Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s7.t2.85

v2.c27.s7.t2.85

³ [Platts (Hindustānī Dict., s.v.) gives chāndnī, ‘moonlight’; chāndnī mār-jāna, ‘to be moonstruck, paralysed by a stroke of the moon’; chāndnī karan, ‘the practice of Brāhmans and others wounding themselves in order to extort the payment of a debt.’ Here the threat is fear of the ghost of the man who took his life. Sir G. Grierson notes that in Gujarātī and Marāthī chāndī karan means ‘to reduce to white ashes,’ hence ‘to ruin or destroy completely.’ Here chāndī, usually meaning ‘silver,’ means ‘anything white,’ and hence ‘white ashes.’ This, he suggests, seems to be a more probable explanation than ‘moonstruck.’]