GLOSSARY

Usage of Tamil Words in Specific (Urban) Context of Thanjavur

Region of Tamil Nadu.

Acharya

Adhikari

Adimai

Adhinam

Adi-Dravida

Agambadiyar

Agrahara

Agraharam

Ahimsa

Alvar

Ambalakkarar

Angadi

Anna

Ardhamandapa

Asami

Ashraf

Ashrama

Attuvari

Balipitha

Bakthi

Bidi

Brahman

Bramadeya

Teacher.

Supervisor of Servant.

Slave.

Hindu Seminars, Monastery.

: "Original Dravidian", the lowest Castes of

Pallars and Parayars, Otherwise known as

Scheduled or Exterior Castes of

Untouchables.

A caste of Peasants, formerly indoor servants

of Rajas.

Royal Donation of land or Village to Brahmans.

Brahman street.

Non-violence.

Vaishnavite Saint of the Tamil Devotional

Cult.

Low-ranking Caste of Non-Brahman Cultivators

and inland fishermen.

Shop-street or bazaar.

One/Sixteenth of a rupee.

"Half-Hall", the smaller hall connecting the

shrine and the large pillared hall (mandapa).

Cultivator or tenant.

Title or rank.

Refuge, also the four stages of life.

Tax on goats.

Altar for the placing of offerings.

Devotion.

Type of cheroot.

A priestly caste, ritually the highest in the

Hindu social order.

Grant of land to Brahmans.

410

Calam

Chantippu :

Cheri <

Chetti/Chettiyar :

Choultry/Chattram:

Choi a / cola

Devadai

Devadasi

Desam

Dharma

Doab

Dubash

Eripatti

Garbha-griha

Gopura

Gramam

Hundi

Idaiyar

Idankai

Inam

: A Tamil measure of paddy and rice, with

regional variations. In Thanjavur it was

equivalent 63.69 lbs. avoirdupois.

Cross-road.

A hamlet of the Adi-Dravida castes.

Merchant caste of South India.

Charitable building for feeding, housing and

drinking water to the travellers.

: A dynasty of the Tamil country centered in

Thanjavur, C.250 B.C. to the sixth century and

ninth to thirteenth centuries.

Godess.

: Dancing girls maintained in a temple to

perform music and dance at ceremonies; later

the word came to denote a caste.

: A south Indian administrative territorial

division.

: Duty, especially pertaining to members of a

caste.

The area between two rivers.

: Literally *two languages': Interpreter;

translator.

: Special land, the revenue of which is kept

aside for maintaining irrigation tanks in

South India.

*Womb-House', the sanctum and sanctorium

of the Hindu temple.

The imposing temple - gateway.

Village dominated by Brahman landlords.

Indigenous bill of exchange.

A Tamil caste of shepherds(herders) .

: Tamil word, literally meaning xleft hand';

later a term denoting a group of associated

castes of the left hand.

: Gift -Land held free of revenue or at

low rates of revenue.

411

Jamabandi

Jati

Kaikolar/

Kaikkila

Ka lam

Ka lam / Cullams

Kallar

Karnam /

Kanakku pillai

Kasu

Kasukara Chetty

Kavalkaran /

Kavalkarar

Kaveri Chetty

Kayalar

Kilvaram

Koravan

Kothiwal

Kottam

Koliyan

Kuthakai

Labbai

Lakh

Lingam

Maganam

Mahajan

Mahal

Maharajalila

Manai vari

Settlement of the amount of revenue

upon an estate, village or district.

Caste or the Kind.

Tamil weaving caste, also known as Sengunta

Mudaliars.

Threshing floor.

A dry machine usually of paddy amounting to

half a bag and in the case of paddy weighing

about 63.69 lbs equals 12 marakkals.

: Caste of cultivators and formerly, of

highwayman and Cattle thieves.

Village accountant.

A copper coin of small denomination, current

in Tamil country.

A Tamil merchant caste.

Watchman.

A Tamil merchant caste.

A subdivision of Tamil Muslims of Coromandel.

The lower share or local owner's share of the

produce of land.

Gypsy caste.

Bankers, Merchant.

An administrative unit.

A Tamil weaving caste formed of Paraiyans who

took to weaving.

A fixed rent tenure.

A subdivision of Tamil Muslims of Coromandel.

One Hundred thousand.

Phallic Symbol: emblem of Lord Siva.

Tamil word for province.

Merchant, Banker.

Estate.

A royal pose of sitting at ease.

House tax, prevalent in South India.

412

Haniagar

Marakkayar

Mandapa

Manyam

Marakkal

Maratha

Meenavar var!

Melvaram

Miras

Mirasdar

Moffusil

Mudaliyar

Munsif

Nadar

Nadu

Nagaratthar

Nagarvasi

Narchanti

Nawab

Nayak

Padmasana

Paisa

Administrative head of a province or district

in Tamil Country.

A subdivision of Tamil Muslims of Coromandel.

The pillared Hall.

Plot of land granted tax free in return for

services, usually within one village.

: Dry measure, usually of paddy about four

litres, one twelfth of a kalam.

Person descended from immigrants or conquerors

from Maratha.

Levy on fishermen.

The "upper share" or king's share of the

produce of land: land revenue.

Hereditary right.

Holder of miras lands, landlords.

: The country; the provinces; areas in the

country as opposed to the Principal station

or town.

: A title of honour and authority. A Tamil

caste of landowners.

Native Judicial official.

Caste of toddy tappers.

A Tamil term for a local territory demarcated

for administrative purposes.

: Term in classical Tamil literature for

merchants; later came to be associated with a

caste of merchants.

Cess levied on goods carried on cross roads

Cross-road.

Title of rank.

Title of former feudatories of the Vijayanagar

empire.

A seated pose of ease with the legs

crossed and soles turned up.

One-fourth of an anna.

413

Palaiyakarar/

Palagar/ Poligar

Pallar/Pallan

Pallava

Panchalas

Panchanna

Paravar

Pariah

Pariyari

Pargana

Parppanar

Patta

Pattadar

Pattakdar

Patti

Pattidar

Pattidari

Pattunoolkarar

Pillai

Pillaiyar

Podhu-Idam

Pon

Raj

Petty chieftain in south India. ,

: A Harijan or "Untouchable" Caste of

agricultural labourers in rice labourers.

: Tamil Dynasty of Kanchipuram that flourished

in the sixth to ninth centuries.

Aggregate of five artisan and service castes.

: The fifth or lowest major sub-division of

Hindu Society. In Thanjavur, it is equivalent

to the scheduled or "Untouchable" Castes.

: A Tamil caste of fisherman, pearl-divers,

boatmen and other maritime occupations.

Tamil labouring caste with untouchable status.

Barber.

District: province; tract of country.

Brahmans.

Document given by collector of revenue to the

revenue page stating terms on which the land

is held and the amount payable.

Holder of a patta.

A revenue farmer in the 1770s and 1780s.

Part of a village: division of land; ancestral

branches of a landlord body.

Holder of a patti.

Joint ownership of a village.

Caste of Silk weavers, originally from Gujarat.

: Subcaste of Vellala, a Tamil agricultural

caste.

Ganapati, the eldest son of Lord Siva and

Parvathi.

Platform built around banyan tree-usually a

meeting place of assemblies.

Literally *gold" (Tamil):A standard gold

coin of the Vijayanagar empire and its

successors, also known as varaha.

Principality; Kingdom.

414

Raja

Ravthar/ Rowther

Salempore

Sarkar/circar

Seer/ Sir

Seth/ shete

Swadeshi

Tahsil

Tahsildar

Taluk/ taluq

Tharai vari

Thesavalamai

Thirugu

Thony/ Dhony

Upari

Ur

Vaisya

Valanadu

Valankai

Vanikar

Vellalar

Vimana

Viragu vari

Viyapari Chetty

Vaishya

Zamindar

Chief; King.

A subdivision of Tamil Muslims of Coromandel.

: Plain white and dyed cotton cloth, a

speciality of Coromandel.

District, Government.

Land cultivated by the proprietor himself.

Indigenous banker and money lender.

Of one's own country; native.

Sub-division of district.

Revenue official in charge of a Tahsil.

Sub-division of district.

A Tamil term meaning xloom tax'.

Customary law of the Tamils of Jaffna (North

Sri Lanka).

Iron-rod for controlling water supply.

: A one-to three-masted boat common on the

Coromandel coast.

Temporary occupant; tenant-at-will.

Village Assembly.

Third group in the varna hierarchy, consisting

of many castes performing commercial and

professional functions.

Administrative Unit.

: Tamil work literally meaning *right hand':

Later a term denoting a group of associated

castes of the right hand.

Tamil derivative of Sanskrit vanik, meaning

*merchant'.

A Tamil agricultural caste.

The elevation of the shrine with super structure

Tax on fire wood.

A Tamil merchant caste.

The third of the four orders of varnas

into which Hindu caste were traditionally

divided. Commerce is the main traditional

occupation of the group.

Landholder; a collector of revenue on behalf

of the Government.

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