A popular picture of Hanuman shows him tearing open his chest. Inside, “everyone is stunned to see Rama and Sita literally in his heart,” as one retelling puts it.
Its origin is less clear. The scene “does not appear in Valmiki’s Ramayan,” the Indian site Shikshanam notes, and it says that the scene is also missing from the Ramcharitmanas. It notes that the scene appears in the Krittivasi Ramayan, a Bengali retelling of the 15th century. That origin rests on this one source.
In 2001 Tata Finance, a company of the Tata group, was caught in a financial controversy. The financial journalist Sucheta Dalal reported that “the Tatas would meet all of TFL’s financial obligations to its lenders and depositors.”
She added: “Given the Tata’s blue-chip reputation, the assurance has helped avoid a run on the company.”
In the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, King Shantanu wants to marry Satyavati. Her father has doubts about the rights of her future sons. Shantanu’s son Devavrata answers him in front of the assembled chiefs: “Ye kings, I have already relinquished my right to the throne.”
The father still has doubts about Devavrata’s own children. So Devavrata adds: “O fisherman, from this day I adopt the vow of Brahmacharya,” lifelong celibacy. By this vow he became known as Bhishma.
Every year Kerala celebrates Onam, the festival of King Mahabali’s return. In the story, Vishnu comes to Mahabali as Vamana, a young Brahmin, and asks for as much land as he can cover in three steps. Mahabali’s guru Shukracharya warns him, but “he decided to keep his promise.”
Vamana covers the earth and the heavens in two steps, and Mahabali offers his own head for the third. Vamana grants him a boon: “that he could return to his kingdom during the 10-day festival of Onam.”
Naan oru thadava sonna, nooru thadava sonna madhiri. If I say it once, it is as if I had said it a hundred times. Rajinikanth says it in the Tamil film Baasha (1995).
Ghar ka aadmi. A man of the house. The Rekhta dictionary gives “member of one’s family, family friend.” Its Hindi entry extends the meaning to relatives, a personal servant and an acquaintance.
Ghar ki baat. A matter of the house. Rekhta gives in Hindi a secret of the house, a matter between ourselves, a private matter.
Langotiya yaar. A loincloth friend. Rekhta gives “an old friend (from childhood), a very intimate friend, a playmate, a crony, bosom buddies.”
In the 2021 West Bengal assembly election, the Trinamool Congress launched the slogan Bangla nijer meyekei chai, Bengal wants its own daughter.
The party presented the leaders of the opposition party as “outsiders who are on ‘election tourism’ to the state,” the Deccan Herald reported. “They don’t want some outsiders to take over the reins of Bengal,” a party leader said.
Bichauliya. The Rekhta dictionary translates it as mediator, arbitrator, go-between and middleman. Its Hindi definitions add a person who mediates to settle a deal, a person who steps in between to get something done, and a person who arranges a marriage or an engagement.
In the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, before the war, Krishna offers Karna a place on the side of the Pandavas. Karna refuses. “I cannot venture, O Janardana, to behave falsely towards the intelligent son of Dhritarashtra,” he says in the Ganguli translation. “I have, O Krishna, enjoyed sovereignty for thirteen years, without a thorn on my side.”
Later his mother, Kunti, makes the same request. Karna answers her: “How can I render that friendship of Dhritarashtra’s sons utterly futile?”
Namak halaal, true to the salt. Namak haraam, false to the salt. The Rekhta dictionary defines namak haraam hona as to be treacherous, a traitor, one who harms his benefactor, disloyal. Namak halaal hona means to be loyal, grateful and indebted.
Two Hindi films carry the words as their titles. Namak Haraam (1973), directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starred Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. Namak Halaal (1982), directed by Prakash Mehra, starred Amitabh Bachchan.