life == Here and throughout the
story, Ghisu is made to pronounce many Persianized words poorly, to show his rustic
dialect and/or lack of education. For "life," instead of zindagānī
he says jindagānī ; for "faithlessness," instead
of be-vafāʾī he says be-vaphāʾī
. Madhav makes the same kind of mistakes. The narrative voice in the story never
makes such mistakes. These mistakes are carefully reproduced in the Urdu-script
versions of the story; in the Devanagari ones, for various reasons they are harder
to reproduce and convey accurately. Chamars
== An untouchable caste group, the chamār are often considered
to be leather-workers. The North Indian caste divisions in Premchand's time are
discussed at some length by the *Imperial
Gazetteer*. ascetics
== Both versions mix Islamic and Hindu religious vocabulary in varying ways and
to varying degrees. Here, "ascetics" = sādhū (U), sādhu
(D); "exercises in self-discipline to achieve contentment and patience" = qanāʿat
aur tavakkul ke liʾe ẓabt̤-e nafs (u); santosh aur dhairya ke liye sañyam
aur niyam (D). pious
== Both versions delight in presenting the characters' behavior in fancy religious
terms. Here, "pious" = zāhidānah (U), ākāsh-v:ritti
(D); "respectful" = saʿādatmand (U), supūt
(D). stomachs
== The idiom is a powerful one, and untranslatable. Literally, she kept filling
the 'hells' of both of those ones devoid of honor/shame. The idea of course is
that an empty stomach causes suffering like the torments of hell. The words are
the same in both versions: in donoñ be-ġhairatoñ kā dozaḳh
bhartī rahtī thī (U,D). ghost-witch
== The appearance of a chuṛail (U,D) is, in South Asian
folk tradition, a dangerous possibility when a woman dies prematurely and in a
state of strong, unsatisfied desire. A woman who dies in childbirth would be very
likely to become a hostile ghost who would linger in such a guise, lurk in certain
trees, and leap out to attack passersby at night. The best thing to do then would
be to hire an exorcist, or ojhā (U,D). tricksters
== The group that Ghisu joins is shāt̤iroñ kī fitnah-pardāz
jamāʿat (U), baiṭhakbājoñ kī kutsit mañḍalī
(D). puris
== This feast consists of: pūṛiyāñ , ghī , chaṭnī , rāʾitah
, tīn t̤araḥ ke sūkhe sāg , ek rasedār tarkārī , dahī , chaṭnī , miṭhāʾī
; also mentioned are kachoṛiyāñ and pān
(U). The puris receive special notice, and will also be emphasized at the end
of the story. Ghisua
== As a nickname, ghisuvā (U), ghisu'ā
(D) here sounds sarcastic and contemptuous rather than friendly. poles
== These "bamboo poles and such," bāñs-vāñs (U,D), will
be used to make the stretcher on which the body will be carried to the cremation
ground. sers
== "Two sers," ser (U,D), would be about four pounds, which
sounds like a remarkable amount of puris. But then, they did eat to the bursting
point, and still had some left over. Heaven
== Before saying this little prayer, Madhav "bowed his head in pious confirmation":
farq-e ʿaqīdat jhukākar taṣdīq kī (U), shraddhā
se sir jhukākar tasdīq kī (D). "Heaven" is baiku;N;Th (U,D), the
special heaven of Lord Vishnu. sindur
== The bridegroom's putting red ochre in the parting of a bride's hair is an important
part of some Hindu wedding ceremonies. 'an ass
with a glass' == The idiom is chullū meñ ullū (U),
which literally means 'in the palm of a hand, an owl'. An owl is an emblem of
stupidity in North India, and the reference is to people who become intoxicated
quickly, with a mere swallow of wine-- as much as could be held in the hollow
of one's palm. In the Devanagari-script version, it's ek chullū
meñ mast ho jāte haiñ . half-alive
== The Urdu-script version has the evocative zindah dar-gor
, literally "alive in the tomb." The Devanagari version has "neither alive nor
dead," na jīte haiñ na marte haiñ . These passive drinkers
were literally seized and dragged to the wine-house by "the disaster of life":
zīst kī balā yahāñ kheñch lātī thī (U), jīvan
kī bādhā'eñ yahāñ khīñch lātī thī (D). temptress
== The word is really, in both versions, ṭhaginī , or
female ṭhag (the source of the English word "thug"). Thus
the addressee is evoked as a kind of quasi-religious murderous bandit who would
allure and reassure a traveler, then suddenly strangle him. On ṭhagī
: *the
BBC*.