[209] This exceedingly plain expression is, so far from seeming gross or indelicate, considered as a very high compliment among Orientals.
[210] Literally, "recite the la haul," &c, vide note 2, p. 5.
[211] Jogis are Hindu ascetics, or fanatics; some of them let the nails grow through the palm of their hands by keeping their fists shut, &c.
[212] The maunis are Hindu ascetics who vow everlasting silence.
[213] The sevras are mendicants of the Jain sects.
[214] Majnun is a mad lover of eastern romance, who pined in vain for the cruel Laili. Farhad is equally celebrated as an unhappy amant who perished for Shirin.
[215] The word salam, "salutation," is used idiomatically in the sense of our terms "compliments" or "respects," &c. And in that sense it has now become, in India, adopted into the English language.
[216] The marriage portion here alluded to is not to be taken in the vague sense we attach to the term. The word mahar denotes a present made to, or a portion settled on, the wife at or before marriage.
[217] Nimroz is that part of Persia which comprehends the provinces of Sijistan and Mikran, towards the south-east.
[218] The man, commonly called "maund," a measure of weight, about eighty pounds avoirdupois.