Satī

Satī (Devanagari: सती, the feminine of sat "true"; also called suttee) was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. The practice had been banned several times, with the current ban dating to 1829 by the British.

The term is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living) husband Shiva. The term may also be used to refer to the widow herself. The term sati is now sometimes interpreted as "chaste woman."

Ahimsa

Ahimsa (Sanskrit: अहिंसा; IAST: ahiṃsā, Pāli: avihiṃsā) is a term meaning to do no harm (literally: the avoidance of violence – himsa). The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence.

It is an important tenet of some Indian religions (Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism). Ahimsa means kindness and non-violence towards all living things including animals; it respects living beings as a unity, the belief that all living things are connected. Indian leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi strongly believed in this principle. Avoidance of verbal and physical violence is also a part of this principle, although ahimsa recognizes self-defense when necessary, as a sign of a strong spirit. It is closely connected with the notion that all kinds of violence entail negative karmic consequences.

Princely State

A Princely State (also called Native State or Indian State) was a nominally sovereign entity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.

Banjara

The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state of Rajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province of pre-independence Pakistan. They claim to belong to the clan of Agnivanshi Rajputs, and are also known as Banjari, Pindari, Bangala, Banjori, Banjuri, Brinjari, Lamani, Lamadi, Lambani, Labhani, Lambara, Lavani, Lemadi, Lumadale, Labhani Muka, Goola, Gurmarti, Gormati, Kora, Sugali, Sukali, Tanda, Vanjari, Vanzara, and Wanji. Together with the Domba, they are sometimes called the "gypsies of India".

They are divided in two tribes, Maturia, and Labana.

Tiffin

Tiffin is lunch, or any light meal. It originated in British India, and is today found primarily in Indian English. The word originated when Indian custom superseded the British practice of an afternoon tea, leading to a new word for the afternoon meal. It is derived from the obsolete English slang tiffing, for "taking a little drink or sip". When used for "lunch", it is not necessarily a light meal.

litter

The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include lectica (ancient Rome), jiao [较] (China), sedan chairs (England), palanquin (also known as palki Bengali'পালকি' ) (Bangladesh, India), Woh (วอ, chinese style known as giao เกี้ยว) (Thailand), gama (Korea) and tahtırevan (Turkey).

Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more men, some being enclosed for protection from the elements. Larger litters, for example those of the Chinese emperors, may resemble small rooms upon a platform borne upon the shoulders of a dozen or more men. To most efficiently carry a litter, porters will attempt to transfer the load to their shoulders, either by placing the carrying poles upon their shoulders, or the use of a yoke to transfer the load from the carrying poles to the shoulder.

Hartal

Hartal (also hartaal) (Bengali: হরতাল; Hindi: हड़ताल; Urdu: ہڑتال) is a term in many Indian languages for strike action, used often during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience. In addition to being a general strike, it involves the voluntary closing of schools and places of business. It is a mode of appealing to the sympathies of a government to change an unpopular or unacceptable decision.

Haoma

Soma (Sanskrit सोम sóma), or Haoma (Avestan), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities. In the Avesta, Haoma has the entire Yašt 20 and Yasna 9-11 dedicated to it.

Bharat

The name India may refer to either the region of Greater India (the Indian subcontinent), or to the contemporary Republic of India contained therein. The term is derived from the name of the Sindhu or Indus River and has been in use in Greek since the time of Herodotus (5th century BC), via Old Persian transmission. The term appears in Old English in the 9th century, and again in Modern English since the 17th century.

The Republic of India has three principal short names, in both official and popular English usage, each of which is historically significant. All originally designated a single entity comprising all the modern nations of the Indian subcontinent. These names are India and Bharat. The first Article of the Constitution of India states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states." Thus, India and Bharat are equally official short names for the Republic of India, Indians commonly refer to their country as Bharat, India depending on the context and language of conversation.

mudrā

A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. A mudrā is a spiritual gesture and an energetic seal of authenticity employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions and traditions of Dharma and Taoism.

One hundred and eight mudras are used in regular Tantric rituals.

lakh

A lakh or lac is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 10⁵). It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English.

Brahmin

A Brahmin (also Brahman; Brāhmaṇa) is a member of the priestly class in the Indian subcontinent and belongs to the upper caste society. According to the Manusmṛti, there are four "varnas", or classes: the Brahmins (poets, priests, teachers, scholars), the Kshatriyas (kings, agriculturists and nobility), the Vaishyas (merchants), and Shudras (artisans, service providers and laborers). In Hinduism, Brahmins were charged with performing religious duties as priests and preaching Dharma (as "one who prays; a devout or religious man; a Brāhman who is well versed in Vedic texts; one versed in sacred knowledge"). The Brahmins held authority over interpretation of Vedic and Puranic spiritual texts like the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita, and were the teachers of the Vedic period.

Anal

Anal is a Kuki-Chin-Naga language of India and Myanmar, part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It has 13,853 speakers in India (2001 census). Its dialects are Laizo and Malshom.

Devanagari

Devanagari, also called Nagari (Nāgarī, the name of its parent writing system), is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, does not have distinct letter cases, and is recognizable (along with closely related scripts like that of Bengali) by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together.

Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi (pronounced as 'Koochipoodi') is a Classical Indian dance form from Andhra Pradesh, India. Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Divi Taluka of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the present name.

Sepoy

A sepoy (from Persian سپاهی Sipâhi meaning "soldier") was a native of India, a soldier allied to a European power, usually the United Kingdom or Portugal, where the term "sipaio" was used. Specifically, it was the term used in the British Indian Army, and earlier in the East India Company, for an infantry private (a cavalry trooper was a Sowar), and is still so used in the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army. Close to 300,000 sepoys were crucial in securing the subcontinent for the British East India Company, and played a prominent role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 after it was alleged that the new rifles being issued to them used animal fat to grease the casing.

mrdanga

A mrdanga is a double ended North Indian drum similar to the South Indian mrdangam. It is used predominently in Gaudiya, or Bengali Vaishnava devotional music, and especially in kirtan.

Panchayat

The Panchayat is a South Asian political system mainly in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. "Panchayat" literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages. Modern Indian government has decentralised several administrative functions to the village level, empowering elected gram panchayats. Gram panchayats are not to be confused with the unelected khap panchayats (or caste panchayats) found in some parts of India.

Nadar

Nadar (Tamil: நாடார்) "Nadar" (also referred as Kshatriya Nadar, Nadan, Nataar, Gramani and Shanar) is one of the prominent castes of Tamil Nadu, South India.

Gymnosophists

Gymnosophists is the name (meaning "naked philosophers") given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought (sadhus or yogis).

The Digambar Jain monks in India even now remain unclothed; they have been identified as the gymnosophists by several researchers.