Heard in India (Part 2: N to Z): The answers

Here are the answers to the second part of the quiz I set a couple of days ago.

• Naik: A Native Infantry Corporal.
• Nautch: A dance performance.
• Nautch girl: A dancing girl.
• Nazar (or Nurzur): A gift made to a superior. It was regarded as a token of homage rather than as a bribe.
• Nimuk Haram: A rebel, a mutineer, a disloyal man (literally ‘a breaker of salt’).
• Nirvana: The Buddhist state of grace.
• Nujeeb: An undisciplined but well armed rebel soldier.
• Padishah: A great King
• Pagri (or Pugaree): A turban, it was also the cloth attached to – and wound around – a helmet.
• Pan: The leaves of the piper betel plant that were chewed by many Indians in the same way that many Europeans smoked tobacco.
• Pani: Water.
• Panchyats: A delegation from a village led by the headman.
• Pariah dog (or Pi dog): A semi-wild, stray dog.
• Pice: A copper coin worth a quarter of an Anna.
• Poshteen: A native sheepskin coat.
• Punkah: A ceiling-mounted blade fan.
• Punkah Wallah: Someone who works a Punkah, usually by pulling a cord with their hand or foot.
• Puttee: A strip of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee. Usually used in the plural.
• Raj: To rule.
• Rajah: A ruler.
• Rajnara: The follower of a Rajah.
• Rakhri: The notion of being obliged to return an important service. It tied an entire family and its resources to the recipient forever and without question.
• Rakhri Band: The bracelet was given to denote the obligation (the Rakhri). All that was needed was for a member of the family to see or be sent the Rakhri Band for unquestioning assistance to be given.
• Rani: A female ruler.
• Rattan: A cane often used to make screens and sometimes used as a staff with which to hit people.
• Rissaldar: A Native Cavalry Officer.
• Rissaldar Major: A senior Native Cavalry Officer.
• Rupee: A silver coin valued about two shillings (10 pence) in 1857.
• Sadhu: A wandering holy man whose forehead was marked with the sign of Shiva.
• Sahib: An officer or leader. Ofter used as a term of respect by an Indian talking to a European.
• Sari: A native woman’s skirt.
• Seer: A measure of weight of approximately two pounds.
• Sepoy: A Native Infantry Private Soldier.
• Serai: A fortified, walled village.
• Shamshir: A light, curved sword often carried by cavalry, officers and nobles.
• Sherbauch: A type of swivel gun.
• Silladar: A method of raising irregular troops. The soldiers had to provide and maintain their own kit but were generally better paid.
• Sirdar (or Sirkar): A headman, the Officer-in-Charge, or the commander of an army.
• Sipah Sirdar: A General.
• Soojee: A type of porridge.
• Sowar: A Native Cavalry Trooper.
• Subedar: A Native Infantry Captain.
• Subedar Major: A senior Native Infantry Captain.
• Suddeer Bazaar: The headman of a Bazaar.
• Sudra: The fourth caste in the caste system. They usually worked the land for those of higher caste.
• Suttee: The ceremonial self-immolation of a widow by burning on her dead husband’s funeral pyre.
• Syce: A groom
• Takur: A nobleman equivalent to a Baron.
• Talukhdar: Lord.
• Tank: A pond or water storage area.
• Tat: A pony from the countryside.
• Terai: Woods at the foot of mountains.
• Thugi (or Thugee): A ritual murder-sacrifice to Kali.
• Tulwar: A heavy native curved sword.
• Tiffin: A light meal served during the afternoon.
• Vaisya: The third caste in the caste system. They were usually merchants or traders.
• Vakeel: A village headman.
• Verandah: The roofed, open area surrounding a house.
• Wallah: A man who performs a particular task (e.g. char wallah = tea man; punkah wallah = man who operates the punkak).
• Wilayatis: Afghan soldiers of fortune.
• Zambarek: A camel-mounted swivel gun.
• Zemindar: A Prince
• Zenana: The harem or the area of a house where the concubines lived.
• Zilla: A seal that was the sign of office of a Collector or Magistrate.