BOOK ONE
Chapter 1
amulet: the amulet contains the Sri Chakra (also called Sri Yantra) diagram. A yantra is the manifestation of deity through visual form, and the Sri Chakra, a design of nine intersecting triangles, both embodies and makes manifest the goddess, the Divine Mother, ‘Sri.’ A way of referring to Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort, ‘Sri’ means prosperity, good fortune, auspiciousness. The type of Sri Chakra referred to here is inscribed on a scroll, consecrated, and kept inside an amulet; the amulet itself may bear a design as well.
Ayyappa pilgrim: Ayyappan (Shasta), the son of a union between Shiva and the enchantress Mohini (Vishnu in female form), is the presiding deity at the hill-top temple of Shabarimala in Kerala. Some devotees undertake a pilgrimage to the hill having sworn a vow that submerges their ordinary identity: they wear black clothing for the prescribed time, call one another only ‘Swami,’ observe dietary restrictions, forego alcohol and sexual relations, and practice other austerities. Men of any age may visit the temple, but only women who do not menstruate (that is, young girls and women past menopause) are eligible. Dinakar's choice of the Ayyappa pilgrimage (with its barring of women in their fertile years, and given Ayyappa's vexed parentage) may reflect areas of conflict in his own life.
tulsi: basil, which is sacred to Vishnu.
ritually pure things: ‘madi,’ the Kannada word for ritual purity, is also used in the text. (In chapter 3, Sitamma — having just bathed — is ‘in a state of madi.’)
harikatha: recitation and performance of stories from sacred literature, the lives of saints, and so on. Here, especially, ‘stories of Hari’ (one of Vishnu's names).
Kuchela: a poor boyhood friend of Krishna.
kuttavalakki and avalakki: both are based on pounded rice; kuttavalakki is fancier.
kirtanakar: singer of kirtans (devotional, religious songs).
Emden Boat: R.K. Narayan, in his book My Days, mentions the Emden Boat. ‘Madras was bombarded by Emden in the First World War’; the commander of a German battleship ‘had shelled Madras just for amusement.’ Fearing that Madras would become another beachhead, some people in the coastal area fled inland. (New Delhi: Viking, 1996).
Shivalli Smrta, Shivalli Madhva: these represent a divergence in brahmin belief. Madhvas (followers of Madhvacharya) are dualists who worship Vishnu as the supreme god. Smrtas (followers of Shankaracharya, or Adishankara) are monists who do not, for example, consider Vishnu to be higher than Shiva. Shastri wears tulsi (sacred to Vishnu) in his topknot, and also wears rudraksha beads (sacred to Shiva). The compliment means that Shastri, though not subscribing to the hierarchy which regards Vishnu as supreme, is so expert at harikatha that he can evoke Krishna Paramatma (Vishnu) as if in a vision, even to Vishnu's own devotees. Shivalli is located in Udupi.
punya: merit, virtue (or reward for good acts).
Chapter 2
‘Shall I call you Chikappa, or Dodappa, or Mama?’: these are all variations on ‘uncle’ (‘Chikappa,’ for example, is ‘father's younger brother’).
matra-raksha: protection (protective amulet) given by the mother.
Chapter 3
‘I have cultivated this addiction’: i.e., reciting harikatha.
‘What, Shastri-gale, why shouldn't I bathe again and then make your food?’: Sitamma, having bathed, is in a state of ‘madi,’ ritual purity; if she touches Shastri, she will be polluted and must bathe again before cooking the meal which will be offered to god. In ‘Shastri-gale,’ ‘gale’ is an honorific.
Chapter 4
‘My Nani’: ‘Nani’ is Sitamma's pet name for her son Narayan.
Venkatesha Stotra: hymn in praise of Lord Ventakesha (Vishnu) of Tirupati.
kadubu: a rice dish steamed in banana or jackfruit leaves.
the main oven opening sideways into another, and then another: the earthen stove has open flames of differing intensity. This variation is achieved by building a main ovenlike enclosure which has several holes through which fire is guided sideways, with diminishing intensity, into other chambers.
‘If you had not taken this vrata, I would have waved drsti over you’: ordinarily, Sitamma might wave something like chillies or incense around Dinakar's head to ward off the evil eye. But Dinakar does not need such protection; he is not in his ordinary state, because he has taken the Ayyappa vow (vrata: ritually — or self-imposed — austerity; religious duty).
Vijayanagar Empire: comprised much of South India from the mid-fourteenth century for the next three hundred years. There is a belief that, when it fell, much of its treasure — especially in the form of gold — was looted.
‘As soon as I saw the amulet, I knew that it contained a Sri Chakra’: see also note for chapter one.
Veda Vyas: by tradition the ‘arranger[s]’ or ‘compiler[s]’ of the Vedas (also of texts such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas).
Chapter 5
‘Prahlad or Dhruva’: Both appear in Puranic tales as sons who, through devotion to Vishnu, overcome the rejection of their fathers.
Ekadashi: the 11th day of the moon, sacred to Vishnu, when orthodox brahmins observe a fast.
a goddess whom he had chosen for special devotion: his ‘ishtadevata,’ a chosen, or personal, deity with whom, from among the gods, one feels the closest (and perhaps least impersonal) connection; a tutelary deity believed to be especially concerned with one's welfare, something like a guardian spirit.
four upayas (‘chaturupaya’; sama, dana, bheda, danda): ‘Four strategies,’ ‘four tactics’ for winning people over. Sama: friendliness, gentle persuasion. Dana: giving gifts or rewards. Bheda: divisiveness, fomenting differences among people. Danda: physical punishment.
Sharada: also Saraswati, goddess of music, learning.
Chapter 7
‘Such spirits make you roar “me me me”’: ‘nanu, nanu, nanu’ in Kannada.
kama, krodha, moha: lust, anger, attachment.
alap: the improvisational prelude which establishes the themes of a raga.
Chapter 8
Trivikram: an epithet for Vishnu who, in his incarnation as a dwarf, asks the demon-king Bali for a small gift: the amount of land that can be measured off in three paces. When Bali agree, the dwarf makes himself enormous and — in just three strides — measures off the universe.
he had not yet completely become a wraith: since Radha persists in guarding Shastri's ‘orthodoxy’ in terms of eating taboos (which come into play because Shastri is a brahmin and Radha is a shudra), it means she doesn't see him as a wraith (pishachi), which has no caste at all.