Talk:Bhikaiji Cama

I think there is a mistake. She was born in present day Mumbai. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:201:8006:D9F7:700E:F05A:2AF5:BA7A (talk) 16:02, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Name===========

I am wondering what the correct first name of the lady is. I have always believed it to be "Bhikaji" not "Bhikaiji," and have never before come across the 'Bhikai' version. I initially imagined a spelling mistake, but on googling, I find:

• as many as 16,400 hits for "Bhikaiji Cama"
• as against 53,600 for "Bhikaji Cama"

What is more widespread need not necessarily be correct. AFAIK, "Bhika" is a male first name in the Gujarat/Rajasthan region -- is Bhikai possibly the female version, in some sections? The name itself is such a nice old typical, outdated name that I am anxious for WP to be accurate. ImpuMozhi 22:28, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

yep, on both counts. Bhika=male, Bhikai=female. Those 53,600 webpages are wrong, and the WP article and IndiaPost page are correct.

And yes, it has a lovely old fashioned down-to-earth ring to it. :) -- Fullstop 07:46, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Then why does the Hindi Wikipedia page give her name as Bhīkhājī (transliterated from Devanagari)? Also, there’s a well-known office building (and a Metro station named after it) in Delhi called BHIKAJI CAMA PLACE. The argument about Bhika being a male first name in Gujarat/Rajasthan may not apply, as Madam Cama was from Parsi descent and born in Maharashtra.

Still, today’s Times of India article does spell the transliterated name as Bhikaiji, as does the commemorative stamp I saw somewhere. So we’ll have to leave the matter until better arguments for one or the other spelling come up. But at least we could do as well as Britannica.com, which says "Bhikaiji also spelled Bhikaji".

One possible reason for preferring one spelling over all others could be that Madam Cama used to write her name like that herself. That would be the best thing to check to resolve the question, I think. Then the article should note and explain that, e.g. in the way it’s done in the article on Rachmaninoff.

A related question is why not write her family name as "Kama", as standard transliteration schemes would suggest. --Geke (talk) 06:11, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

Parsi

Where is the source for her being a Parsi? I can't see it. - Sitush (talk) 07:48, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

This is an old question, but just to give it closure: You can look up Bhikaiji Cama on Britannica.com. (I’m not sure if it’s allowed to insert external URLs here, so I’m just doing it this way.)--Geke (talk) 06:16, 24 September 2021 (UTC)