Sunday, June 17, 2012

Glossary of local Himalayan terms


The topography of Himalayas presents them as unique natural monuments. Himalayas have been regarded to be the toughest topography on this planet; still these heavenly mountains have nurtured and preserved, a rich, warm and lively culture. Being isolated from the rest of world, these Himalayan wonderlands still preserves local dialects. 

Difficult to communicate sometimes, however communication barrier can be surmounted by usage of the local terms which will bridge the gap of the modern world with them.




Aari:   Small saw which is operated by single person


 

Anar/Daru:   Pomegranate (a tropical fruit with many seeds), Punica granatum


 

Angoori:   Grape vine, Vitis spp.


 

Angora:  Type of goat


 

Aonla:  Emblica Officinalis


 

Arbi:  Colocasia species


 

Barter system:  A system in which purchase and sale of animals, farm produce and goods is based on exchange basis


 

Bathu:  A leafy vegetable, Chenopodium album


 

Belcha:  Spade


 

Ber:  Zizypus mauritiana (an important fruit tree)


 

Berka:  Threshing pole


 

Beul:  Grewia optiva


 

Bhains:  Salix tetrasperma


 

Bhang:  Cannabis sativa, a multipurpose narcotic plant


 

Bharal:  Animal found in cold desert of Himachal Pradesh


 

Bhera:  Indigenous medicinal plant, Terminalia chebula


 

Bileha:  Pick axe


 

Bori:  Sack (Bag)


 

Buckwheat:  Fagopyrum species  whose grains are used as a food


 

Chakkala-Belan:  Rolling pin and board used for making chapatis


 

Chakki:  Hand mill


 

Changpass:  Changra goats (type of goats) owner


 

Changthang:  Name of place in Ladakh bordering with Tibet


 

Cheenee:  A millet crop, Panicum miliaceum


 

Chhang/Ghanti:  Alcoholic drink made from rice, Avena saliva starch


 

Chhini:  Chisel


 

Chikri Khilna:  A kind of spade to dig


 

Chilgoza Seeds:  of Pinus gerardiana, which considered as valuable dry fruit


 

Chir pine:  Pinus roxburghii


 

Chola:   A woollen dress


 

Chukor:  Partridge found in cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh


 

Chulai:  Leafy vegetable (Amaranthus viridis)


 

Chuli:  Prunus armenica, wild apricot


 

Chullah:  A fire place for cooking


 

Chum:  Cross breed of yak and cow used for milk


 

Chutsa:  Chisel


 

Daach:  Big sickle to cut wood


 

Dachi:  Sickle to cut grass


 

Deodar:  Cedrus deodara, timber yielding species of Himalayan forests


 

Desi:  Indigenous/local


 

Dhan:  Sheep and goats wealth /paddy


 

Dhar:  High mountains


 

Dora:  Rope tied at the waist by both men and women


 

Gaddis:  Semi-nomadic tribal of Kangra and Chamba districts of HP


 

Gainti:  Pick axe


 

Galgal:  A fruit of citrus (Citrus pseudolimon) family


 

Gandasa:  Sharp blade fitted to wooden handle


 


Ghasni:  Grass land


 

Ghee:  Fats made from vegetable and animal's milk


 

Ghoom:  Hammer


 

Gur/shakkar:  Crude sugar


 

Hal:  Wooden plough


 

Havan:  A religious ceremony


 

Heeng:  Asafoetida spp. (dried exudate)


 

Hukka:  Device for smoking tobacco


 

Jalga:  A perennial wild spice plant, Phytolaca acinosa


 

Jeth:  Summer month


 

Jhabbal:  Jumper/Crowbar


 

Jonks:  Leechs


 

Kachnar:  Bahaunia variegate


 

Kail:  Pinus wallichiana (Blue pine)


 

Kaimal:  Mallotus philipinensis


 

Klam/Dambu:  Grafting operation used in horticultural crops


 

Kalijiri:  Centratherum antheminticum


 

Kanda:  Highest point where cultivable lands are found above the village



 

Kangoo:  Comb for combing wood


 

Karnu:  A local tree


 

Karolari:  Saw


 

Kasi:  Hoe


 

Kath:  Pyrus pashia


 

Katha:  Acacia catechu, Commercial product of khair tree


 

Kera:  Large sieve


 

Khads:  Water streams


 

Khair:  Acacia catechu


 

Khaliyan:  Courtyard or a small ground used for threshing their field crops


 

Kharif:  Crop season from May-June to Oct.- Nov., main crops of this season are maize, paddy, pulses etc.


 

Khasipine:  Pinus kesia


 

Kassi:  Hoe


 

Khati: Dugout structure to store rain water


 

Khatti:  Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) storage pits


 

Khawaja:  Diety


 

Khejri:  A multipurpose nitrogen fixing tree (Prosopis cineraria)


 

Khet:  Fields


 

Khirak:  Celtis australis


 

Khurpa/Khurpi:  Hand hoe


 

Kikar:  Acacia nilotica


 

Kilni Khilna: A small equipment used for digging 


 

Kilta:  A wooden container


 

Kodo:  A millet crop, Paspalum serobiculatum


 

Kongni:  Millet, Setaria italic


 

Kudal/Kudali:  Hoe


 

Kuhal/Kuhl:  Small water channel used for irrigation purposes


 

Kuldebta:  Village deity


 

Kunish:  Alnus spp.


 

Kuth:  Saussurea lappa, a commercial cash crop


 

Lota:  Container generally used for drinking water and watering plants


 

Mahotar/dhingri/guchhi:  Edible fungus


 

Maina:  Name of bird


 

Mash:  Leguminous crop used as pulse (Vigna radiata)


 

Masur: Leguminous crop used as pulse (Lense esculanta)


 

Meryana:  Ulmus leviegata


 

Methi:  Trigonella foenum graecum, Fenugreek (important spice)


  

Pudina:  Mint (Mentha spp.)


 

Moi:  Leveller


 

Moong:  Leguminous crop used as pulse (Vigna mungo)


 

Moori:  Concentrated alcoholic drink


 

Nallah/Nalla/Nallaha:  A mini water stream


 

Navratras:  A set of auspicious nine days in Hindu religion


 

Neem:  Azadirachta indica


 

Nihani:  Chisel


 

Papiha:  Name of bird / Great Barbet


 

Pashimna goat:  A special type of goat which produced very soft wool


 

Pattu:  A woollen blanket


 

Phafra/Phaphra:  Buckwheat (Phagopyrum spp.)


 

Phanani:  A bow shaped device used for combing wool


 

Phawara:  Spade


 

Rabi crop:  Crops like wheat, mustard etc. grown during the months of Oct.-Nov. to April-May


 

Rajmash:  A pulse crop (Phaseolus vulgaris)


 

Safeda:  Eucalyptus spp.


 

Sarkanda grass: A wild long grass used for thatching houses (Saccharum spontaneous)


 

Sarson:  Mustard (Brassica compastris)


 

Soolini Mela:  Local fair of Soolini deity


 

Sua:  Wooden pin


 

Taklu:  A special spindle device


 

Tambaku:  Tobacco (Nicotiana tobaccum)


 

Tatihari:  Name of bird


 

Thali:   Plate


 

Titar:   Partridge


 

Tokra:   A big wooden container


 

Tokru:   A small wooden container


 

Toon:   Toona ciliate


 

Toot:  Moms alba


 

Tor:   A multiple wild plant, Bauhinia vahilii


 

Urd:  Leguminous crop, Vigna radiata


 

Zira:  Cumin (important spice)


 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

C W De Russet

French sadhu of Shimla
 
C W De Russet had moved from France to India in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He was a deft tailor but when he started visiting Shimla with his friend T. Reincke in 1850s, he was so impressed by the natural beauty of the town that he switched over to camera-clicking and then to commercial photography that brought Shimla, along with other metropolis of the country, as a top centre of marketable photography.
When Shepherd and Robertson moved from Agra to Shimla in 1864 and established themselves as photographers of merit, De Russet withdrew from camera work and established himself as general contractor. Charles de Russet was his son and Old Cottanian Association Record shows that he was in the Bishop Cotton School in 1872. Charles de Russet had developed interest in Indian asceticism and mysticism immediately after he completed his school education. He came in contact with Baba (probably Mangal Das) of Jakhu temple and impressed by his preaching embraced the life of a Sadhu in 1880s.
He rejected his European uprising and abandoned Christianity for Hinduism. He bequeathed the property that he had inherited to his sisters keeping nothing to himself and led a life of disciple of the Baba of Jakhu. He would sleep outside in the open and take food that was given to him by his devotees. Because he was a foreigner embracing their religion, the local Hindus held him in high esteem. He then shifted to a temple near Annandale ground in Kaithu and started donning a leopard skin and wore matted hair.
Meanwhile, John Campbell Oman, born in Kolkata to Scot tea-planters, who rose to be professor of natural sciences in Government College Lahore was collecting material for his book ‘The Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India’ happened to meet this French Sadhu in 1894.
Professor Oman has done extensive touring throughout the length and breadth of this country, interviewing many saints and has written scholarly books on Hinduism, Brahmanism and the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.
When he met the French Sadhu here, he found him disinclined to talk about the reasons for abandoning Christianity in favour of Hinduism.
He found out that Charles De Russet ‘did not regret the step he had taken, and that he was well satisfied with his condition and mode of life as a Hindu devotee, a sanyasi.
The professor had in one of his books quoted a passage from Sir Monier Williams’s Indian poetry that appeared fitting into the mindset of Charles, “the performance of penances was like making deposits in the bank of Heaven. By degrees an enormous credit was accumulated, which enabled the depositor to draw on the amount of his savings, without fear of his drafts being refused payment. The power gained in this way by weak mortals was so enormous that gods, as well as men, were equally at the mercy of these all but omnipotent ascetics” prof. Oman wrote that Charles commanded the highest respect from natives though he found him to be of mediocre intelligence.
He used to live idly, happy and contended, even when it snowed heavy in the mountains. Discoursing about the virtues and vices, Charles had told the professor that it was not necessary to be a Christian in order to lead a virtuous life. O.C. Sud writes that this Baba left Shimla in the company of sadhus after this and was never heard of but suddenly returned here in 1926 as Baba Must Ram and took over the charge of Jakhu temple. He had, by this time, mastered the Hindu scriptures and the people were awed by his knowledge. According to Sud, he died on the December 27, 1927 and was cremated on Jakhu peak.

Thursday, March 22, 2012


The story of Simla  


  • The distance from Kalka railway station to Shimla by cart is 58 miles.



  • It is surrounded by the territories of thirty minor independent chiefs.

  • In recent years it has extended from one end to the other fully six miles in length. The officer gazette describes Shimla as “exquisite.”

  • The journal of the Tour through the part of Himalaya Mountains by James Baillie, published in 1820, describes the account of the war in which Gurkhas and British were engaged in 1815. To revenge the uprising in the area between Sutlej and Yamuna, British gave a tough defeat to them.

  • Among other place where Gurkha retained their military posts by Ochterlony were Sabathu and Kotgarh.
  • Gerard brothers’ diary dated August 30th, 1817, ran: “Shimla a middling sized village where a fakir is situated to give water to travellers.”

  • A writer describes road to Jakhoo: “the road was steep and rocky in several places, and through kelo and oak trees very thick undergrowth which is full of bears and hogs.”


  • In 1831, a talented French traveller describing Shimla said it was “the resort of rich, idle and invalid. Now there are over 60 houses scattered on various Hills.”
  • A journal from year 1834 tells us that the road leading from club to Chota Shimla was then called ‘Combermere road’ and that to Elysium Hill, ‘Bentinck road.’ 
  •  The original site for, the half timbered building of the General Post Office was completed on 3rd July 1883 and originally exhibited both Neo-Tudor and Swiss-Bavarian architectural forms with decorative wooden work. In 1972, a fire damaged the exterior of the building, which was then repaired retaining some essential elements of the facade.