<P> Namaste is one of the six forms of pranama, and in parts of India these terms are used synonymously . </P> <P> In the Hindi and Nepalese speaking populations of the Indian subcontinent, Namaste (Hindi: (nəməsteː) (listen), Devanagari: नमस्ते) and Namaskār are used synonymously . In Nepal, people generally use Namaskāra for greeting and respecting their elders . In Odia Namaste is also known as ନମସ୍କାର (namaskār) General greeting . In Kannada, Namaskāra (ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ) for singular and Namaskaragalu (ನಮಸ್ಕಾರಗಳು) is used and sharanu (ಶರಣು) is widely used in Karnataka for Namaste . In Telugu, Namaste is also known as Dandamu (దండము) or namaskaram (నమస్కారం) for singular and Dandaalu or namaskaralu for plural form . Pranamamu (ప్రణామము) is also used in formal Telugu . In Bengali, the Namaste gesture is expressed as Nōmōshkar (নমস্কার), and as Prōnäm (Bengali: প্রণাম) informally . In Assamese, Nômôskar (নমস্কাৰ) is used . In Marathi, Namaskār (नमस्कार) is used . In Tamil, Namaste is known as Vanakkam (வணக்கம்) which is derived from the root word vanangu (வணங்கு) meaning to bow or to greet . In Malayalam, Namaskāram (നമസ്കാരം) is used . The Sinhalese word namaskāra (නමස්කාර) which derived from Pali also has the same meaning as namaskār / namaskāra in Hindi, Nepali, Odia and Kannada languages, or a different greeting word is āyubōvan (ආයුබෝවන්) which has the meaning wishing long life . </P>

The word namaste means greetings to you in