Dear Listers, Somewhat off the List but I would think the curious-sounding name of Buti Bori must have been derived from a long-forgotten small (buti) jujube (bor) tree in that area. 'Bor' in Marathi or 'Ber' in Hindi is a short thorny tree that grows all over India. It requires very little water and usually grows wild. Some modified varieties are also commercially grown. It is one of the cheapest fruits in the market. Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, April 28, 2010.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Arvind Kolhatkar" Somewhat off the List but I would think the curious-sounding name of Buti Bori must have been derived from a long-forgotten small (buti) jujube (bor) tree in that area. 'Bor' in Marathi or 'Ber' in Hindi is a short thorny tree that grows all over India. It requires very little water and usually grows wild. ============================== No, no, this Buti (booty) refers to the family name of a very illustrious ancient zemindar - landlord family from this area. They used to own this village in ''maal-guzhari'' rights - a revenue ownership concept, somewhat similar to the thanes and fiefs of England. Bori is of course the name of that place. There are many villages in these parts named Bori (derived, as you say, from the density of ber or bor - Ziziphus jujuba or Ziziphus plum - bushes). Since this Bori was owned by the Butis - it became Buti Bori. I am afraid someone is going to throw an egg at me soon for writing this off-topic stuff. So I'll bring it online. This Buti family of Nagpur has its own place in the history of British India. First, it was under the patronage of one of their 19th century ancestors the famous holy man (saint) Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon near Akola (on the Nagpur-Bhusawal railway line) became wildely known. Nobody knows the exact origins of this saint - when he was born, what was his native place, etc. BUT there is a school of thought that maintains that he was none other than the famous/infamous Tantiya (Tatya) Tope hismself. These people believe that Tatya was NOT captured and hanged by the British after the 1857-8 Sepoy Mutiny - as claimed. They say he managed to escape the British dragnet and a dummy Tatya was caught and hanged when it was found that Tatya had indeed vanished. Some years thereafter, the real Tatya ''materialised'' at Shegaon in the avavatar of an adult St Gajanan Maharaj. I don't know if and how much of this is true. But it's an interesting theory. The next Buti - Raj connexion is in the form of the supremely otiose, supernumerary town planning authority called the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) we have for our city. In other cities this job is done (quite well) by their municipal councils or corporations. We too have our own City Corporation. It too is vested with town planning powers. So why do we need this NIT? How did it come into being in the first place? One of the reasons is the British officials manning the erstwhile C P and Berar state (of which Nagpur was the capital) were intensely jealous and fearful of the influence wielded by the Buti family. They owned vast tracts of land in and around Nagpur, were very rich and popular, generous donors, philanthropists - AND they used to help (openly or on the sly) those opposed to the British Raj and administration. However, since nothing could be proved against them, the smart sahibs cooked up a plan to clip their wings. They passed a law, established the NIT, and invoking the dreaded Land Acquisition Act, took over more than three-fourth of the Butis' estates from them for the alleged expansion and development of the city of Nagpur. As always, while I don't reject this view outright, I feel it advisable to add a pinch of salt to such speculations. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar