ABHISĀRIKĀ: a woman who goes to meet her lover, normally by night
AGRAHĀRA: a Brahmin settlement
ANDHRA: the name of a people in southern India, roughly corresponding to today’s Andhra Pradesh
BHALLA: an arrow with a lethal crescent-shaped head
CAKORA: chakur partridge or Alectoris chukar
CAMARA: yak or Bos grunniens, whose fluffy white tail is used to create fly whisks
CĀMARA: a fly whisk made of the camara’s tail
CAMPA: a local ruler who controlled the area around Kanchipuram
CAMPAKA: golden champa or Michelia champaca, a tall tree with apricot coloured flowers
CĀTAKA: pied cuckoo or Clamator jacobinus
CAULA: a ceremony in which a boy’s head is shaved leaving only the tuft of hair known as the śikhā
COLA: one of the important dynasties ruling in the South
DRAMIḌA: the people of the Tamil land
DŪRVĀ: Bermuda grass or Cynodon dactylon, a thin, spiky green grass
HAṂSA: variously identified as a goose, flamingo or swan
INDRAGOPA: a small red insect, possibly the cochineal or Dactylopius coccus
JAPĀ: hibiscus or Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, a shrub with large red or white flowers
KAJJALA: lampblack or soot, used to decorate the eyes
KALI (YUGA): the often personified final and most terrible age in which adharma rules
KAMPANA: an alternative name for King Kampa
KĀÑCĪ: modern-day Kanchipuram in northern Tamil Nadu
KAṆṬAKĀNANA: present-day Mulbagal, a town on the borders of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
KARṆĀṬA: the name of a people in southern India, roughly corresponding to today’s Karnataka
KĀŚA: thatch grass or Saccharum spontaneum, a tall grass with large fluffy white heads
KETAKĪ: screwpine or Pandanus odoratissimus, a spiky-leaved shrub with large, ornate white flowers
KIṂŚUKA: flame of the forest or Butea monosperma, a tree with semi-circular red-orange flowers
KṢĪRASINDHU: the Palar river which runs through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
KUṄKUMA: orange-red saffron powder
KUNDA: downy jasmine or Jasminum multiflorum, a shrub with small white flowers
KUNTALA: another name for the people of Karṇāṭa
MADHURĀ: the city of Madurai in present-day Tamil Nadu
MARAKATA: this seems to be an alternative name for Kanchipuram
NICULA: Indian oak or Barringtonia acutangula, a tree with drooping red flowers
PĀṆḌYA: one of the important dynasties ruling in the South
PRALAYA: the routine dissolution of the world, after which the cycle of yugas starts once again
RAKTASANDHYAKA: red water lily or Nymphaea rubra
RASA: literally ‘juice’, it can refer to the flavour of a work of art or to emotions such as love
ŚARA: a type of pale-flowered reed used for making arrows; possibly Saccharum sara
ŚĀRIKĀ: myna bird or Gracula religiosa
SANDHYĀ: the evening, when the final worship of the day is performed
SINDŪRA: vermillion or red lead applied on the parting in a woman’s hair to show she is married, and also worn as a dot on the forehead
ŚRĪRAṄGA: modern-day Srirangam in Tamil Nadu, where stands a huge Viṣṇu shrine called Ranganathar Swamy Temple
SULTAN: used to refer to the leader of the Persians in Madhurā
TAMĀLA: bastard cinnamon or Cinnamomum tamala, a tree with dark black bark and pale flowers
TĀMRAPARṆĪ: the Thamiraparani river in southern Tamil Nadu; and, according to poetic convention, a source of pearls
TILAKA: a coloured dot applied upon the forehead for decorative or religious reasons
TULUṢKA/TURUṢKA: a Sanskritisation of the word ‘Turk’; used here to refer to the Persians
TUṆḌĪRA: the region about and including Kanchipuram
TUṄGABHADRĀ: the Tungabhadra river which flows through Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
VIJAYĀ: the name of the capital of Kampa’s kingdom, which was later known as the Vijayanagara (‘nagara’ meaning ‘town’) Empire, where Hampi now stands
VIRIÑCINAGARA: this may refer to a small town near Vellore in Tamil Nadu, or else Kanchipuram
VIŚVAKARMĀ: the divine architect
VṚTRA: one of the many asuras who fought, and lost to, Indra
YAVANA: originally a Greek but latterly anyone foreign to India; here it refers to the Persians