Kim

Chapter XIV

Notes on the text

(by Sharad Keskar)

page 1

[Page 358, verse heading] “all men need religion, but that the actual form that religion takes is not so important.” [Brigadier Alec Mason in ORG]

[Page 360, line 11] block-tea compressed powdered tea.

[Page 361, line 14] dunnage packing or stacking timber of no further use.

[Page 361, line 23] Woman of Shamlegh Lispeth in Plain Tales from the Hills.

[Page 362, line 24] ferril-backed books books with an iron-clasped locking device.

page 2

[Page 362, line 31] khud [Hindustani] A steep drop into a ditch. The Shamlegh one is precipitous.

[Page 363, line 26] swedging “folding and flattening.” [Brigadier Alec Mason in ORG]

[Page 364, line 33] in gross Shikast In block capitals; Kipling explains. [see text]

[Page 365, line 18] my husbands Hill-folk practice polyandry. [cf. the earlier entry]

[Page 365, line 22] the meaning walnut shells look like the male scrotum, The hint is a broad one, and Kim avoids Lisbeth’s sexual invitation by joking. But he does not pretend ignorance, and tells her: “It is almonds in the Plains”. [Page 367, line 4]

page 3

[Page 368, line 28] speered for [Scots] asked, inquired about.

[Page 368, line 29] Kailung now Chilung.

[Page 368, line 31] Baralachi now Bara Lacha; it is north of the source of the Spiti river which joins the River Sutlej.

[Page 369, line 6] girt my loins took courage to set out. (A biblical phrase)

[Page 369, line 10] moraines The accumulation of rock debris on the banks of a glacier, or sometimes in the middle when two glaciers meet.

[Page 370, line 25] Bhotan-wards ‘Towards Bhotan’, now Bhutan. ‘Bhotia’ is Tibet, and ‘Bhutan’ means ‘the end of Tibet’. The state of Bhutan lies on Tibet’s eastern boundary.

page 4

[Page 372, line 15] Jamnotri the source of the River Jumna, just as Gangotri is the source of the River Ganges.

[Page 373, line 17] the delight of life is Nirvana, that spiritual state which sees the end of desires and, therefore, sufferings, and an end to the cycle of rebirths.

page 5

[S.K.]