Ghara is an earthen pot made in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. It is used for storing drinking water and keeping it cool. The word ''ghara'' has

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s in Pahari,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Odia language Odia (;"Odia"
''Lexico''. , ISO 15919, ISO: , ; formerly rendere ...

s that can all be traced to the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word ''ghaṭa'' meaning pot. It is spelled in ; in ; in ; in Saraiki: دِلّا and in . The word ''ghara'' is also used for the hollow bulbous protuberance on the snout of mature male

gharial The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family (biology), family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males ...

s (''Gavialis gangeticus'') as it is shaped like a ghara. This protuberance enables them to emit a hissing sound that can be heard away.

References

Indian pottery Pakistani pottery Bangladeshi pottery {{Nepal-cuisine-stub