(from  hrdðv: b:ahri 's  eS:x:aT:iü ehndi- Aúg:Òðz:i S:bdkaðS:. See p 292,  t:að, subentry 4.)

     Instead of (1) a speaker could simply say:

2.  s:b: kÙC b:ød hò,  dFt:r B:i b:ød hòø.
      'Everything is closed, even offices are closed.'

The implication of (1) is that schools are more likely to close than offices. By choosing (1) instead of (2) the speaker can subtly suggest that society puts more value on making money than on education.
     In (3) death outranks Holi in fearsomeness:

3.  haðl:i t:að haðl:i,  m:òö m:aòt: s:ñ B:i n:hiö Rrt:a !    (thanks to Terry Varma)
      'Holi? I am not afraid of death itself!'    (from  )ðm:l:t:a dip: 's  G:n:c:Vkr )
      Another example found by Terry Varma (in the same story) makes a tongue-in-cheek comparison of men and money on a scale of their ability to disappear in the big city:

4.  p:aNRð B:Ey:a y:h Ap:n:a g:aúv: n:hiö.  m:Øöb:I hò m:Øöb:I j:haú p:òs:ð t:að p:òs:ð Ens:an: B:i K:að j:at:ð hòö.
     'Brother Pande, this is not our village. This is Bombay. Bombay! Forget about money, even human beings disappear here!'

      (from  )ðm:l:t:a dip: 's  G:n:c:Vkr )
       In (5) a cop is presumed more likely to be unscrupulous than a lawyer is:

5.  v:kil: t:að v:kil:,  p:Øel:es:y:ð B:i S:rif en:kl:ð.   (sent by Terry Varma, 18 Nov 1999)
     'What to say of the lawyers, even the police turned out to be gentlemen!'

      (from  n:v:B:art: XaEmz: )
      The construction in (1) and (3-5) can be defined as in (6):

6.  X_i  t:að  X_i,  Y_j  B:i  R       (where R is the remainder of the sentence)

The X_i in this formula indicates that any noun, pronoun or adverb, occurring twice and separated by  t:að, can be used in the first part of the construction, followed in the second part by a different noun, pronoun or adverb (Y_j) followed in turn by  B:i and finally by the predicate.  What the formula in (6) does not show is that there must be a hierarchical relationship between X_i and Y_j.  If the two noun phrases cannot be seen as related and as occupying two successive points on some kind of scale in a way that is natural and relevant to the speaker's intent, the use of the construction in (6) is meaningless.  Compare (7) with (8):

7.   s:aúp: t:að s:aúp:,  kñöc:l:i s:ð B:i Rrt:a hò .
     'What to say of a snake, he's even afraid of a snake's skin!'

     (Omkar N. Koul, 10 July 1996)

In (7) a snake outranks a snakeskin on a natural scale of dangerousness, a ranking that (in the world we inhabit with snakes and their skins) is more plausible than the opposite ranking:

8. *?  kñöc:l:i t:að kñöc:l:i,  s:aúp: s:ð B:i Rrt:a hò .
   *? 'What to say of a snakeskin, he's even afraid of a snake!'

For normal individuals during their waking moments, it is easier to think of snakes as more fearsome than their skins. The ranking implied by (8) suggests a dreamworld or the reaction of someone suffering from an emotional disorder.
      This construction can be subtly manipulated to express irony or faint ridicule. Consider the construction in (9), from a headline in a newspaper (s:anDy: XaEmz:, 9 July 1996):
9.  b:ap: t:að b:ap:,  daðst: B:i m:dd dðn:ð n:hiø Aay:ð.
     'What to say of his father, even his friends did not come to his aid!'

By using (9) the headline writer suggests that in the world of the man being reported on (a minor movie star from Mumbai) friends are more likely to show loyalty than even a father would.
      Note on form: The reduplicated noun or pronoun in this construction (that is, the X_i) must appear in direct (=non-oblique) form, shorn of any postposition.  For example, the X_i in 10 is in the direct form  t:Ü even though  m:ØJ:s:ð (the corresponding Y in the  B:i-clause) must appear in the oblique case together with the postposition  s:ð :
10.  t:Ü t:að t:Ü,  v:h m:ØJ:s:ð B:i j:l:t:i hò !
       'You? Why she is even jealous of me!'

Reduplication of the entire postpositional phrase is distinctly infelicitous:

11. *^? t:ØJ:s:ð t:að t:ØJ:s:ð,  v:h m:ØJ:s:ð B:i j:l:t:i hò !
Notice in (10) that the reference of X and Y is fully contextual. ( t:Ü and  m:òø are"shifter" pronouns.) Consequently their relative placement on a scale (in this case, a scale of "enviability") cannot be determined by the application of common sense or ones general cultural knowledge.
       For ordinary situations or for speakers uninterested in subtle effects or  vy:øj:n:a, there is a plain vanilla, unadorned version of the construction in which the X_i- t:að-X_i part is replaced by  Aaòr t:að Aaòr:

12.  Arð,  Aaòr t:að Aaòr,  hm:arð c:c:ðrð,  PÙPñrð,  m:m:ðrð,  m:aòs:ðrð B:aI j:að Es:i ery:as:t: ki b:daòl:t: m:aòj: u_a rhð hòø,  kev:t:a kr rhð hòø Aaòr j:ØO K:ðl: rhð hòø,  S:rab:ðø p:i rhð hòø Aaòr Oðy:aS:i kr rhð hòø,  v:h B:i m:ØJ:s:ð j:l:t:ð hòø,  Aaòr Aaj: m:r j:aUû t:að G:i kñ ec:ra^: j:l:ay:ðø.

      'Listen, forget about the others! My paternal cousins and my maternal cousins who are enjoying their lives of leisure at the expense of my princely state, who are writing poetry and gambling and drinking and living in luxury, even they are jealous of me and, if I were to die today, would light lamps of ghee in thanksgiving!'

     (from Chapter Two of  g:aðdan:. See context.)

13.  oXðø j:l: rhi T:iø,  l:aðhð kñ g:Rür j:l: rhð T:ð Aaòr ep:G:l:i hØI S:Vkr kñ p:rn:al:ð c:araðø t:rf b:h rhð T:ð.  Aaòr t:að Aaòr,  z:m:in: s:ð B:i jv:al:a en:kl: rhi T:i.
       'Bricks were burning. Iron girders were burning. Rivers of molten sugar were flowing in every direction. Aside from everywhere else, flames were even coming out of the ground.'

       (from Chapter Twenty-eight of   g:aðdan:. See context.)
Further observations, from Terry Varma (11 Mar 2001):

A. The particle  t:k can be used in place of  B:i. Notice that, unlike  B:i, the particle  t:k comes between the postposition and its noun:

14.  m:aðXr- t:að- m:aðXr,  s:aEekl: t:k ka n:am: s:Øn:kr G:r s:ð b:ahr en:kl: Aat:a T:a Aaòr . . .
       'Forget about cars, even when he heard there was a cycle (going by) he would come out of the house and . . .'

      (from  Â:il:al: S:ØVl: 's  s:Ün:i G:aXi ka s:Ürj: )
B. We must add adjectives to the list of items that may occur reduplicated in the X_i t:að X_i part of this construction:

15.  Aaj: t:k eks:in:ð m:ØJ:kað kal:a- t:að- kal:a,  s:aúv:l:a t:k n: kha T:a.
       'To this day no-one has even called me swarthy, let alone dark!'

      (from  kaðl:t:ar  by  Â:i em:z:aü Aaez:m: b:ðg: c:a^:t:aI )
C. Note the use of hyphens.

D. The second X_i in the X_i t:að X_i part of the construction can be replaced by  Vy:a or  dÜr. It is worth noting that taking the first of these two options renders the inclusion of the postposition with the remaining X_i perfectly normal:

16.  eks:i dÜs:r:ð kað t:að Vy:a,  Ap:n:ð kað B:i n:hiø s:m:J:a s:kt:i.
       'I can't explain it to myself, let alone to anybody else.'

       (from  AaD:ð AD:Ürð  by  m:aðhn: rakðS: , p. 27 )

Compare (17) with (11):

17.  t:ØJ:s:ð t:að Vy:a,  v:h m:ØJ:s:ð B:i j:l:t:i hò !
E. Related reading: See the 1988 Language article by Fillmore et al. on 'Let alone'.

F. Related notes: For another construction, whose use creates a scale of desirability, see notes on  s:hi.
To exercise.

To notes on verb +  B:i to indicate concession.

To index of grammatical notes.

Drafted (with input from Terry Varma) 2000-2001.

Posted 18 Feb 2001 & 26 Feb 2001. Augmented 7, 9, 12 & 13 Mar 2001, and 25 Apr 2001. Reformatted 26 Nov 2001.