No Pain Like This Body
Page 13
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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