A Thanjavur Marathi Heritage House .

I had the unique opportunity of visiting my sister's relative in Thanjavur and their home preserved
with all its decor from the ancient times. This house I learn is over 200 years old.  I was thrilled to see
such a place and wished I could have taken more pictures but I really could not keep clicking away
pictures inside the house of people I barely knew!
However here are a few pictures I did take......

1) This was a sort of Dev Ghar soon as we entered. Don't miss the beautiful ancient Thanjavur Paintings!
I heard that the family who used to live here arranged their Navaratri Kolu in front of this. And to this
date is a "Kunt" (temple tank) shaped in the floor in front of this 'Dev ghar' !The "Laandra" ( lantern)
that are seen hanging from the ceiling are a thing from the past indeed!

2) A lot of homes in those days had a "chopala" ( a large swing) where the lady or man of the house
would take his afternoon siesta. Here is a picture of the " chopala" in this house.

3) This is indeed a rare "Tulsi Brindavan" . Made of copper with engraved design , it is one of a kind .

Kudos to the people who preserved this peice!  This was in the 'angan'(courtyard) of the house

Relatives

Now lets get to more 'complicated' relatives! The words to describe these relatives is so relation specific that I doubt any other language has such descriptive words to describe relations!
The earlier blog was words for relations as we would call them. These words are used more to refer to them and not used to call them. For instance one would call a paternal uncle 'Kaka' but would refer to him as 'Chultha'. One would call a cousin by name but would refer to him as 'chulath bhau' or ' maavas bhau'

Chultha चुल्था ... Paternal Uncle (kaka)

Chulthi चुल्थी ... Kaki or paternal uncle's wife

Chulath bhau चुलत भाऊ ... refers to a Cousin who is the Chultha or paternal uncle's son

Chulath Bahin चुलत बहिन ... refers to a Cousin who is the Chultha or paternal uncle's daughter

Maavas Bhau मावस भाऊ ... refers to a cousin who is the Maushi or maternal aunt's son

Maavas Bahin मावस बहिन ... refers to a cousin who is the Maushi or maternal aunt's daughter

Chulathe sasra चुलत सासरा ... father-in-law's brother

Chulath Saasu चुलत सासू... husband's kaki or father-in-law's brother's wife

Saavatr सावत्र .. refers to 'Step' This is used as a prefix to describe all step relations ships

Saavatr Maai सावत्र माई .. is step mother



Similarly Saavatr baap, saavtr bhau, saavtr bahin, saavatr kaka and so on.

Sakka सक्का ... one's own ( not step relative)

Bhauja भौज ... brother's wife

Nanand ननंद ... husband's younger sister

Vahinak वहिनक ... husband's older sister

Daer देर ... husband's younger brother

Saadu.... is a co-brother

Vyaahin व्याहीं ... one's daughter's or son's father

Vihinn विहिन्न ... one's daughter's or son's mother

Sasra साश्रा ...father-in-law

saasu सासू ... mother-in-law

Kaak Saasu काक्सासू ... Father-in-law's brother's wife

Kaaksasra काक्सासरा ...Father-in-law's brother.

Mevanna मेवांना ...Wife's brother

Mhevani  म्हेवणी ..Wife's sister

 Would welcome more additions to this.....

RELATIONS

We have a lot of kannada speaking relatives, also deshasthas(!) and I do enjoy asking them if they can describe relatives as aptly as we can do in our Thanjavur marathi! In fact, the very word tells all about how the person is related, there is no need of any description!
Perhaps, we inherited these words also from our ancestors from Maharashtra and preserved and continued to use them!

Here are a few of them....

Bappa / बप्पा ..... Father

Amma/ Aayi अम्मा / आई... Mother

Aayi Bappa आई बप्पा... Mother Father

Bahin बहिन ... sister

Bhau भाऊ ... brother

Kaka काका ... father's brother/ Paternal Uncle

Vadil वडिल .. .. refers to father's older brother, also refers to father

Maushi मौषी ... Maternal Aunt/ mother's sister

Atya अत्या ... Paternal aunt/ father's sister

Mama मामा ... Maternal Uncle/ Mother's brother

mami मामी ... mama's wife
Vahini वहिनी.... Sister-in-law

Bhaoji भओजी .... older brother-in-law...that is, elder sister's husband or husband's older brother






These are the simple straightforward relations. Directly related to a parent.