[POTC holiday fic] - KINGDOMS OF THE SWAN companion vignette - "Gold for the King" - 1/3 - PG-13
A/N: Ok guys, first off, this little beast is not beta’d, as it’s Christmas Eve and God knows no one would want to spent their evening editing. Please forgive typos and a certain lack of my usual syntactic flare, as I plunked this baby out, literally, in four hours at the office. It is also important to note that this story exists within my post- ( Read more... )
Oh, and I love the idea of an Amerinidan mother. :) There are so many fascinating backstories for Jack out there. I've been sort of dormant lately, but do you have a link?
The whole Jahangir Ranjit Pakshi thing is a hold-over from another fic of mine, a WIP entitled "Sailing in Samsara". I'll probably never finish that particular fic, as it came into being before AWE and just doesn't mesh in my brain anymore, but some things - like the existence of Jack's sister, his youth in Cochin, and his "real" name have sort of become part of my view of him.
I apologize for not explaining this better in this fic, but as it is sort of an adendum to my current WIP ("Kingdoms of the Swan"), I didn't want too reveal too much as I'll because talking about Jack's origins and name in coming chapters. You can find all of my work - which pretty much all assumes the same backstory - here: http://writing-samsara.livejournal.com/12980.html
Anyways, to answer your question about his name, here's the breakdown from "Sailing in Samsara" - from a conversation between Elizabeth and Jack's sister, Saraswati ("Sara"):
“May I ask you something, Sara?”
“Accha, of course. Anything at all.”
“I noticed that you refer to Jack as ‘Raj’, and I was wondering -“
“If it is his real name, kya?”
“Yes - yes, I was.” Feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment, Elizabeth ducked her head to sip her coffee, the warm brew’s dusty texture sliding thickly down her throat. She managed to smile politely from behind the cup’s porcelain rim. Cardamom-scented steam rose in hot breaths, kissing her chin.
“Arey, Jack was born Jahangir Ranjit Pakshi -, but everyone called him ‘Raj’ - sometimes Raj-Sultan - as he was very grand and beautiful and precocious, a little prince.”
“So Jack’s first name is Jahangir?”
Clucking her tongue, Sara shook her head. “It is not the same for us, kya? Our naming system is ancient and much more complex than your Western conventions. Our culture does not require the taking of a father’s name, most especially a foreign father, and our mother was high born - royalty as she told it. Her people came from the north, from the Mughal lands. Ammah - our mother - swore that we could trace direct lineage to Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi, the great emperor that brought you British to India. The name ‘Jahangir’ indicates the long reach our ancestry. ‘Ranjit’ is the given name, matlab - ah, meaning, sorry-sorry - ‘charmed and victorious’ or ‘one who delights.’ Ammah said Raj-Bhai was born laughing, and so she named him ‘Ranjit’ after his gigglings. And for Ranjit Singh, another northern ruler.”
“And the last bit? Pakish was it?”
“Pakshi. Meaning ‘bird.’ Ammah’s little joke for our father.”
“And he took the name Jack Sparrow-“
“Ah, ji han - because he wanted a typical English name for a typical English sailor.”
“And Sparrow was your father’s surname, correct?”
“Ji. Raj-Bhai was always too-too enamored of Papa.”
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