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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: India |
 | | The lingua franca of the country is Hindustani, or Urdu, a mixture of Hindi with Persian and Arabic words, and written in the Arabic or in the Devanagiri character -- its prevalence being due to the Mogul domination. |
 | | The coast districts east and west (the scene of the ancient Portuguese and French missions), and especially the south of the peninsula, come next in order of numbers: and here the dioceses are larger. |
 | | At present the largest mission centres for natives are in Chota Nagpur, (Diocese of Calcutta) the Godaveri districts (Hyderabad), the Telugu districts (Madras), the districts of Trichinopoly, Madura, Pondicherry, Kumbakonam, Mysore, etc., in the south. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/07722a.htm (12511 words) |
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