AARTI: Hindu ceremony of offering light to a deity. ADIVASI: ancient Indian tribal cultures, beneath the caste system. ANGREEZ: Hindi-isation of “English”
APSARA: celestial nymph, often a bracket support in a temple, originally tree spirits.
ARAHB: Hindi number equal to 109. Indians have useful names for very large numbers.
ARDHA MANDAPA: entrance porch, leading into the mandapa, or colonnaded hall of a temple.
BABA: term of endearment. BABU: civil servant or bureaucrat.
BADMASH: a nasty and brutish little hood. With attitude. BAHADUR: proud, self-important, pompous. BAKHTI: the path of devotion.
BANSURI: North Indian six- or seven-hole bamboo flute.
BARADARI: Pakistani/Pashtun affiliation group somewhere between a clan, a gang, and a Massive.
BASTI: settlement or slum, also (confusingly) a Jain temple complex.
BEGUM: term of respect to a Muslim married lady.
BEHEN CHOWD: sister-fucker, most common Hindi term of abuse.
BHAI: suffix after a proper name, indicating respectful closeness.
BHAVAN: house—usually one of some distinction.
BHEESTY: domestic servant in charge of water supply.
BIBI: Hindi term for a married woman.
BIDI: a native Indian cigarette, tapered towards the tip. Deathsticks, if ever there were. BIG DADA: low hood; literally means “big arm.” Strong arm boy.
BINDI: forehead mark indicating caste, though it can be worn decoratively. The tilak is the religious equivalent.
BRAHMIN: the highest of the four main castes; the priestly caste, so holy not even the gods could harm them. (See also varna.) In context, also the genetically modified children of the rich.
BRINJAL: eggplant.
BULBUL: common, titlike bird with black head and white cheeks and a famously sweet song.
BURQA: traditional public attire of a Muslim woman, anything from a thin headscarf to a full marquee.
CHAKRA: energy node in the human body. There are seven: from the pubis to the crown of the head.
CHARBAGH: water garden, of Islamic design, divided into quarters.
CHARPOY: rope-strung, low bed frame, very popular in rural India for lolling on to observe the passing world.
CHHATRI: small decorative Mughal pavilion in the form of a cupola on open pillars.
CHITAL: most common species of Indian deer, with a spotted hide. Also known as the Buddha’s deer: his last incarnation before becoming human was a Chital.
CHO CHWEET: common term of endearment.
CHOLI: short-sleeved, tight undershirt worn by women under a sari.
CHOWKIDAR: a nightwatchman.
CHUUTYA: “cunthole” in Hindi slang.
CRORE: 107.
CUTCHA: opposite of pukka.
DACOIT: armed gangsters/robbers. Still widely used. DAL: lentils, the staple of rural India.
DALIT: the lowest caste. Literally “the Oppressed,” they were formerly known as Untouchables.
DARSHAN: the auspicious glance of a temple deity, or a rich and powerful person. DARWAZ: entrance gate to a mosque.
DESI: Indianness as perceived by the overseas community—a nostalgic, affectionate sense of India. In UK Asian youth parlance, means the same as pukka: real, genuine.
DEVA/DEVI: god/goddess. Also a common name. DHABA: roadside/streetside eating establishment.
DHARAMSHALA: guest accommodations for pilgrims, students, and travellers. DHOBI: laundry, usually on a flat dhobi-rock by the side of a river or a well. DHOL: a type of drum.
DHOTI: long loincloth, less common in cities, as worn by Gandhi.
DHURI: woven cotton rug.
DIKPALAS: guardian figures on a temple roof.
DIWAN: open-pillared Mughal audience hall.
DIYA: floating candle set in the river Ganga as an offering.
DUPATTA: long scarf traditionally worn with the shalwar kameez, or trouser suit.
DVARAPALA: gateway guardian deity at Hindu temple doorways: literally doorkeeper.
FIRENGl: foreigner, one of several Hindi words appropriated by Star Trek. (See also jemadar.)
GAJRA: the ubiquitous marigold garland, a good auspice.
GALI: an alleyway.
GANJA: exactly as in Jamaican.
GARBHAGRIHA: inner womb sanctum of a Hindu temple. GHAZAL: Islamic song of love, usually in Urdu. GODOWN: workshop, warehouse, often impromptu.
GOL GUPPAS: Indian street food: stuffed wheat balls. Better than they sound. GOPIS: milkmaid companions of the Lord Krishna. They liked his flute playing. GORA: contemptuous expression for a white person. GUNDA: a common street thug. GUPSHUP: vaguely scurrilous gossip.
GYANA CHAKSHU: the third eye of Siva, literally the “eye of wisdom” that penetrates illusion.
HAVELI: traditional courtyard house of the better off, usually Muslim.
HIJRA: literally “eunuch.”
HINDUTVA: the essential spirit of Indianness as being essentially Hindu: religious nationalism.
HOWDAH: large, often ceremoniously dressed saddle for an elephant. IFTAR: meal that breaks the Ramadan dawn-to-dusk fast. IWAN: Sufi dancing hall.
IZZAT: military term for respect, esprit de corps. JAI: “glory” or “victory!”
JANUM: term of endearment usually used of males. Means “sweet.” JATI: the system of subcastes within the four main castes of varna. JAWAN: Indian soldier or paramilitary policeman.
JELLABA: long, light cotton robe worn extensively and comfortably by Muslim men from Morocco to Malaysia.
JEMADAR: Indian noncommissioned military officer. JHAROKA: projecting window or balcony. JIVA: the immortal essence of a living being. JOHAD: a semicircular dam for run-off water.
KADAI: Indian cooking pan, shaped rather like a wok with two handles. KALAMKARI: dyed and painted highly decorative fabrics from Andhra Pradesh. KARSEVAK: Hindu fundamentalist pilgrim/activist. KATHAK: a North Indian dance.
KETTUVALLAM: a Keralese houseboat, about seventy feet long. Originally used to transport rice.
KHIDMUTGAR: chief steward in a household, almost a butler. LAKH: 105.
LANGUR: also known as Hanuman’s monkey. Monkeys are therefore sacred in India. LARRI-GALLA: a workshop among housing. LASSI: cool yogurt-based drink.
LAVDA: penis, prick.
LINGA: phallus as a sacred object, usually in the shape of a rounded stone. MACHAAN: an observation platform in a tree for big-game hunting. MADAR CHOWD: same as behen chowd, only this time it’s your mother. MADRASSA: Islamic school where Arabic and theology are raught. MALI: a gardener.
MELA: a gathering of people: anything from a big family get-together to the Kumbh Mela.
MEVLEVI: Turkish sufi order, originators of the “whirling dervish” dance.
MOKSHA: release from the cycle of death and reincarnation. Those who die by the Ganga achieve moksha, thus encouraging the peculiarly Indian institution of “death-tourism.”
MUDRA: hand gesture in Indian classical dance, conveying great subtlety of meaning.
MUSNUD: Mughal throne, a simple large slab of marble upholstered with cushions.
NAGA SADHU: the naked sadhu, who goes sky-clad to show his disdain for the world of illusions.
NAQQAR KHANA: ceremonial gatehouse with turret for drummer and musicians to welcome guests.
NAUTCH: traditional semiformal dance party for the entertainment of gentlemen.
PAAN: a near-ubiquitous confection of spices, nuts, and a mild narcotic wrapped in a betel leaf. Makes your gums red, a bit of a giveaway.
PALLAV: the section of a sari worn over the shoulder, usually richly decorated.
PANDAL: marquee or stage made of cloth and bamboo.
PARIKRAMA: Clockwise sunwise circuit of a Hindu or Buddhist sacred site.
PHATPHAT: motor rickshaw, ubiquitous and terrifying.
PRASAD: sacred food, food offering.
PUJA: prayer and offerings to deities.
PURDAH: the segregation of the sexes in traditional Islam and Hinduism. PURI: deep-fried puffed bread, often stuffed. Delicious if appallingly calorific. QAWWALS: Islamic songs of praise, as opposed to ghazals, songs of love.
RATH YATRA: divine temple/chariot, the vehicle of Rama, the centrepiece of the Orissa jagannath (juggernaut) celebration.
ROTI: Indian fried flatbread.
SADHU: Hindu ascetic, holy man. (For woman, see sadhvi.) SADHVI: female sadhu. Hindu nun who has renounced worldly things. SAMADHI: the meditative state of undifferentiated “Beingness.” SANGAM: spit of sand where sacred rivers meet. SANYASI (PLURAL: SANYASSINS): priest(s).
SATHIN: informal village social worker (literally “friend”): usually female, often doubles as midwife.
SATI: the (now illegal) custom of widows burning themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres. Sati stories crop up several times a year even today, usually in rural Rajasthan.
SATTA: originally illegal betting on commodity prices, generally extended into any kind of dodgy bookies.
SEMA: the dervishes’ mystical whirling dance. SEPOY: old Raj term for native infantry.
SHAADI: wedding preceremony. Also India’s biggest online matrimonial agency. SHAMYANA: a decorated awning over the front of a building. SHATABDI: Indian high-speed express train.
SHERWANI: long, richly decorated frock coat usually worn by Islamic men. SHIKARA: main spire on a North Indian temple. SMASANAKALI: that aspect of Kali that rules over the funeral ghats. SOWAR: Indian elite cavalry.
SUBADAR: Indian military commissioned officer roughly equivalent in rank to captain.
SUDDHAVASA: one of several intermediate heavens in Mountain Buddhism, literally “Abode of the Pure.”
SUNDARBAN: the tiger-haunted jungles of the Ganga/Brahmaputra delta. In context, equally wild and dangerous data-havens for breeding unlicensed software.
SURA: verse of the Holy Koran.
SURYA NAMASKAR: the salutation of the sun, a sequence of yoga asanas performed at dawn to greet the sunrise.
SWABHIMAN: self-respect, both personal and national.
SWAMI: Hindu honorific similar to “master,” implying mastery of body and soul. TAMASHA: festive excitement.
TANDAVA NRITYA: Shiva’s cosmic dance of destruction—and regeneration. THALI: a metal dish, also a selection of different foods on one compartmentalized dish. TILAK: sacred mark of the forehead. Siva and Vishnu have different ones. TIRTHA: a divine ford, or a crossing place between the mortal and the divine worlds. TRIMURTI: the Hindu “trinity” of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.
TRISHUL: sacred trident of Siva, carried by devotees. Often made from empty ghee or Red Bull cans.
VAHANA: the animal “vehicle” of each god: Brahma the goose, Durga the tiger, Ganesha the rat.
VAJRA: the divine thunderbolt of Indra, ancient Aryan Vedic god of rain and thunder—in many ways analogous to the Scandinavian Thor.
VARNA: the divinely ordained system of caste, the main groups being Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras, conforming roughly to priests, warriors, traders/farmers, and servants. Beneath them all come the Dalits .
VASUS: in Vedic Hinduism, the eight attendants of Indra: means “excellent.”
VIBHUTI: white scared ash-powder worn by Sadhus in devotion to Siva.
WALLAH: “fellow”: a very common suffix, as in “chai-wallah” and “dhobi-wallah”
YAKSHAS: semidivine beings living under the Himalayas.
YALI: mythical leaping leonine beast.
YONI: the vagina as sacred source.
ZAMINDAR: Indian village landowner.
ZENANA: the women’s part of a traditional Muslim house.
Thanks to Ritu Parvaaz for Hindi assistante.