21. Special names and bad names.
The higher castes have two names, one given by the Joshi, which is called rāshi-ka-nām or the ceremonial name, rāshi meaning the Nakshatra or moon’s daily mansion under which the child was born. This is kept secret and only used in marriage and other ceremonies, though the practice is now tending to decay. The other is the chaltu or current name, and may either be a second ordinary name, such as those already given, or it may be taken from some peculiarity of the child. Names of the latter class are: Bhūra, brown; Putro, a doll, given to a pretty child; Dukāli, born in famine-time; Mahinga, dear or expensive; Chhota, little; Bābu, equivalent to little prince or noble; Pāpa, father; Kakku, born in the cucumber season; Lada, pet; Pattu, a somersault; Judāwan, cooling, and so on. Bad names are also given to avert ill-luck and remove the enmity of the spirits hostile to children, if the mother’s previous babies have been lost. Instances of these are Raisa, short in stature; Lūla, having a maimed arm; Ghasīta, dragged along on a board; Damru, bought for a farthing; Khairāti, alms; Dukhi, pain; Kubra, hunch-back; Gudri, rag; Kāna, one-eyed; Birla, thin or lean; Bisāhu, bought or purchased; and Bulāki and Chedi, having a pierced nostril; these names are given to a boy whose nostril has been pierced to make him resemble a girl and thus decrease his value.[18] Further instances of such names have been given in other articles.
[1] Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xxi. p. 184.
[2] Phaseolus radiatus.
[3] Newcomb’s Astronomy for Everybody, p. 33.
[4] Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the sidereal year is not the same as the solar year, being about 20 minutes longer. That is, the sun passes a particular star a second time in a period of 365 days 6 hours and 9 minutes, while it passes the equatorial point in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 49 seconds, this latter period being the solar year. The difference is due to slight changes in the direction of the earth’s axis, which change the position of the celestial equator and of the equinoctial point where the sun crosses it. It is not clear how the Hindus get over this difficulty, but the point does not affect the general account.
[5] The stars corresponding to the nakshatras and their symbols are mainly taken from Mr. L. D. Barnett’s Antiquities of India, pp. 190, 191, compared with the list in Mr. W. Brennand’s Hindu Astronomy, pp. 40, 42.
[6] Taken from Professor Newcomb’s Astronomy for Everybody.
[7] The moon’s orbit is really an ellipse like that of the earth and all the planets.
[8] Barnett, op. cit. p. 190.
[9] The Indian Calendar, by Messrs. Sewell and Dikshit, pp. 11 and 25.
[10] Brennand’s Hindu Astronomy, p. 100.
[11] The Indian Calendar, Sewell and Dikshit, p. 28 and Table I.
[12] This seems to have been done by some ancient Indian astronomers.
[13] The Indian Calendar, p. 29.
[14] Taken from Brennand’s Hindu Astronomy, p. 39.
[15] Barnett, Antiquities of India, p. 193.
[16] The above particulars regarding the measurement of time by the ghariāl are taken from ‘An Account of the Hindustāni Horometry’ in Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 81, by John Gilchrist, Esq. The account appears to be to some extent controversial, and it is possible that the arrangement of the gharis may have varied in different localities.
[17] The information contained in this paragraph is taken from Captain Mackintosh’s Report on the Rāmosis, chap. iii. (India Office Library Tracts), in which a large variety of rules are given.
[18] Some of these names and also some of the women’s names have been taken from Colonel Temple’s Proper Names of the Punjābis.