by M. M. Kaye
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
*the Mohammedan Sabbath
† Indian infantrymen
* 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
*big dinner-parties
† bad characters; riff-raff
* 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!
