Hindu names for Kashmiri Muslims (Was: Nehru-Gandhi dynasty)

[Rajesh Kochhar]

From: Professor D N Jha <dnjha at DEL2.VSNL.NET.IN>

>Could we derive the surname Gandhi from the word 'gandhika'(perfumers)
which
>occurs in the inscriptions of the early centuries BC/AD ?
>D.N.Jha
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In school  Hindi, we had a couplet:
Rey  Gandhi[short a] mati-andh tu ittar sunghavat kaahi
Kar phulel ko aachman meetho kahat saraahi
Oh Gandhi, why do you ask dim-wits to smell your perfume
who loick it and say it is sweet.
Gaandhi could come from Gandhi, but I remember reading somewhere that the
word meant grocer.

rajesh kochhar