Shiva as principal member of the divine triad, and identify him with creation and reproduction as well as with destruction.

shikari
(sh’kahry), professional hunter, hence sportsman.

Shiva
(Sheeva), third god of the Hindu triad, later regarded as the Destroyer.

Shiva Purana
(Sheeva P’rahna), a tale of Hindu mythology.

Sholingur
(Sho-ling-gur), town, 13.08 N., 79.26 E.

Simla
,
hill town 31.07 N., 77.05 E.; was the hot-weather capital of British India.

Sind
,
a large area of western India astride the Indus River.

Sinigaglia
,
town in Italy seventeen miles north-west of Ancona; here in 1501–1502 Cesare Borgia murdered Vitelozzo Vitelli, Oliver otto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini.

sirdar
(sir-dar), title of honour, particularly of and to Native Officers,

state
(in this book), a territory ruled by an Indian prince—rajah, maharajah, Nawab, Nizam, etc.—and thus not part of British India. All the states mentioned are imaginary, except Hyderabad, though there are in fact villages named Kiloi, Purkhas, etc., in various parts of India.

subadar
(
-major
) (sooba-dah), see
ranks
.

subordinate
, an Anglo-Indian or Eurasian below commissioned rank or its civil equivalent (Anglo-Indian jargon).

sunta
(soonta), hearing (pres. part. of verb).

suraj
(soor’j), sun.

Suraj-ud-Dowlah
(S’rahja Dowla), Nawab of Bengal; responsible for the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756; defeated by Clive at Plassey, 1757.

suttee
(suttee), custom of Hindu widow immolating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre; a woman so acting. (Suttee was abolished by Lord William Bentinck, Governor General of India, in December 1829.)

sweeper,
domestic servant, always of untouchable caste; employed to clean out toilets and incidentally to sweep floors.

thug
(
-
gee
) (thug, thuggee), member of religious association that lived by highway murder and robbery; the association and its acts. (Thuggee was in reality destroyed by several men under
the leadership of William Sleeman.)

topi
(topey), hat.

up country
,
farther away from a Presidency capital, cf. down country (Anglo-Indian jargon).

Varuna
(Va-roona), the supreme god among those of the Hindu Veda; the deity of the waters.

Vauban
,
Sébastien le Prestre de, 1633–1707; French military engineer and marshal.

Vishnu
(Vishnoo), the second member of the Hindu triad; the Preserver.

Yama
(Yahma), the Hindu god of death and penance.

zenana
(z’nahna), women’s apartments, also called
harem
.

First published in Great Britain in 1951
by Michael Joseph Ltd

This edition published 2000 by Souvenir Press Ltd.,
43 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PD

This ebook edition first published in 2012

All rights reserved © 1951 by The Estate of John Masters

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ISBN 9780285641730