ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2394 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2394 ************************************ 17 Nov 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a merchant caste Hindu woman in late 16th century Agra. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, we have not found evidence that either of these names was used in 16th century India. Our impression based on our limited research is that modern and medieval Indian names generally have little overlap. is one of the names of the goddess Lakshmi, perhaps also related to the name of the god Indra [1]; we do not know when it came into normal use. We have found no evidence that has ever been used as a woman's given name. However, that may simply be a reflection of our limited resources on Indian names. We found a modern , but only as a masculine given name and as a surname. Here is a list of some Rajasthani feminine names we've found in period sources [2, 3, 4]: Padmini Panchali Draupadi Rukmini Ratnavali Durgavati Mira Shabari Maryam (originally a Muslim name in India, but used by a Hindu in 1562) Our Indian consultant, Lady Madrun, tells us that you are also speaking with her; and she can undoubtedly help you more than we can. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Madrun Awenydd, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, Julie Stampnitzky, and Raquel Buenaventura. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 Nov 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Krisnamurthy, Ramesh, "Common Names of the Indian Subcontinent", appendix in Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges, _A Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1990). [2] Dirk Kolff, "The Rajputs of Ancient and Medieval India" in _Folk, Faith, and Feudalism: Rajasthan Stories_, ed. N. K. Singhi and Rajenda Joshi (Jaipur, 1995). [3] Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, _Social Life in Medieval Rajasthan: 1500-1800 AD_ (Agra). [4] Leshnik and Sondheimer, eds., _Pastoralists and Nomads in South Asia_ (Weisbaden, 1975).