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October 11, 2006
Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: communal
communal./kuhm·YOO·nuhl/. Of, or relating to one's affiliation with a community, particularly a religious one. In American English, the same word is used in the sense of common property—'communal cookware' in a college dorm—or in the sense of relating to a commune. In Indian English though, it is rooted in community and has historically been used to describe relationships among the many religions that make up India. Although there is nothing inherent in the word that makes it most appropriate for religious affiliations, it is rarely applied to other kinds of affiliations in Indian society, such as caste. In recent memory, communal riots in India occurred between Hindus and Muslims in 2002, at Godhra in Gujarat. The Indian English sense of communal also occurs in the Singaporean cultural matrix.
Posted by Vishy at October 11, 2006 09:56 PM