desi
Sign in to saveAlso known as South Asian culture, culture of the Indian subcontinent
Desi ( or or ; Hindustani: देसी , , ), also Deshi (Bengali: দেশী), is a loose term used to describe the peoples, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora, derived from Sanskrit (), meaning 'land' or 'country'. Desi traces its origin to the people from the South Asian republics of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and may also sometimes be extended to include peoples, cultures and products of Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
~8 min read
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Usage
- History
- Culture
- Performing arts
- Food and drink
- Desi pubs
- See also
- Notes
- References
Desi ( or or ; Hindustani: देसी , , ), also Deshi (Bengali: দেশী), is a loose term used to describe the peoples, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora, derived from Sanskrit (), meaning 'land' or 'country'. Desi traces its origin to the people from the South Asian republics of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and may also sometimes be extended to include peoples, cultures and products of Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
==Etymology== The ethnonym belongs in the endonymic category (i.e., it is a self-appellation). Desi (/ desī) is a Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word, meaning 'national', ultimately from Sanskrit ', derived from ' () 'region, province, country'. The first known usage of the Sanskrit word is found in the Natya Shastra (~200 BCE), where it defines the regional varieties of folk performing arts, as opposed to the classical, pan-Indian margi. Thus, '''' () refers to one's own country or homeland, while '''' () refers to another's country or a foreign land.