Tracking Indian words in English has been a favourite topic with columnists in the Indian media. This decade has seen the publication of new editions of dictionaries, and each one has added new words from Indian sources, borrowed either in India or in England.
It is one thing to be interested in keeping count of new words, and quite another to see how Indian words have fared in literary works. In the early days of the British empire, Indian words were liberally used in communications or despatches sent to London by soldiers and civil servants who picked these up in India. Some words were even from neighbouring countries such as Malaya and Afghanistan, passing through India.
In the century following the founding of the East India Company, British writers introduced words from the East in their works. John Milton loved the East’s resonating proper nouns: “Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,/Samarkand by Oxus, Temir’s throne/To Paquin of Sinaian Kings; and then/to Agra and Lahor of Great Moghul” (Paradise Lost).
Thomas Moore in his poem Lalla Rookh also uses lists of sonorous names: “Malaya’s nectared mangosteen/Prunes from Bokhara, and sweet nuts/From the far groves of Samarkand.” Candahar is a pleasing combination of sounds, and corresponds to the Indian name, Gandhara. Poets were quick to pick up this word. Milton in Paradise Regained: “From Archosia, from Candaor east,/ And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs/ of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales.”
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