I am not sure what it means and what is the root word. It is a greeting mostly used by Buddhist dominated areas of the Himalayan valleys. When you travel through the Lahaul Spiti Valley in Himachal or do road trips in Ladakh, you are bound to be greeted with ‘Jule’, pronounced as Joo-Lay. When used with elders Sa is added at the end – Khamma Ghani Sa. Take your pick for the meaning but when people say it with folded hands – it is a sweet greeting to exchange. So, people started greeting each other ‘Khamma Ghani’ meaning ‘May we be blessed with many Khumaans’. Due to this, the people in their kingdom lived happily for the next 1000 years or so. The second source one is more historical – in 8th CE AD, 3 successive Mewari Kings, sharing the common name Khumaan, averted many attacks by Arabs. So, the greeting Khamma Ghani simply means – seeking forgiveness for any inadvertent hurt that may have been done or any lapses in hospitality. Now, I have two theories for this:įirst is simple – Khamma comes from Sanskrit Kshama meaning forgiveness. In my mind, it got associated with Rajasthan, but no one could explain what it meant. Next, I heard it during my visit to Udaipur. I first heard Khamma Ghani in some Hindi films based in Rajasthan. Some literature mentions that Vanakkam specifically refers to the divine at the third eye located between your brows. It comes from the root word – Vanagu meaning to bow down. It is bowing down to or respecting the divine inside you. Essentially it means the same as Namaste. Vanakkam is used by Tamil people living anywhere in the world. Sat Sri Akaal is a part of the clarion call given by Guru Gobind Singh – Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akaal.Īnother longer greeting is ‘ Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji ki Fateh‘ – it is a reminder that all of us come from that one supreme being which is pure and at the end that is what remains.
So, you are essentially remembering the Timeless Truth or that Truth is Timeless and resides within all of us. Sat means Truth, Sri is a respectful honorific and Akaal means timeless. Sat Sri Akaal in PunjabĪ common greeting among Sikhs and Punjabis is Sat Sri Akaal. Jai Sri Radhe is a variant that you hear in temples of Braj sometimes. Just land anywhere in Braj and ‘ Radhe Radhe‘ is not just a greeting but it means excuse me, leave my way, an exclamation and anything that does not need other words. You don’t need to read or know anything about her. To reach Krishna too, you have to go through her. In Dwarka, the greeting becomes more specific to – Jai Dwarkadhish. Krishna chose to make Dwarka his golden city, he ruled the world from here and continues to rule the hearts of the people of Gujarat. If you have traveled in Gujarat, interacted with Gujarati families or even watched Gujarati content on TV, you know they all greet each other with ‘ Jai Sri Krishna‘.
Considered Maryada Purushottam, it is probably a way to remind each other and oneself to follow his conduct. The idea behind this greeting to remember Sri Ram who is the 7th Avatar of Vishnu. At areas of Bihar and Jharkhand, it becomes Jai Siya Ram. In Awadh and Mithila you hear Sita Ram, Sita Ram. Ram Ram & its variantsĪfter the more popular Namaste greeting, Ram Ram and its various variants are used in most of the Hindi speaking belt to greet each other. They all mean the same – acknowledging the divine or good in you before any conversation or transaction begins. Nepal also uses the same term or Namaskar to greet. In Kerala it becomes Namaskaram, in Karnataka it goes as Namaskara and in Andhra states Namaskaramu. The term has many variants – Namaskar, which is ideally used when you address more than one person. Ask any Hippie and they would even say ‘The divine in me bows to the divine in you’. Namaste means ‘I bow to the divine in you’. Researching for this post was absolute fun. I knew most of them, but some of them like Dhaal Karu from Himachal was a revelation for me. Thanks to my Twitter and FB timeline for adding to this list.
Here is a list of some of the commonly used greetings across India. However, when nothing in India is universal, how can our greetings be. Very often, when people realize you are an Indian, they fold hands and greet you with a Namaste.
Namaste is the most commonly used greeting in India.
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