| Aftab |
the Sun |
| Akhbars |
Indian court newsletters |
| Alam |
the world. It also means a standards used by Shias as focuses for their Muharram venerations. Usually tear-shaped or fashioned into the shape of a hand, they are stylised representations of the standards carried by Imam Hussain at the Battle of Kerbala in AD 680 |
| Amir |
nobleman |
| Arrack |
Indian absinthe |
| Arzee |
Persian petition |
| Atashak |
gonorrhea |
| Bagh |
a formal Mughal garden, often a char bagh, named after its division into four (char) squares by a cross of runnels and fountains |
| Banjara |
nomadic trading community |
| Bazgasht |
return or homecoming |
| Begum |
Indian Muslim noblewoman. A title of rank and respect: ‘Madam’ |
| Betel |
nut used as a mild narcotic in India, and eaten as paan |
| Bhadralok |
the prosperous and well-educated upper middle class of Bengal |
| Bhang |
cannabis preparation |
| Bhet |
an offering |
| Bhisti |
water carrier |
| Bibi |
an Indian wife or mistress |
| Bibi ghar |
‘Women’s House’ or zenana |
| Brahmin |
the Hindu priestly caste and the top rung of the caste pyramid |
| Charpoy |
Rope-strung bed (literally, ‘four feet’) |
| Chattri |
a domed kiosk supported on pillars, often used as a decorative feature to top turrets and minarets (literally, ‘umbrella’) |
| Chaupar |
a cross-shaped board game very similar to pachisi |
| Chhatrapati |
royal title – literally, ‘Lord of the Umbrella’. Equivalent of Emperor |
| Choli |
short (and at this period often transparent) Indian bodice |
| Chowkidar |
guard, gatekeeper |
| Coss |
Mughal measurement of distance amounting to just over three miles |
| Crore |
10 million (or 100 lakh) |
| Cuirassier |
armoured cavalry officer armed with a musket |
| Dacoit |
outlaw; a member of a robber gang |
| Daftar |
office, or in the Nizam’s palace, chancellery |
| Dak |
post (sometimes spelled ‘dawke’ in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries) |
| Dargah |
Sufi shrine, usually built over the grave of a saint |
| Dar ul-Islam |
the lands or house of Islam |
| Dastak |
a pass |
| Dastan |
story, epic or oral history |
| Deorhi |
courtyard house or haveli |
| Derzi |
tailor |
| Dharamasala |
resthouse |
| Dharma |
duty |
| Dhobi |
laundryman |
| Dhoolie |
covered litter |
| Dhoti |
loincloth |
| Divan |
book of collected poetry |
| Diwan |
Prime Minister, or the vizier in charge of administrative finance |
| Dubash |
an interpreter |
| Dupatta |
shawl or scarf, usually worn with a salvar kemise (literally, ‘two leaves or widths’). Also known as a chunni |
| Durbar |
court |
| Fakir |
literally, ‘poor’. Sufi holy man, dervish or wandering Muslim ascetic |
| Faujdar |
fort keeper or garrison commander |
| Firangi |
foreigner |
| Firman |
an order of the Emperor in a written document |
| Gagra Choli |
Indian bodice and skirt |
| Ghat |
steps leading to a bathing place or river |
| Ghazal |
Urdu or Persian love lyric |
| Godhulibela |
‘cow-dust time’ – the golden hour before sunset |
| Golumdauze |
artillery gunners |
| Gomasta |
agent or manager |
| Goonjus |
bridge |
| Hakim |
physician |
| Hamam |
Turkish-style steam bath |
| Haveli |
courtyard house or traditional mansion |
| Harkarra |
literally, ‘all-doo-er’. Runner, messenger, newswriter or spy. In eighteenth-century sources the word is sometimes spelled hircarrah |
| Havildar |
a sepoy non-commissioned officer corresponding to a sergeant |
| Holi |
the Hindu spring festival in which participants sprinkle red and yellow powder on one another |
| Hookah |
waterpipe or hubble-bubble |
| Id |
the two greatest Muslim festivals: Id ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, while Id ul-Zuha commemorates the delivery of Isaac. To celebrate the latter a ram or goat is slaughtered, as on the original occasion recorded in both the Old Testament and Koran |
| Iftar |
the evening meal to break the Ramadan fast |
| Ijara |
rental contract |
| Jagatguru |
guru of the Universe |
| Jagir |
landed estate, granted for service rendered to the state and whose revenues could be treated as income by the jagirdar |
| Jali |
a latticed stone or wooden screen |
| Jazair |
swivel gun, usually mounted on camelback |
| Jharoka |
projecting balcony |
| Jizya |
Islamic tax on non-believers |
| Kalawant |
singer or chanter |
| Kar-khana |
workshop or factory |
| Khanazad |
palace-born princes |
| Khansaman |
in the eighteenth century the word meant butler. Today it more usually means cook |
| Kharita |
sealed Mughal brocade bag used to send letters as an alternative to an envelope |
| Khilat |
symbolic court dress |
| Khutba |
the sermon during which the Islamic prayer for the ruler is said at Friday prayers |
| Kotla |
fortress or citadel |
| Kotwal |
the Police Chief, Chief Magistrate or City Administrator in a Mughal town |
| Lakh |
a hundred thousand |
| Langar |
free distribution of food during a religious festival |
| Lathi |
truncheon or strick |
| Lota |
water pot |
| Lingam |
the phallic symbol associated with Lord Shiva in his role as Creator |
| Lungi |
Indian-type sarong; longer version of the dhoti (QV) |
| Mahal |
literally, ‘palace’ but often used to refer to sleeping apartments or the zenana wing of a palace or residence |
| Mahi maratib |
the Order of the Fish; a Mughal standard |
| Majlis |
assembly (especially the gatherings during Muharram – QV) |
| Mandapa |
the gateway of a temple |
| Mansabadar |
a Mughal nobleman and office holder, whose rank was decided by the number of cavalry he would supply for battle, for example a mansabdar of 2,500 would be expected to provide 2,500 horsemen when the Nizam went to war |
| Masnavi |
Persian or Urdu love lyric |
| Mehfil |
an evening of courtly Mughal entertainment, normally including dancing, the recitation of poetry and the singing of ghazals (QV) |
| Mihrab |
the niche in a mosque pointing in the direction of Mecca |
| Mir |
the title ‘Mir’ given before a name usually signifies that the holder is a Sayyed (QV) |
| Mirza |
a prince or gentleman |
| Mohalla |
a distinct quarter of a Mughal city, i.e. a group of residential lanes, usually entered through a single gate |
| Muharram |
the great Shia Muslim festival commemorating the defeat and death of Imam Hussain, the Prophet’s grandson. Celebrated with particular gusto in Hyderabad and Lucknow. |
| Munshi |
Indian private secretary or language teacher |
| Mushairas |
poetic symposia |
| Marqanas |
stalactite-type decoration over mosque or palace gateways |
| Musnud |
the low arrangement of cushions and bolsters that forms the throne of Indian rulers at this period |
| Nabob |
English corruption of the Hindustani Nawab, literally ‘deputy’, which was the title given by the Mughal Emperors to their regional governors and viceroys. In England it became a term of abuse directed at returned ‘Old Indian hands’, especially after Samuel Foote’s 1768 play The Nabob brought the term into general circulation and in England was soon reduced to ‘nob’ |
| Nagara |
Indian ceremonial kettledrum |
| Nageshwaram |
long Tamil oboe-like wind instrument |
| Namak-haram |
traitor, literally ‘bad to your salt’ |
| Naqqar Khana |
ceremonial drum house |
| Naubat |
drum used for welcoming dignitaries and festivities |
| Naubat Khana |
drum house above the gateway of a fort |
| Nautch |
an Indian dance display |
| Nazr/Nazar |
symbolic gift given in Indian courts to a feudal superior |
| Nizam |
title of the hereditary ruler of Hyderabad |
| Omrah |
nobleman |
| Padshahnama |
the history of the Emperor |
| Palanquin |
Indian litter |
| Peshkash |
an offering or present given by a subordinate to a superior. The term was used more specifically by the Marathas as the money paid to them by ‘subordinate’ powers such as the Nizam |
| Peshwaz |
a long high-waisted gown |
| Pir |
Sufi holy man |
| Pikdan |
spittoon |
| Prasad |
temple sweets given to devotees in exchange for offerings; a tradition transferred from Hindu to Islamic practice at the Sufi shrines of the Deccan |
| Puja |
prayer |
| Pukhur |
pond |
| Pukka |
proper, correct |
| Purdah |
literally, ‘a curtain’; used to signify the concealment of women within the zenana |
| Qanat |
portable shelter of canvas or tenting |
| Qawal |
a singer of Qawalis |
| Qawalis |
rousing hymns sung at Sufi shrines |
| Qiladar |
fort keeper |
| Qizilbash |
literally, ‘redheads’. Name given to Safavid soldiers (and later traders) due to the tall red cap worn under their turbans |
| Raja |
king |
| Ryott |
peasant or tenant farmer |
| Sahukara |
moneylender |
| Salatin |
palace-born princes |
| Sanad |
charter or warrant |
| Sanyasi |
a Hindu ascetic |
| Sarir-e khas |
the Privy Seat |
| Sarpeche |
turban jewel or ornament |
| Sati |
the practice of widow burning, or the burned widow herself |
| Sawaree |
elephant stables (and the whole establishment and paraphernalia related to the keeping of elephants) |
| Sayyed |
(or f. Sayyida) a lineal descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Sayyeds often have the title ‘Mir’ |
| Sepoy |
Indian soldier |
| Seth |
trader, merchant, banker or moneylender |
| Shadi |
marriage feast or party |
| Shamiana |
Indian marquee, or the screen formed around the perimeter of a tented area |
| Shia |
one of the two principal divisions of Islam, dating back to a split immediately after the death of the Prophet, between those who recognised the authority of the Medinian Caliphs and those who followed the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali (Shiat Ali means ‘the Party of Ali’ in Arabic). Though most Shiites live in Iran, there have always been a large number in the Indian Deccan, and Hyderabad was for much of its history a centre of Shi’ite culture |
| Shikar |
hunting |
| Shroff |
trader, merchant, banker or moneylender |
| Sirdar |
nobleman |
| Sloka |
Sanskrit couplet |
| Strappado |
Portuguese form of torture involving dropping the victim from a height while bound with a rope |
| Subadhar |
governor |
| Takhta |
wooden frame for keeping shawls |
| Tawaif |
the cultivated and urbane dancing girls and courtesans who were such a feature of late Mughal society and culture |
| Thali |
tray |
| Ubnah |
gay male sex |
| Ulama |
Muslim clerics |
| Unani |
Ionian (or Byzantine Greek) medicine, originally passed to the Islamic world through Byzantine exiles in Persia and still practiced in India today |
| ‘Urs |
festival day |
| Ustad |
master, teacher or expert |
| Vakil |
ambassador or representative (though in modern usage the word means merely lawyer) |
| Vilayat |
province, homeland |
| Zenana |
harem, or women’s quarters |
| Zamindar |
landholder or local ruler |