Kurta Long, loose Indian shirt worn with pyjama bottoms; traditional Delhi garb
Langoor Free kitchen; food alms given by Sikhs at a gurdwara
Langur Type of monkey
Lathi Bamboo staff used by Indian police to control crowds
Lingam The phallic symbol associated with Lord Shiva in his role as Divine Creator
Lu The hot desert wind which blows in from Rajasthan during midsummer
Lungi Sarong-style loin-wrap; simplification of the dhoti
Mahabharata The great Indian epic; the Iliad, Odyssey and Bible of the subcontinent, all combined into the longest single literary composition on earth, 100,000 stanzas long.
Mahal Palace
Mahar Severance fee paid to a Muslim woman by her husband in the event of a divorce
Maidan A park or common in the centre of an Indian city
Mali Gardener
Mameluk Warrior slave
Masala Spicy
Masjid Mosque
Mataji Lit. ‘Respected Mother’
Maulvi Quranic scholar
Medresse Islamic theological college and seminary
Mehfil An evening of courtly Mughal entertainment, normally including dancing, the recitation of poetry and the singing of ghazals (qv).
Mithai Sweets
Mohalla Sub-division of a Mughal city: a group of residential lanes, entered through a single gate.
Muezzin Muslim prayer leader. In the old days used to chant the prescribed prayers from minarets five times a day. An endangered species since the advent of the cassette recorder.
Munshi Teacher, clerk or secretary
Murqana Stalactite-type decoration over mosque doorway
Mushaira Mughat literary evening
Naan Type of bread, cooked in a tandoor
Namaste Hindu greeting (lit. ‘I bow to you’)
Namaz Muslim prayers, traditionally offered five times daily
Naqqar Khana Drum House
Nastaliq Type of Urdu script
Nautch Type of dance performance popular in the early nineteenth century
Nihang Sikh guard, dedicated to protecting the faith
Nulla Ditch
Omrah Mughal nobleman
Paan An Indian delicacy and digestive. it consists of a folded leaf containing (among other goodies) betel nut, a mild stimulant.
Padshah Emperor
Pakora Indian fritter: cheese or vegetables coated in batter and deep-fried
Pandit Brahmin (lit. ‘scholar’); origin of the English word ‘pundit’
Pankah Fan
Pankah-wallah Man engaged to operate said fan before the advent of electricity
Pirzada Official at a Sufi shrine. Often the descendant of the saint around whose tomb the shrine is built.
Pradhan Village headman
Puja Hindu prayers (lit. ‘adoration’)
Pujari One who prays (i.e the Brahmin in charge of a temple or a Hindu wedding ceremony)
Pukka Proper, civilized, refined; opposite of jungli (qv)
Qalander Ecstatic mystic or Holy Fool, usually itinerant; often mentally unstable
Qawwali Devotional verses sung at Sufi shrines with the intention of increasing the fervour of devotees and transporting them into a state of trance or wajd (qv)
Qawwals The group of musicians who sing qawwalis
Qazi Muslim judge
Ramadan Muslim month of fasting, normally some time around March
Ramayana The great Sanskrit epic telling the story of Lord Ram’s rescue of his wife Sita from the clutches of the demon Ravanna who lives on the island of Lanka (lit. ‘Ram’s Road’)
Rangila Colourful; nickname of the Emperor Muhammed Shah (1720-48) one of the more decadent of the Mughals
Rath Chariot
Rishis Hindu holy men, hermits and teachers who lived long ago in the foothills of the Himalayas; similar to modern
sadhus
Sadhu Hindu holy man
Salwar kameez Long tunic and matching loose trousers favoured mainly by girls in North India and by both sexes in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Samosa Curried puff pastry triangle. Delicious
Sannyasi One who has shed his worldly ties and become a wanderer
Sanskrit Indo-European language (lit. ‘Purified’) probably brought to India by the Aryans during the second millennium B C. The sacred tongue of Hinduism, it is still used by Brahmins for their worship.
Sarangi Violin-type musical instrument played with a bow
Sati Old Hindu custom of widow-burning; now illegal and largely discontinued, but for the odd case in Rajasthan
Sepoy Indian soldier in the service of the East India Company
Seraglio Harem
Shaitan Muslim name for Satan
Shaykh Head dervish in a Sufi monastery or khanqah (qv)
Sherwani Long Muslim frock coat
Shikar Hunting
Shikastah Old-fashioned classical Urdu script
Shish Mahal ‘Palace of Mirrors’, found in the Red Fort and in the larger Indian forts and havelis
Sikh Follower of the religion founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab in the fifteenth century - a sort of compromise between Islam and Hinduism. Sikhs believe in one God and are opposed to idol worship. They are hard-working and, though they make up less than 1% of India’s population, are both prominent and unmistakable: in obedience to Guru Nanak’s command, observant Sikh men never cut their hair, and sport a turban and a long beard.
Sitar Indian instrument not dissimilar to an elongated lute
Sloka Stanza in a Sanskrit composition
Sufi Muslim holy man or mystic; same as a dervish or fakir
Syce Groom, stable lad
Tabla Type of drum
Tambura Another type of drum
Ta‘wiz Sufi charm
Teh khana, Tykhana Underground cool house, much favoured in Mughal palaces
Tiffin Luncheon; originally eighteenth-century English slang, but still in use in Delhi
Tiffin tins Set of metal containers in which a commuter carries his home-cooked luncheon to his office
Tikka Caste-mark worn by Hindu women on their forehead; also a popular preparation of tandoori chicken
Titar Partridge
Tonga Two-wheeled horse-drawn taxi-carriage
Unani Greek (Ionian)
Urdu National language of Pakistan, almost identical to the Hindustani spoken today in Delhi. The language developed as a compromise between Persian and the different Indian languages in use in the Mughal army. (Its name is a reference to this military background and derives from the same root as the English ‘horde’.) In the eighteenth century, Urdu developed into a language of great beauty, but few residents of Delhi can still speak this fine courtly version of the tongue.
Urs Annual festival held in Sufi shrines to commemorate the death of the founding Shaykh
Vedas The oldest Hindu religious texts; the four Vedas form the Hindu equivalent of the Old Testament
Veena Indian lute
Wajd Mystical trance
Wallah Man
Yoni Hindu vaginal symbol; usually represented cupping the Shiva lingam or phallus
Zenana Women’s part of a Muslim household; the harem
Select Bibliography
General
Michael Alexander, Delhi and Agra: A Traveller’s Companion (London, Constable, 1987)
Maheshwar Dayal, Rediscovering Delhi: The Story of Shahjehanabad (New Delhi, S. Chand, 1982)
H.C. Fanshawe, Delhi Past and Present (Reprint edn: New Delhi, Vintage Books, 1992)
R.E. Frykenberg (ed.), Delhi Through the Ages (Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1986)
Gordon Hearn, The Seven Cities of Delhi (Calcutta, Thacker, Spink, 1928)
H.K. Kaul (ed.), Historic Delhi (Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1985)
Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Asar al-Sanadid trans. R. Nath as Monuments of Delhi: A Historical Study (New Delhi, Ambika Publications, 1979)
Y.D. Sharma,
Delhi and Its Neighbourhood (New Delhi, Archaeological Survey of India, 1974)
Khuswant Singh, Delhi: A Portrait (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1983)
Percival Spear, Delhi: A Historical Sketch (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1937)
Percival Spear, Delhi: Its Monuments and History (Bombay, Oxford University Press, 1945)
Chapter Two
Pranay Gupte, Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1992)
Inder Malhotra, Indira Gandhi: A Personal and Political Biography (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1989)
Mark Tully, From Raj to Rajiv: Forty Years of Indian Independence (London, BBC, 1988)
Mark Tully and Satish Jacob, Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle (London, Jonathan Cape, 1985)
Chapter Three
Ahmed Ali, Twilight in Delhi (London, Hogarth Press, 1940)
Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, India Wins Freedom (New York, Longmans, 1960)
Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission With Mountbatten (London, Robert Hale, 1951)
Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Thy Hand Great Anarch! (London, Chatto and Windus, 1987)
Michael Edwardes, The Last Years of British India (London, Cassell, 1963)
Trevor Royle, The Last Days of the Raj (London, Michael Joseph, 1989)
Pavan K. Verma, Mansions at Dusk: The Havelis of Old Delhi (New Delhi, Spantech, 1992)
Chapter Four
Charles Allen, Plain Talesfrom the Raj (London, Andre Deutsch, 1975)
Robert Byron, ‘New Delhi’, Architectural Review, 69, January 1931
Philip Davies, Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India 1660-1947 (London, John Murray, 1985)
Nigel B. Hanklin, Hanklyn-Jankin, A Stranger’s Rumble-Tumble Guide to Some Words, Customs and Quiddities Indian and Indo-British (New Delhi, Banyan Books, 1992)
Christopher Hussey, The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens (London, Country Life, 1950)
Robert Grant Irving, Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker and Imperial Delhi (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1981)
Thomas R. Metcalf, An Imperial Vision (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989)
Jan Morris with Simon Winchester, Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1983)
Clayre Percy and Jane Ridley, The Letters of Edwin Lutyens (London, Collins, 1985)
Gavin Stamp, ‘Indian Summer’, Architectural Review, 159, June 1976
Sir Henry Yule, Hobson Jobson (London, John Murray, 1904)
Chapter Five
C.F. Andrews, Zaka Ullah of Delhi (Cambridge, Heffer, 1924)
Mildred Archer, Between Battles: The Album of Colonel James Skinner (London, Al-Falak and Scorpion, 1982)
Mildred Archer, ‘Artists and Patrons in Residency Delhi, 1803-1858’, in R.E. Frykenberg, Delhi Through the Ages (Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1986)
Mildred Archer and Toby Falk, India Revealed: The Art and adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35 (London, Cassell, 1989)
C.A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion 1770-1870 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983)
Alex Cain, The Cornchest for Scotland (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, 1986)
Emily Eden, Up the Country (Reprint edn: London, Virago, 1983)
Fanny Eden, Tigers, Durbars and Kings: Fanny Eden’s Indian Journals 1837-1838 ed. Janet Dunbar (London, John Murray, 1988)
James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs 4 vols. (London, White, Cochrane, 1813)
William Franklin, ‘An Account of the Present State of Delhi’, Asiatik Researches, 4, 1795
James Baillie Fraser, Military Memoirs of Lieut-Col. James Skinner, 2 vols. (London, Smith, Elder, 1851)
Narayani Gupta, Delhi Between Two Empires 1803-1931: Sociery, Government and Urban Growth (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1981)
Christopher Hibbert, The Great Mutiny (London, Allen Lane, 1978)
Denis Holman, Sikander Sahib (London, Heinemann, 1961)
Victor Jacquemont, Letters from India (1829-32) 2 vols. trans. Catherine Phillips (London, Macmillan, 1936)
M.M. Kaye (ed.), The Golden Calm: An English Lady’s Life in Moghul Delhi. Reminiscences by Emily, Lady Clive Bayley, and by her father, Sir Thomas Metcalfe (London, Webb and Bower, 1980)
Lady Maria Nugent, Journal of a Residence in India 1811-1815 2 vols. (London, 1839)
Ralph Russel (ed.), Ghalib: The Poet and his Age (London, George Allen and Unwin, 1972)
Pavan K. Verma, Ghalib: The Man, The Times (New Delhi, Penguin, 1989)
Stuart Cary Welch (ed.), The Emperor’s Album (New York, Metropolitan Museum, 1987)
Chapter Six
Mozaffar Alam, The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and the Punjab, 1707-48 (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1986)
Stephen P. Blake, Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India 1639-1739 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991)
Dargah Quli Khan, The Muraqqa‘-e Dehli trans. Chander Shekhar (New Delhi, Deputy Publications, 1989)
Ralph Russel and Khurshid ul-Islam, Three Mughal Poets (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1991)
S.K. Sharma, Hijras: The Labelled Deviants (New Delhi, Gian Publishing House, 1989)
Percival Spear, The Twilight of the the Mughuls: Studies in Late Mughul Delhi (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1951)
Chapter Seven
Catherine B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992)
Francois Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire, 1656-68 ed. Archibald Constable, trans. Irving Brock (Reprint edn: Delhi, S. Chand, 1972)
Sir Richard Burn (ed.), The Cambridge History of India Vol. lV: The Mughul Period (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1937)
Zahiruddin Farukhi, Aurangzeb and his Times (Bombay, D.B Tarapovevala, 1935)
William Foster (ed.), Early Travels in India 1583-1619 (Reprint edn: New Delhi, Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1985)
Bamber Gascoigne, The Great Moghuls (London, Jonathan Cape, 1971)
Gavin Hambly, Cities of Mughul India (New York, G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1968)
Mirza Kamran, ‘The Mirza Nama (The Book of the Perfect Gentleman) of Mirza Kamran with an English translation’, ed. and trans. Maulawi M. Hidayat Husain, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, NS 9, 1913
Inayat Khan, The Shah Jehan Nama ed. W.E Begley and Z.A Desai (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1990)
Ebba Koch, Mughal Architecure (Munich, Prestel-Verlag, 1991)
Elizabeth B. MacDougall and Richard Ettinhausen (eds), The Islamic Garden (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1976)
Niccolao Manucci, Storia do Mogor trans. William Irvine 4 vols. (Reprint edn: Calcutta, Editions Indian, 1965)
Elizabeth B. Moynihan, Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Mughal India (New York, George Braziller, 1979)
Kalika-Ranjan Qanungo, Dara Shukoh (Calcutta, M.C. Sarkar, 1935)
Constance M. Villiers Stuart, Gardens of the Great Mughals (London, 1913)
Chapter Eight
Julian Baldick, Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Sufism (London, LB. Tauris, 1989)
Zia-ud-Din Barni, Ta‘rikh-i Firuz Shahi in Sir H.M. Elliot and John Dowson (ed. and trans.), The History of India as told by its own Historians vol. 3 (London, Trubner, 1871 )
Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354 (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1929)
E.A.T.W. Budge, The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version (London, John Murray, 1889)
William Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India 2 vols. (Reprint edn: Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1968)
Simon Digby, Warhorse and Elephant in the Delhi Sultanate: A Study in Military Supplies (Karachi, 1971)
Simon Digby, ‘Qalanders and Related Groups’ in Y. Friedmann (ed.), Islam in India Vol. 1 (Jerusalem, Magna Press, 1984)
Ross E. Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of t
he 14th Century (London, Croom Helm, 1986)
H.A.R. Gibb, The Travels of Ibn Battuta 3 vols. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1971)
Sir Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India Vol. III: Turks and Afghans (Reprint edn: Delhi, S. Chand, 1987)
A.M. Hussain, The Rise and Fall of Muhammed bin Tughluq (London, Luzac, 1938)
Abdu‘l Malik Isami, Futuhu’s Salatin or The Shah Nama-i-Hind 3 vols. trans. A.M Hussian (Aligarh, Asia Publishing House, 1967-77)
K.S. Lal, The Twilight of the Sultanate (Bombay, Asia Publishing House, 1963)
Bruce B. Lawrence, Notes From a Distant Flute: The Extant Literature of Pre-Mughal Indian Sufism (Teheran, Imperial Iranian Academy, 1978)
S.B.P. Nigam, Nobility Under the Sultans of Delhi (Delhi, Munishiram Manoharlal, 1968)
Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, ‘A Medieval Indian Madrasah’, in K.A. Nizami, Studies in Medieval Indian History and Culture (Allahabad, Kitab Mahal, 1966)
Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century (New Delhi, Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli, 1974)
lshtiaq Husian Qureshi, The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi (Lahore, Muhammed Ashraf, 1942)
Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India 2 vols. (New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1978)
Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, The Mathnawi ed. and trans. R.A. Nicholson (London, Luzac, 1925-40)
Annemarie Schimmel. I Am Wind, You Are Fire: The Life and Work of Rumi (Boston, Shambhala, 1992)
ldries Shah, The Way of the Sufi (London, Jonathan Cape, 1963)
[dries Shah, The Sufis (London, Octagon Press, 1964)
Christine Troll, Muslim Shrines in India (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1989)
Sin-Leqi-Unninni, Gilgamesh trans. John Gardiner and John Maier (New York, Vintage Books, 1985)
Anthony Welch and Howard Crane, ‘The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Sultanate’, in Muqarnas vol. I (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1983)
Chapter Nine
D.P. Agrawal and Dilip K. Chakrabarti (ed.), Essays in Indian Prehistory (Delhi, Agam Prakashan, 1976)
Bridget and Raymond Allchin, The Rise of Civilisation in India and Pakistan (Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1983)
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