healthy ghee

Like any clarified butter, ghee is composed almost entirely of saturated fat. Ghee has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol in one rodent study.^[4] Studies in Wistar rats have revealed one mechanism by which ghee reduces plasma LDL cholesterol. This action is mediated by an increased secretion of biliary lipids. The nutrition facts label found on bottled cow's ghee produced in the USA indicates 8 mg of cholesterol per teaspoon.Indian restaurants and some households may use hydrogenated vegetable oil (also known as vanaspati, Dalda, or "vegetable ghee") in place of ghee for economic reasons. This "vegetable ghee" is actually polyunsaturated or monounsaturated partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, a trans fat. Trans fats are increasingly linked to serious chronic health conditions. Not only is "vegetable ghee" implicated in causing high LDL, it also lacks the health-promoting benefits claimed for "Shuddh" (Hindi for Pure) ghee. The term Shuddh Ghee, however, is not officially enforced in many regions, so partially hydrogenated oils are marketed as Pure Ghee in some areas. Where this is illegal in India, law-enforcement often cracks down on the sale of fake ghee.^[5] Ghee is also sometimes called desi (country-made) ghee or asli (genuine) ghee to distinguish it from "vegetable ghee".When cooking, it can be unhealthy to heat polyunsaturated oils such as vegetable oils to high temperatures. Doing so creates peroxides and other free radicals. These substances lead to a variety of health problems and diseases. On the other hand, ghee has a very high smoke pointand doesn't burn or smoke easily during cooking. Because ghee has the more stable saturated bonds (i.e., it lacks double bonds which are easily damaged by heat) it is not as likely to form dangerous free radicals or advanced glycation endproducts when cooking

some 12 words

1. Bungalow

   
   

   This word actually came from a Hindi word which basically means “something belonging to a Bengal”. During the British ruling in India somewhere around the 17th century, bungalows were usually referred to cottages built in Bengal area for the British settlers.

2. Pyjamas

   

   Originally, this word was from Urdu words “pay” or leg and “jama” or clothing. “Payjama” or leg clothing was a common, loose pair of trousers made of cool cotton or silk worn by men and women in countries like India and Turkey. However, because the loose garmentsare pretty comfortable, the Europeans who were living in these countries at that time wore them to bed.

3. Horde

   
   

   This word now refers to a large crowd of people. However, it was originally the name of a tribe of nomads who lived in tents and migrated from one place to another. This word came from the Urdu word “ordu” or royal camp.

4. Jungle

   
   

   This word actually came from a Hindi word which originally meant wasteland or uncultivated land. The root word was taken from Sanskrit language which means rough and arid. However, now this word refers to an area of tropical forest where trees and plants grow very thickly.

5. Chit

   
   

   The word came from Hindi “chitthi” or a note or a pass. Now, it refers to a short written note, signed by somebody, showing an amount of money owed.

6. Shampoo

   
   

   This word was from a Hindi word “campoo” or press. This word was used during the 18th century by the Europeans who were in the Turkish baths. This is basically a word to give instruction to the masseur to press and massage. Somehow or rather along the way, the word became shampoo and it refers to the liquid soap used to clean hair, furniture, carpet and so on or the act of washing hair using shampoo.

7. Thug

   
   

   This word came from a Hindi word “thag” or thief or swindler. The thags at that time were professional robbers who pretended to be travelers in the deep forests of India. They robbed and killed whoever came along the way. The thug now refers to similar type of violent person, usually a criminal.

8. Loot

   
   

   The word came from Sanskrit “lut” or to rob. During the British ruling in India, the soldiers would usually take away all the valuables from the enemy after winning a battle. Basically the meaning of the word remains and it also now refers to the act of stealing from anyone.

9. Cushy

   
   

   This was originally an Urdu word “kushi” or pleasure. It basically refers to easy job or pleasant situation.

10. Kedgeree

    
    

    This word was from Hindi word “kichri” or a dish of rice. Now, this word refers to hot dish of rice, fish and egg cooked together.

11. Juggernaut

    
    

    This word came from Sanskrit “Jagannatha” or Lord of the World. This word refers to the Hindu God Krishna who will be worshipped by the followers and each year there will be a procession to drag his huge image on a large chariot. The word was unconsciously borrowed by the English in the 19th century to refer to heavy vehicles like large lorry and a heavy-duty truck.

12. Jodhpurs

    
    

    This word came from the word Jodhpur which is a city in west India. The men in this city wore a type of garments. In late 19th century, the English used similar type of garments, i.e. trousers that are loose above the knee and tight from the knee to ankle, worn when riding a horse.

    
    

    
    

    -----------------------------------Some Indian borrowings are listed below:

    
    Philosophical and Learned Terms

    Aryan - A member of the people who spoke the parent language of the Indo-European languages. In Nazism, a Caucasian Gentile, especially Nordic type.
    Of or relating to Indo-Iranian languages.
    Sanskrit arya - noble

    chakra - One of the seven centers of spiritual energy in the human body according to yoga philosophy.
    Sanskrit chakram - wheel, circle

    dharma - A Buddhist principle and ultimate truth. Social custom and right behavior. Hindu moral law.
    Hindi dharma, from Sanskrit

    Guru - A teacher and a guide in spiritual and philosophical matters. A mentor. A recognized leader in a field. "Fitness Guru"
    Hindi/Punjab - guru (teacher), from Sanskrit guruh -weighty, heavy, grave

    Juggernaut - Something, such as a belief or an institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed.
    An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seem to crush everything in its path.
    The name of the Hindu deity Krishna - Juggernath
    Hindi Jaganath - Lord Krishna, from Sanskrit jaganatha : jagath -moving/the world + nathah - Lord/God

    Mandala - Any of various ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism, as an aid to meditation. 
    Tamil mutalai - ball, from Sanskrit mandalam - circle

    Nirvana - In Buddhism, the ineffable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion. A transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire now sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma. It represents the final goal in Buddhism.
    A state of perfect happiness.
    From Sanskrit nirvana, nirva -be extinguished + nis -out + va - to blow

    Pariah - A social outcast. An Untouchable.
    Tamil pariah - caste name which means 'hereditary drummer'. The caste system in India placed pariahs or untouchables very low in society. First recorded in English in 1613.

    Pundit - A learned person. A source of opinion. A critic. "a political pundit" 
    Hindi pandit - a learned man, from Sanskrit panditah - learned scholar, perhaps from Dravidian origin.
    Purdah - A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separated from men or strangers. The Hindu or Muslim system of sex segregation, practiced especially by women in seclusion. 
    Social seclusion: 'artists living in luxurious purdah'
    Urdu/Persian paradah - veil, curtain. pan-around, over + da- to place

    Sati (suttee) - the former Hindu practice of a widow immolating herself on her husbands funeral pyre. 
    Hindi sati, from Sanskrit meaning 'faithful wife'
    This practice was banned in India in the early 20th century, when the British ruled over India. However it continues even today, in under developed states and rural villages, such as Bihar (a state in North India)

    Sutra - a rule or aphorism in Sanskrit literature or a set of these grammar or Hindu law or philosophy. 
    In Buddhism - A scriptural narrative, especially a text traditionally regarded as a discourse of the Buddha. 
    Sanskrit - sutram, tread, string

    Kamasutra - A Sanskrit treatise setting forth rules for sexual, sensuous and sensual love, and marriage: in accordance with Hindu law, made popular today by Western marital therapists and psychologists. 
    Sanskrit - Kamasutram: kamah - love, sutram - thread, string, manual

    Swastika - The emblem of the Nazi Germany, officially adopted in 1935. In Buddhism and Hinduism, a religious symbol representing noble qualities and good luck. 
    An ancient cosmic symbol formed by a Greek cross with ends of the arms bent at right angles either clockwise or a counterclockwise direction. 
    Sanskrit svastika - sign of good luck: Svast - well being

    Yoga - A Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which includes breath control, simple meditation and the adoption of specific body postures widely practiced for relaxation.
    Sanskrit, literally meaning 'union', referring to the union of the mind, body and spirit.

    
    Clothes, Clothing and Fashion

    Bandana (bandanna) - A large handkerchief usually figured and brightly colored. 
    Portuguese from, Hindi bandhunu (tie dyeing) and bandhana (to tie): from Sanskrit bhandhana tying.
    This word was probably absorbed to Portuguese, when the Portuguese ruled over Goa, Bombay during the early part of the 17th century, and from Portuguese was absorbed to English.

    Bindi - A dot marked on the forehead, by Hindu wives, and sometimes men, to adorn or as a sign of the third eye - wisdom or God Shiva.
    From Hindi bindi. Made famous in the West by pop music singers.

    Bangle - A rigid bracelet or anklet, especially one with no clasp. An ornament that hangs from a bracelet or necklace.
    Hindi bungri - glass

    Cashmere - Fine downy wool growing in the outer hair of the cashmere goat. A soft fabric made out of this wool or similar fibres. Named after the state of Kashmir in India, where these goats were found in abundance, and famous for woolen clothing during the British Raj.

    Chintz - A printed and glazed cotton fabric, usually of bright colors. 
    Cotton cloth, especially plain white or unbleached.
    Hindi chint, from Sanskrit citra - shiny, variegated

    Cummerbund - A broad sash, especially one that is pleated lengthwise & worn as an article of formal dress, as with dinner jacket. 
    Hindi & Urdu - kamarband, from Persian kamar- waist + bandi- band
    The sash was formally worn in the Indian subcontinent by domestic workers and low status office workers.

    Dhoti - A loincloth worn by Hindu men in India. The cotton fabric used for such loincloths.
    From Hindi dhoti

    Dungaree - A sturdy, often blue, denim fabric. Trousers or overalls made of sturdy denim fabric. 
    Hindi dumgri - hard/coarse.

    Gunny - A coarse, heavy fabric made of jute or hemp, used especially for bags or sacks. 
    Hindi ghoni - sack, from Sanskrit gharati-sack

    Jute - Either of 2 plants yielding a fiber used for sacking and cordage.
    Bengali jhuto, from Sanskrit jutah - twisted hair, probably of Dravidian origin.

    Jodhpurs - Long riding breeches, tight from the knee to ankle, named after the ancient city, Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan in North India. Men in this state wear trousers akin to riding breeches, hence the name 'jodhpurs'.

    Khaki - A light olive brown to moderate or light yellowish brown. A sturdy cloth of this color. Khakis - trousers made from this cloth.
    Urdu khaki - dusty or dust colored, from Persian khak - dust

    Musk- A strong smelling reddish brown substance which is secreted by the male musk-deer for scent making, which is also an important ingredient in perfumery. 
    From Late Latin miscus, from Persian musk, from Sanskrit muska (scrotum)

    Pajamas/pyjama - A lose fitting garment consisting of trousers and a jacket, worn for sleeping or lounging, often used in plural.
    Hindi paijama - loose fitting trousers, from Persian pai- leg + jamah - garment

    Sari - A garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately run around the body, worn by women in the Indian subcontinent. It has 6 yards of material, with 1.5 yards hanging from one shoulder down to the ground, intricately woven with bright or contrasting colors. 
    From Hindi sari

    Shampoo - A liquid preparation containing soap for washing hair.
    Hindi campoo - press.

    
    Words related to Food

    Curry - A heavily spiced sauce or relish made with curry powder and eaten with rice, meat, fish or other food.
    A dish seasoned with curry powder - a mixture of various spices. 
    Tamil - kari

    Ginger - Mid E gingiveri from Old E gingifer, from Old French gingivre, from Med Latin-gingiber, from Latin zungiberi, from Greek - zingiberis from Pali singieram, from Dravidian (similar to Tamil) inciver, inci - ginger + ver- root.

    Ghee - A clarified, semi-fluid butter used especially in Indian cooking
    Hindi ghi, from Sanskrit gharati - sprinkles.

    Kebab - Dish of small pieces of meat and/or vegetables, cooked on skewers
    Urdu/Persian kabab - roasted meat.

    Kedgeree - A dish of rice, fish, hard-boiled eggs, often served for breakfast. In North India kedgeree refers to a mixture of rice cooked with butter and dhal, with spices and shredded onions.
    Hindi kedegree - butter rice

    Mango - A fleshy yellowish-red tropical fruit, which is eaten ripe or used green for pickels. From Portuguese manga, from Malay manga, from Tamil manaky which means mango tree fruit.

    
    Animal Names

    Mongoose - Any of various Old World carnivorous mammals having agile body and a long tail and noted for the ability to seize and kill venomous snakes. 
    Marathi mangus, of Dravidian origin.

    Anaconda - A large non-venomous arboreal snake of tropical South America that kills its prey by suffocating in its coils. 
    Alteration of Sinhalese henakandaya - whip snake.

    Cheetah - A long-legged, swift running wild cat of Africa and Southwest Asia, having black-spotted, tawny fur and non-retractile claws.
    The fastest animal on land can run for short distances at about 96kn (60 miles) per hour. 
    Hindi cita, from Sanskrit citrakaya - tiger/leopard: Citra- variegated + kaya - body

    
    Miscellaneous

    Bungalow - A small house or cottage usually having a single story and sometimes as additional attic story. A thatched or tiled one-story house in India surrounded by a wide veranda.
    Hindi bangala, Bengali bungalow, Gujarati bangalo

    Bazaar - A market consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls especially one in the Middle East. A fair or sale at which miscellaneous articles are sold, often for charitable purposes.
    Italian bazaro, and Urdu bazaar, both from Persian.

    Catamaran - A boat with two parallel hulls or floats, especially a light sailboat with a mast mounted on a transverse frame joining the hulls: A raft of logs or floats lashed together and propelled by a paddles or sails.
    Tamil kattumaram: kattu- to tie + maram- wood flog: tied wood

    Cheroot (sheroot) - A cigar with square cut ends
    French cheroute, from Tamil curuttu/churuttu/shuruttu - roll of tobacco
    This word would have been absorbed into the French language during the early 16th century, when French were trying to get a foot hold in South India (Hyderabad), and from French would have come into English.

    Coir - Fiber from the outer husk of the coconut, used in potting compost and for making ropes and matting.
    Origin from Malayalam kayaru - cord

    Coolie - (coolly) Offensive. An unskilled Asian laborer 
    Hindi and Telegu: kuli - day laborer, perhaps from kuli - a tribe in Gujarat or Urdu kuli - slave
    A person from the Indian subcontinent: a person of Indian descent (Offensive)

    Dinghy - A small open boat carried as a tender, lifeboat, or pleasure craft on a larger boat" A small rowboat. An inflatable rubber life raft.
    Hindi - dimgi, variant of demgi - float, raft
    The 'gh' in English serves to indicate the hard 'g'

    Gymkhana - Any of various meets at which contests are held to test the skill of the competitors, as in equestrian ship, gymnastics or sports car racing. 
    Probably alteration (influenced by gymnastics) fromHindi gend-khana - race court:
    gend- ball + khana - house

    Indigo - A tropical plant of the pea family, which was formerly widely cultivated as a source of dark blue dye.
    The dark blue dye obtained from this plant
    A color between blue and violet in the spectrum
    From Portuguese indigo, via Latin, from Greek Indikon, from India, the River Iindus

    Loot (n) - Valuables pillaged in time of war: spoils
    Stolen goods: Goods illicitly obtained as by bribery.
    Loot (v) To pillage, spoil
    Hindi lut, from Sanskrit loptrum/lotrum - plunder

    Palanquin (palankeen) - A covered litter carried on poles on the shoulders of two or four men, formerly used in Eastern Asia.
    Portuguese - palanquim, from Javanese pelangki, from Pali pallanko, from Sanskrit paryankah - couch, bed

    Polo - A game resembling hockey, played on horse back with a long handled clubs and a wooden ball. An ancient game of the East still played in upper Indus valley (extreme West of the Himalayas). Introduced first at Calcutta and a little later in Punjab and played first in England in 1871.
    From Balti language (a Tibeto- Burman language) meaning ball

    Teak - hard durable timbre used in shipbuilding and for making furniture. The large deciduous tree native to India and South East Asia, which yields this timber.
    From Portuguese teca, from Tamil Tamil/Malayalam tekka

doolally tap

[Q] What is the origin of doolally tap? 

[A] This is an excellent illustration of the reach, not only of the Internet, but of the English language itself. The expression is certainly a British one (though now not so often heard in that form) but to find its origins we must travel to India.

In 1861, the British army established a military base and sanatorium at Deolali, about 100 miles north-east of Bombay (it is still an important Indian military centre today). One of its functions was to act as a transit camp for soldiers who had finished their tours of duty (“time-expired”, in the jargon of the time) and were waiting for a troop ship to take them back to Britain. Ships left Bombay only between November and March, so a soldier ending his tour outside those dates might have a long wait for transport.

The effects are best explained in the words of Frank Richards, who knew the camp well. He wrote in Old Soldier Sahib in 1936:

The time-expired men at Deolalie had no arms or equipment; they showed kit now and again and occasionally went on a route march, but time hung heavily on their hands and in some cases men who had been exemplary soldiers got into serious trouble and were awarded terms of imprisonment before they were sent home. Others contracted venereal disease and had to go to hospital. The well-known saying among soldiers when speaking of a man who does queer things, “Oh, he’s got the Doo-lally tap,” originated, I think, in the peculiar way men behaved owing to the boredom of that camp.

To say someone was doolally tap meant he was mad, or at least very eccentric. The first bit is obviously the result of the standard British soldier’s way of hacking foreign-sounding placenames into something that sounded English. The second part is from a Persian or Urdu word tap, a malarial fever (which is ultimately from Sanskrit tapa, heat or torment). So the whole expression might be loosely translated as “camp fever”.

We’re not sure when the term entered soldier’s jargon. The earliest example I know of is in a glossary forming part of a book with the title Rhymes of the Rookies by W E Christian, published in 1917. It would not be at all surprising to one day turn up an instance from decades earlier.

The full expression, though it’s still heard from time to time, must have already been falling out of common use when you heard it, since most reference books imply that by the 1940s it had already been shortened todoolally. That’s the way people like me learned it around that period, often as “he’s gone doolally”, meaning that somebody’s showing signs of odd behaviour. You can still often hear it, though not one speaker in a thousand can connect it to a town in India.

india and diamonds

i saw this article in  cbs news website

"Diamond" comes from the Greek "adamao": "I tame" or "I subdue." The adjective "adamas" was used to describe the hardest substance known, and eventually became synonymous with diamond. 

Knowledge of diamond starts in India, where it was first mined. The word most generally used for diamond in Sanskrit is transliterated as “vajra,” "thunderbolt," and “indrayudha,” "Indra's weapon." Because Indra is the warrior god from Vedic scriptures, the foundation of Hinduism, the thunderbolt symbol indicates much about the Indian conception of diamond. 

Early descriptions of diamond date to the 4th century BC. By then diamond was a valued material. The earliest known reference to diamond is a Sanskrit manuscript by a minister in a northern Indian dynasty. The work is dated from 320-296 BCE. 

Small numbers of diamonds began appearing in European regalia and jewelry in the 13th century, set as accent points among pearls in wrought gold. By the 16th century the diamonds became larger and more prominent, in response to the development of diamond faceting, which enhances their brilliance and fire. Diamonds came to dominate small jewels during the 17th century and large ones by the 18th century. 

In the 13th Century, Louis IX of France established a law reserving diamonds for the king. This bespeaks the rarity of diamonds and the value conferred on them at that time. Within 100 years diamonds appeared in royal jewelry of both men and women, then among the greater European aristocracy, with the wealthy merchant class showing the occasional diamond by the 17th century. 

As more diamonds reached Europe, demand for them increased. The earliest diamond-cutting industry is believed to have been in Venice, a trade capital, starting sometime after 1330. Diamond cutting may have arrived in Paris by the late 14th century. By the late 14th century, the diamond trade route went to Bruges and Paris, and later to Antwerp. 

By 1499, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to the Orient around the Cape of Good Hope, providing Europeans an end-run around the Arabic impediment to the trade of diamonds coming from India. 

In the 18th century the diamond became even more abundant. They were worn principally by women. Substantial quantities of diamonds arrived from South America, making conspicuous display of the gem possible. Diamonds were reserved for evening since it was considered vulgar to parade them by day. Rather than a miscellany of jewels of different types, a matched set of jewelry -- was now worn at all important social events. 

Two events near the end of the 19th century helped change the role of diamonds for the next century. First, the discovery in the 1870s of diamond deposits of unprecedented richness in South Africa changed diamond from a rare gem to one potentially available to anyone who could afford it. Second, the French crown jewels, sold in 1887, were consumed by newly wealthy capitalists, particularly in the United States, where a taste and capacity for opulent consumption was burgeoning. 

Seen under the blaze of gas and electric lighting, diamond's brilliance showed to greater advantage than colored stones, and so designs incorporated them in far greater numbers than at any time in history. 

Before the 1870s diamonds were still rare, and associated with the aristocracy. In 1871, however, world annual production, derived primarily from South Africa, exceeded 1 million carats for the first time. From then on, diamonds would be produced at a prodigious rate. 

Simultaneously, the fall of Napoleon III in 1871 left the Third Republic of France with a problematic symbol of monarchy: the crown jewels, largely reset by Empress Eugenie in the style of the great Louis kings. It was decided to auction the bulk, retaining a few key objects for the State. 

With French buyers such as Boucheron and Bapst in attendance, Tiffany & Co. of New York bought the major share; 22 lots for $480,000, a sum greater than the combined purchases of the 9 next-largest buyers. 

Today diamonds are mined in about 25 countries, on every continent but Europe and Antarctica. However, only a few diamond deposits were known until the 20th century, when scientific understanding and technology extended diamond exploration and mining around the globe. For 1,000 years, starting in roughly the 4th century BC, India was the only source of diamonds. 

In 1725, important sources were discovered in Brazil, and in the 1870s major finds in South Africa marked a dramatic increase in the diamond supply. Additional major producers now include several African countries, Siberian Russia, and Australia. 

It is a modern misconception that the world's diamonds come primarily from South Africa: diamonds are a worldwide resource. The common characteristic of primary diamond deposits is the ancient terrain that hosts the kimberlite and lamproite pipes that bring diamonds to Earth's surface. 

Diamond production has increased enormously in the 20th century. India's maximum production, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000 carats annually in the 16th century, is very small compared to the current production of around 100 million carats. 

For the most part, except for major wars and economic recessions, diamond production has been steadily increasing since then, with non-African sources growing in relative proportion. Major production is now dominated by Australia, Botswana, Russia, and Congo Republic (Zaire), but South Africa is still a major producer, in both volume and value.