The Far Pavilions

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!