Mantras: prayers.
Meri: a low straight bank in the riceland, usually built to control the water in the cola. The meris meet at right angles, forming plots; these plots are colas (or kolas).
Nursery: seedling.
Orhni: headshawl worn by married Indian women. Today it is worn mostly in the countryside. Indian women who live in cities and towns refuse to wear the orhni because they have become “too creolised.”
Pandit: a Hindu priest. Only a Brahmin (one who belongs to the highest caste) can validly become a Hindu priest. During the period 1845 to 1917, very few Brahmins came to Carib Island from India. Many men of lower caste were known to go to other villages and set themselves up as Brahmin priests, thereby escaping the hard work on the plantations.
Quenck: wild hog.
Roti: unleavened bread.
Saddhu: a Hindu ascetic, or one who lives in a temple. A Saddhu usually belongs to a lower caste, and so cannot become a pandit.
Silkcotton tree: a tree that is the ideal abode for spirits. Superstition has it that if a silkcotton tree is struck with an axe, blood spurts out. Jumbies also live in mango, neem, and calabash trees.
Taria: a brass plate.
Tola: village, settlement.
Trace: unpaved road, mud path.
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House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi’s commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada’s pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”
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