Text: बंदर क्या जाने अदरक का स्वाद

English Phonetic: Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad.

Translation: What does a monkey know of the taste of ginger.

Context: Informant first recalls hearing this proverb while in primary education(elementary school) when living in Jammu and Kashmir. Informant, however, details that they have heard it numerous times throughout their life in India, prior to moving to the United States. Informant would return home from school and inform their mother about their Muslim classmates’ inability to acknowledge or understand the informant’s religion, Hinduism. Upon hearing this, the mother would relay this proverb to get the informant to see that, sometimes, you cannot explain something to someone who upbringing does not allow them to understand it. Informant now understands the logic behind this proverb, however they failed to acknowledge it during their youth because of the trauma’s associated with the Kashmir conflict. This was a conflict over national rights to Kashmir that had religious and cultural roots between Hindus and Muslims. Informant know relays this proverb to their children to display that some things can not be explained to all people based on their upbringing. Informant makes it clear, thought, that this lack of understanding should never lead to conflict.

Analysis: When doing research on this proverb and seeing if other oicotypes or renditions existed in the world, I found that it is a commonly expressed idiom in South America. There, it holds the same traditional meaning that the informant believes it does. The nuance of the informants detailing of the proverb comes from the idea that a lack of ability to understand should never lead to conflict. This stems directly from the informants experiences in the Kashmir conflict, an event they would never want to bear witness to again. This highlights a slight semantic shift in the wisdom provided by this proverb. It no longer only serves as a means of understanding why people cannot come to understand certain things, but also a manner of preventing unnecessary conflict rooted in this inability.