1860.—"... with plots of esculents and curry-stuffs of every variety, onions, chillies, yams, cassavas, and sweet potatoes."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 463.
CUSBAH, s. Ar.—H. ḳaṣba, ḳaṣaba; the chief place of a pergunnah (q.v.).
1548.—"And the caçabe of Tanaa is rented at 4450 pardaos."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 150.
[c. 1590.—"In the fortieth year of his Majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of one hundred and five Sircars, sub-divided into two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven kusbahs."—Ayeen, tr. Gladwin, ii. 1; Jarrett, ii. 115.]
1644.—"On the land side are the houses of the Vazador (?) or Possessor of the Casabe, which is as much as to say the town or aldea of Mombaym (Bombay). This town of Mombaym is a small and scattered affair."—Bocarro, MS. fol. 227.
c. 1844-45.—"In the centre of the large Cusbah of Streevygoontum exists an old mud fort, or rather wall of about 20 feet high, surrounding some 120 houses of a body of people calling themselves Kotie Vellalas,—that is 'Fort Vellalas.' Within this wall no police officer, warrant or Peon ever enters.... The females are said to be kept in a state of great degradation and ignorance. They never pass without the walls alive; when dead they are carried out by night in sacks."—Report by Mr. E. B. Thomas, Collector of Tinnevelly, quoted in Lord Stanhope's Miscellanies, 2nd Series, 1872, p. 132.
CUSCUSS, CUSS, s. Pers.—H. k̲h̲ask̲h̲as. The roots of a grass [called in N. India senṭhā or tīn,] which abounds in the drier parts of India, Anatherum muricatum (Beauv.), Andropogon muricatus (Retz), used in India during the hot dry winds to make screens, which are kept constantly wet, in the window openings, and the fragrant evaporation from which greatly cools the house (see TATTY). This device seems to be ascribed by Abul Faẓl to the invention of Akbar. These roots are well known in France by the name vetyver, which is the Tam. name veṭṭivēru, 'the root which is dug up.' In some of the N. Indian vernaculars khaskhas is 'a poppy-head'; [but this is a different word, Skt. khaskhasa, and compare P. k̲h̲ashk̲h̲ash].
c. 1590.—"But they (the Hindus) were notorious for the want of cold water, the intolerable heat of their climate.... His Majesty remedied all these evils and defects. He taught them how to cool water by the help of saltpetre.... He ordered mats to be woven of a cold odoriferous root called Khuss ... and when wetted with water on the outside, those within enjoy a pleasant cool air in the height of summer."—Ayeen (Gladwin, 1800), ii. 196; [ed. Jarrett, iii. 9].
1663.—"Kas kanays." See quotation under TATTY.
1810.—"The Kuss-Kuss ... when fresh, is rather fragrant, though the scent is somewhat terraceous."—Williamson, V. M. i. 235.
1824.—"We have tried to keep our rooms cool with 'tatties,' which are mats formed of the Kuskos, a peculiar sweet-scented grass...."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 59.
It is curious that the coarse grass which covers the more naked parts of the Islands of the Indian Archipelago appears to be called kusu-kusu (Wallace, 2nd ed. ii. 74). But we know not if there is any community of origin in these names.
[1832.—"The sirrakee (sirkī) and sainturh (senṭhā) are two specimens of one genus of jungle grass, the roots of which are called secundah (sirkanda) or khus-khus."—Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, &c., ii. 208.]
In the sense of poppy-seed or poppy-head, this word is P.; De Orta says Ar.; [see above.]
1563.—"... at Cambaiete, seeing in the market that they were selling poppy-heads big enough to fill a canada, and also some no bigger than ours, and asking the name, I was told that it was caxcax (cashcash)—and that in fact is the name in Arabic—and they told me that of these poppies was made opium (amfião), cuts being made in the poppy-head, so that the opium exudes."—Garcia De Orta, f. 155.
1621.—"The 24th of April public proclamation was made in Ispahan by the King's order ... that on pain of death, no one should drink cocnur, which is a liquor made from the husk of the capsule of opium, called by them khash-khash."—P. della Valle, ii. 209; [cocnur is P. koknār].
CUSPADORE, s. An old term for a spittoon. Port. cuspadeira, from cuspir, [Lat. conspuere], to spit. Cuspidor would be properly qui multum spuit.
[1554.—Speaking of the greatness of the Sultan of Bengal, he says to illustrate it—"From the camphor which goes with his spittle when he spits into his gold spittoon (cospidor) his chamberlain has an income of 2000 cruzados."—Castanheda, Bk. iv. ch. 83.]
1672.—"Here maintain themselves three of the most powerful lords and Naiks of this kingdom, who are subject to the Crown of Velour, and pay it tribute of many hundred Pagodas ... viz. Vitipa-naik of Madura, the King's Cuspidoor-bearer, 200 Pagodas, Cristapa-naik of Chengier, the King's Betel-server, 200 pagodas, the Naik of Tanjouwer, the King's Warder and Umbrella carrier, 400 Pagodas...."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 153.
1735.—In a list of silver plate we have "5 cuspadores."—Wheeler, iii. 139.
1775.—"Before each person was placed a large brass salver, a black earthen pot of water, and a brass cuspadore."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, &c. (at Magindanao), 235.
[1900.—"The royal cuspadore" is mentioned among the regalia at Selangor, and a "cuspadore" (ketor) is part of the marriage appliances.—Skeat, Malay Magic, 26, 374.]
CUSTARD-APPLE, s. The name in India of a fruit (Anona squamosa, L.) originally introduced from S. America, but which spread over India during the 16th century. Its commonest name in Hindustan is sharīfa, i.e. 'noble'; but it is also called Sītap'hal, i.e. 'the Fruit of Sītā,' whilst another Anona ('bullock's heart,' A. reticulata, L., the custard-apple of the W. Indies, where both names are applied to it) is called in the south by the name of her husband Rāma. And the Sītap'hal and Rāmp'hal have become the subject of Hindu legends (see Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 410). The fruit is called in Chinese Fan-li-chi, i.e. foreign leechee.
A curious controversy has arisen from time to time as to whether this fruit and its congeners were really imported from the New World, or were indigenous in India. They are not mentioned among Indian fruits by Baber (c. A.D. 1530), but the translation of the Āīn (c. 1590) by Prof. Blochmann contains among the "Sweet Fruits of Hindustan," Custard-apple (p. 66). On referring to the original, however, the word is sadāp'hal (fructus perennis), a Hind. term for which Shakespear gives many applications, not one of them the anona. The bel is one (Aegle marmelos), and seems as probable as any (see BAEL). The custard-apple is not mentioned by Garcia de Orta (1563), Linschoten (1597), or even by P. della Valle (1624). It is not in Bontius (1631), nor in Piso's commentary on Bontius (1658), but is described as an American product in the West Indian part of Piso's book, under the Brazilian name Araticu. Two species are described as common by P. Vincenzo Maria, whose book was published in 1672. Both the custard-apple and the sweet-sop are fruits now generally diffused in India; but of their having been imported from the New World, the name Anona, which we find in Oviedo to have been the native West Indian name of one of the species, and which in various corrupted shapes is applied to them over different parts of the East, is an indication. Crawfurd, it is true, in his Malay Dictionary explains nona or buah- ("fruit") nona in its application to the custard-apple as fructus virginalis, from nona, the term applied in the Malay countries (like missy in India) to an unmarried European lady. But in the face of the American word this becomes out of the question.
It is, however, a fact that among the Bharhut sculptures, among the carvings dug up at Muttra by General Cunningham, and among the copies from wall-paintings at Ajanta (as pointed out by Sir G. Birdwood in 1874, (see Athenaeum, 26th October), [Bombay Gazetteer, xii. 490]) there is a fruit represented which is certainly very like a custard-apple (though an abnormally big one), and not very like anything else yet pointed out. General Cunningham is convinced that it is a custard-apple, and urges in corroboration of his view that the Portuguese in introducing the fruit (which he does not deny) were merely bringing coals to Newcastle; that he has found extensive tracts in various parts of India covered with the wild custard-apple; and also that this fruit bears an indigenous Hindi name, ātā or āt, from the Sanskrit ātṛipya.
It seems hard to pronounce about this ātṛipya. A very high authority, Prof. Max Müller, to whom we once referred, doubted whether the word (meaning 'delightful') ever existed in real Sanskrit. It was probably an artificial name given to the fruit, and he compared it aptly to the factitious Latin of aureum malum for "orange," though the latter word really comes from the Sanskrit nāranga. On the other hand, ātṛipya is quoted by Rāja Rādhakant Deb, in his Sanskrit dictionary, from a medieval work, the Dravyaguna. And the question would have to be considered how far the MSS. of such a work are likely to have been subject to modern interpolation. Sanskrit names have certainly been invented for many objects which were unknown till recent centuries. Thus, for example, Williams gives more than one word for cactus, or prickly pear, a class of plants which was certainly introduced from America (see Vidara and Viśvasaraka, in his Skt. Dictionary).
A new difficulty, moreover, arises as to the indigenous claims of ātā, which is the name for the fruit in Malabar as well as in Upper India. For, on turning for light to the splendid works of the Dutch ancients, Rheede and Rumphius, we find in the former (Hortus Malabaricus, part iv.) a reference to a certain author, 'Recchus de Plantis Mexicanis,' as giving a drawing of a custard-apple tree, the name of which in Mexico was ahaté or até, "fructu apud Mexicanos praecellenti arbor nobilis" (the expressions are noteworthy, for the popular Hindustani name of the fruit is sharīfa = "nobilis"). We also find in a Manilla Vocabulary that ate or atte is the name of this fruit in the Philippines. And from Rheede we learn that in Malabar the ātā was sometimes called by a native name meaning "the Manilla jack-fruit"; whilst the Anona reticulata, or sweet-sop, was called by the Malabars "the Parangi (i.e. Firingi or Portuguese) jack-fruit."
These facts seem to indicate that probably the ātā and its name came to India from Mexico viâ the Philippines, whilst the anona and its name came to India from Hispaniola viâ the Cape. In the face of these probabilities the argument of General Cunningham from the existence of the tree in a wild state loses force. The fact is undoubted and may be corroborated by the following passage from "Observations on the nature of the Food of the Inhabitants of South India," 1864, p. 12:—"I have seen it stated in a botanical work that this plant (Anona sq.) is not indigenous, but introduced from America, or the W. Indies. If so, it has taken most kindly to the soil of the Deccan, for the jungles are full of it": [also see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 259 seq., who supports the foreign origin of the plant]. The author adds that the wild custard-apples saved the lives of many during famine in the Hyderabad country. But on the other hand, the Argemone Mexicana, a plant of unquestioned American origin, is now one of the most familiar weeds all over India. The cashew (Anacardium occidentale), also of American origin, and carrying its American name with it to India, not only forms tracts of jungle now (as Sir G. Birdwood has stated) in Canara and the Concan (and, as we may add from personal knowledge, in Tanjore), but was described by P. Vincenzo Maria, more than two hundred and twenty years ago, as then abounding in the wilder tracts of the western coast.
The question raised by General Cunningham is an old one, for it is alluded to by Rumphius, who ends by leaving it in doubt. We cannot say that we have seen any satisfactory suggestion of another (Indian) plant as that represented in the ancient sculpture of Bharhut. [Dr. Watt says: "They may prove to be conventional representations of the jack-fruit tree or some other allied plant; they are not unlike the flower-heads of the sacred kadamba or Anthocephalus," (loc. cit. i. 260)]. But it is well to get rid of fallacious arguments on either side.
In the "Materia Medica of the Hindus by Udoy Chand Dutt, with a Glossary by G. King, M.B., Calc. 1877," we find the following synonyms given:—
"Anona squamosa: Skt. Ganḍagatra; Beng. Ātā; Hind. Sharīfa, and Sītāphal."
"Anona reticulata: Skt. Lavali; Beng. Lonā."[100]
1672.—"The plant of the Atta in 4 or 5 years comes to its greatest size ... the fruit ... under the rind is divided into so many wedges, corresponding to the external compartments.... The pulp is very white, tender, delicate, and so delicious that it unites to agreeable sweetness a most delightful fragrance like rose-water ... and if presented to one unacquainted with it he would certainly take it for a blamange.... The Anona," &c., &c.—P. Vincenzo Maria, pp. 346-7.
1690.—"They (Hindus) feed likewise upon Pine-Apples, Custard-apples, so called because they resemble a Custard in Colour and Taste...."—Ovington, 303.
c. 1830.—"... the custard-apple, like russet bags of cold pudding."—Tom Cringle's Log, ed. 1863, p. 140.
1878.—"The gushing custard-apple with its crust of stones and luscious pulp."—Ph. Robinson, In my Indian Garden, [49].
CUSTOM, s. Used in Madras as the equivalent of Dustoor, Dustoory, of which it is a translation. Both words illustrate the origin of Customs in the solemn revenue sense.
1683.—"Threder and Barker positively denied ye overweight, ye Merchants proved it by their books; but ye skeyne out of every draught was confest, and claimed as their due, having been always the custom."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 83.
1768-71.—"Banyans, who ... serve in this capacity without any fixed pay, but they know how much more they may charge upon every rupee, than they have in reality paid, and this is called costumado."—Stavorinus, E.T., i. 522.
CUSTOMER, s. Used in old books of Indian trade for the native official who exacted duties. [The word was in common use in England from 1448 to 1748; see N.E.D.]
[1609.—"His houses ... are seized on by the Customer."—Danvers, Letters, i. 25; and comp. Foster, ibid. ii. 225.
[1615.—"The Customer should come and visitt them."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 44.]
1682.—"The several affronts, insolences, and abuses dayly put upon us by Boolchund, our chief Customer."—Hedges, Diary, [Hak. Soc. i. 33].
CUTCH, s. See CATECHU.
CUTCH, n.p. Properly Kachchh, a native State in the West of India, immediately adjoining Sind, the Rājput ruler of which is called the Rāo. The name does not occur, as far as we have found, in any of the earlier Portuguese writers, nor in Linschoten, [but the latter mentions the gulf under the name of Jaqueta (Hak. Soc. i. 56 seq.)]. The Skt. word kachchha seems to mean a morass or low, flat land.
c. 1030.—"At this place (Mansura) the river (Indus) divides into two streams, one empties itself into the sea in the neighbourhood of the city of Lúháráni, and the other branches off to the east to the borders of Kach."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 49.
Again, "Kach, the country producing gum" (i.e. mukal or bdellium), p. 66.
The port mentioned in the next three extracts was probably Mandavi (this name is said to signify "Custom-House"); [manḍwī, 'a temporary hut,' is a term commonly applied to a bazaar in N. India].
1611.—"Cuts-nagore, a place not far from the River of Zinde."—Nic. Dounton, in Purchas, i. 307.
[1612.—"The other ship which proved of Cuts-nagana."—Danvers, Letters, i. 179.]
c. 1615.—"Francisco Sodre ... who was serving as captain-major of the fortress of Dio, went to Cache, with twelve ships and a sanguicel, to inflict chastisement for the arrogance and insolence of these blacks ("... pela soberbia e desaforos d'estes negros...."—"Of these niggers!"), thinking that he might do it as easily as Gaspar de Mello had punished those of Por."—Bocarro, 257.
[c. 1661.—"Dara ... traversing with speed the territories of the Raja Katche soon reached the province of Guzarate...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 73.]
1727.—"The first town on the south side of the Indus is Cutch-naggen."—A. Hamilton, i. 131; [ed. 1744].
CUTCH GUNDAVA, n.p. Kachchh Gandāva or Kachchī, a province of Biluchistan, under the Khan of Kela't, adjoining our province of Sind; a level plain, subject to inordinate heat in summer, and to the visitation of the simūm. Across the northern part of this plain runs the railway from Sukkur to Sibi. Gandāva, the chief place, has been shown by Sir H. Elliot to be the Kandābīl or Kandhābel of the Arab geographers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The name in its modern shape, or what seems intended for the same, occurs in the Persian version of the Chachnāmah, or H. of the Conquest of Sind, made in A.D. 1216 (see Elliot, i. 166).
CUTCHA, KUTCHA, adj. Hind. kachchā, 'raw, crude, unripe, uncooked.' This word is with its opposite pakkā (see PUCKA) among the most constantly recurring Anglo-Indian colloquial terms, owing to the great variety of metaphorical applications of which both are susceptible. The following are a few examples only, but they will indicate the manner of use better than any attempt at comprehensive definition:—
| A cutcha | Brick is a sun-dried brick. | A pucka | Brick is a properly kiln-burnt brick. |
| " | House is built of mud, or of sun-dried brick. | " | House is of burnt brick or stone with lime, and generally with a terraced plaster roof. |
| " | Road is earthwork only. | " | Road is a Macadamised one. |
| " | Appointment is acting or temporary. | " | Appointment is permanent. |
| " | Settlement is one where the land is held without lease. | " | Settlement is one fixed for a term of years. |
| " | Account or Estimate, is one which is rough, superficial, and untrustworthy. | " | Account, or Estimate, is carefully made, and claiming to be relied on. |
| " | Maund, or Seer, is the smaller, where two weights are in use, as often happens. | " | Maund, or Seer, is the larger of two in use. |
| " | Major is a brevet or local Major. | " | Major, is a regimental Major. |
| " | Colour is one that won't wash. | " | Colour, is one that will wash. |
| " | Fever is a simple ague or a light attack. | " | Fever, is a dangerous remittent or the like (what the Italians call pernizziosa). |
| " | Pice generally means one of those amorphous coppers, current in up-country bazars at varying rates of value. | " | Pice; a double copper coin formerly in use; also a proper pice (= ¼ anna) from the Govt. mints. |
| " | Coss—see analogy under Maund above. | " | Coss—see under Maund above. |
| " | Roof. A roof of mud laid on beams; or of thatch, &c. | " | Roof; a terraced roof made with cement. |
| " | Scoundrel, a limp and fatuous knave. | " | Scoundrel, one whose motto is "Thorough." |
| " | Seam (silāī) is the tailor's tack for trying on. | " | Seam is the definite stitch of the garment. |
1763.—"Il parait que les catcha cosses sont plus en usage que les autres cosses dans le gouvernement du Decan."—Lettres Edifiantes, xv. 190.
1863.—"In short, in America, where they cannot get a pucka railway they take a kutcha one instead. This, I think, is what we must do in India."—Lord Elgin, in Letters and Journals, 432.
Captain Burton, in a letter dated Aug. 26, 1879, and printed in the "Academy" (p. 177), explains the gypsy word gorgio, for a Gentile or non-Rommany, as being kachhā or cutcha. This may be, but it does not carry conviction.
CUTCHA-PUCKA, adj. This term is applied in Bengal to a mixt kind of building in which burnt brick is used, but which is cemented with mud instead of lime-mortar.
CUTCHÉRRY, and in Madras CUT′CHERY, s. An office of administration, a court-house. Hind. kachahrī; used also in Ceylon. The word is not usually now, in Bengal, applied to a merchant's counting-house, which is called dufter, but it is applied to the office of an Indigo-Planter or a Zemindar, the business in which is more like that of a Magistrate's or Collector's Office. In the service of Tippoo Sahib cutcherry was used in peculiar senses besides the ordinary one. In the civil administration it seems to have been used for something like what we should now call Department (see e.g. Tippoo's Letters, 292); and in the army for a division or large brigade (e.g. ibid. 332; and see under JYSHE and quotation from Wilks below).
1610.—"Over against this seat is the Cichery or Court of Rolls, where the King's Viseer sits every morning some three houres, by whose hands passe all matters of Rents, Grants, Lands, Firmans, Debts, &c."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 439.
1673.—"At the lower End the Royal Exchange or Queshery ... opens its folding doors."—Fryer, 261.
[1702.—"But not makeing an early escape themselves were carried into the Cacherra or publick Gaol."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cvi.]
1763.—"The Secretary acquaints the Board that agreeably to their orders of the 9th May, he last Saturday attended the Court of Cutcherry, and acquainted the Members with the charge the President of the Court had laid against them for non-attendance."—In Long, 316.
" "The protection of our Gomastahs and servants from the oppression and jurisdiction of the Zemindars and their Cutcherries has been ever found to be a liberty highly essential both to the honour and interest of our nation."—From the Chief and Council at Dacca, in Van Sittart, i. 247.
c. 1765.—"We can truly aver that during almost five years that we presided in the Cutchery Court of Calcutta, never any murder or atrocious crime came before us but it was proved in the end a Bramin was at the bottom of it."—Holwell, Interesting Historical Events, Pt. II. 152.
1783.—"The moment they find it true that the English Government shall remain as it is, they will divide sugar and sweetmeats among all the people in the Cutcheree; then every body will speak sweet words."—Native Letter, in Forbes, Or. Mem. iv. 227.
1786.—"You must not suffer any one to come to your house; and whatever business you may have to do, let it be transacted in our Kuchurry."—Tippoo's Letters, 303.
1791.—"At Seringapatam General Matthews was in confinement. James Skurry was sent for one day to the Kutcherry there, and some pewter plates with marks on them were shown to him to explain; he saw on them words to this purport, 'I am indebted to the Malabar Christians on account of the Public Service 40,000 Rs.; the Company owes me (about) 30,000 Rs.; I have taken Poison and am now within a short time of Death; whoever communicates this to the Bombay Govt. or to my wife will be amply rewarded. (Signed) Richard Matthews.'"—Narrative of Mr. William Drake, and other Prisoners (in Mysore), in Madras Courier, 17th Nov.
c. 1796.—"... the other Asof Mirán Hussein, was a low fellow and a debauchee, ... who in different ... towns was carried in his pálkí on the shoulders of dancing girls as ugly as demons to his Kutcheri or hall of audience."—H. of Tipú Sultán, E.T. by Miles, 246.
" "... the favour of the Sultan towards that worthy man (Dundia Wágh) still continued to increase ... but although, after a time, a Kutcheri, or brigade, was named after him, and orders were issued for his release, it was to no purpose."—Ibid. 248.
[c. 1810.—"Four appears to have been the fortunate number with Tippoo; four companies (yeuz), one battalion (teep), four teeps, one cushoon (see KOSHOON): ... four cushoons, one Cutcherry. The establishment ... of a cutcherry ... 5,688, but these numbers fluctuated with the Sultaun's caprices, and at one time a cushoon, with its cavalry attached, was a legion of about 3,000."—Wilks, Mysore, ed. 1869, ii. 132.]
1834.—"I mean, my dear Lady Wroughton, that the man to whom Sir Charles is most heavily indebted, is an officer of his own Kucheree, the very sircar who cringes to you every morning for orders."—The Baboo, ii. 126.
1860.—"I was told that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the Cutcherry of the Government Agent."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. xxviii.
1873.—"I'd rather be out here in a tent any time ... than be stewing all day in a stuffy Kutcherry listening to Ram Buksh and Co. perjuring themselves till they are nearly white in the face."—The True Reformer, i. 4.
1883.—"Surrounded by what seemed to me a mob of natives, with two or three dogs at his feet, talking, writing, dictating,—in short doing Cutcherry."—C. Raikes, in Bosworth Smith's Lord Lawrence, i. 59.
CUTCHNAR, s. Hind. kachnār, Skt. kānchanāra (kānchana, 'gold') the beautiful flowering tree Bauhinia variegata, L., and some other species of the same genus (N. O. Leguminosae).
1855.—"Very good fireworks were exhibited ... among the best was a sort of maypole hung round with minor fireworks which went off in a blaze and roll of smoke, leaving disclosed a tree hung with quivering flowers of purple flame, evidently intended to represent the Kachnar of the Burmese forests."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 95.
CUTTACK, n.p. The chief city of Orissa, and district immediately attached. From Skt. kaṭaka, 'an army, a camp, a royal city.' This name Al-kataka is applied by Ibn Batuta in the 14th century to Deogīr in the Deccan (iv. 46), or at least to a part of the town adjoining that ancient fortress.
c. 1567.—"Citta di Catheca."—Cesare Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 392. [Catecha, in Hakl. ii. 358].
[c. 1590.—"Attock on the Indus is called Atak Benares in contra distinction to Katak Benares in Orissa at the opposite extremity of the Empire."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 311.]
1633.—"The 30 of April we set forward in the Morning for the City of Coteka (it is a city of seven miles in compasse, and it standeth a mile from Malcandy where the Court is kept."—Bruton, in Hakl. v. 49.
1726.—"Cattek."—Valentijn, v. 158.
CUTTANEE, s. Some kind of piece-goods, apparently either of silk or mixed silk and cotton. Kuttān, Pers., is flax or linen cloth. This is perhaps the word. [Kattan is now used in India for the waste selvage in silk weaving, which is sold to Patwas, and used for stringing ornaments, such as joshans (armlets of gold or silver beads), bāzūbands (armlets with folding bands), &c. (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk Fabrics, 66).] Cutanees appear in Milburn's list of Calcutta piece-goods.
[1598.—"Cotonias, which are like canvas."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 60.]
[1648.—"Contenijs." See under ALCATIF.
[1673.—"Cuttanee breeches." See under ATLAS.
[1690.—"... rich Silks, such as Atlasses, Cuttanees...."—See under ALLEJA.
[1734.—"They manufacture ... in cotton and silk called Cuttenees."—A. Hamilton, i. 126; ed. 1744.]
CUTTRY. See KHUTTRY.
CYRUS, SYRAS, SARUS, &c. A common corruption of Hind. sāras, [Skt. sarasa, the 'lake bird,'] or (corruptly) sārhans, the name of the great gray crane, Grus Antigone, L., generally found in pairs, held almost sacred in some parts of India, and whose "fine trumpet-like call, uttered when alarmed or on the wing, can be heard a couple of miles off" (Jerdon). [The British soldier calls the bird a "Serious," and is fond of shooting him for the pot.]
1672.—"... peculiarly Brand-geese, Colum [see COOLUNG], and Serass, a species of the former."—Fryer, 117.
1807.—"The argeelah as well as the cyrus, and all the aquatic tribe are extremely fond of snakes, which they ... swallow down their long throats with great despatch."—Williamson, Or. Field Sports, 27.
[1809.—"Saros." See under coolung.]
1813.—In Forbes's Or. Mem. (ii. 277 seqq.; [2nd ed. i. 502 seqq.]), there is a curious story of a Cyrus or Sahras (as he writes it) which Forbes had tamed in India, and which nine years afterwards recognised its master when he visited General Conway's menagerie at Park Place near Henley.
1840.—"Bands of gobbling pelicans" (see this word, probably ADJUTANTS are meant) "and groups of tall cyruses in their half-Quaker, half-lancer plumage, consulted and conferred together, in seeming perplexity as to the nature of our intentions."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life, i. 108.
D
DABUL, n.p. Dābhol. In the later Middle Ages a famous port of the Konkan, often coupled with Choul (q.v.), carrying on extensive trade with the West of Asia. It lies in the modern dist. of Ratnagiri, in lat. 17° 34′, on the north bank of the Anjanwel or Vashishti R. In some maps (e.g. A. Arrowsmith's of 1816, long the standard map of India), and in W. Hamilton's Gazetteer, it is confounded with Dāpoli, 12 m. north, and not a seaport.
c. 1475.—"Dabyl is also a very extensive seaport, where many horses are brought from Mysore,[101] Rabast [Arabistan? i.e. Arabia], Khorassan, Turkistan, Neghostan."—Nikitin, p. 20. "It is a very large town, the great meeting-place for all nations living along the coast of India and of Ethiopia."—Ibid. 30.
1502.—"The gale abated, and the caravels reached land at Dabul, where they rigged their lateen sails, and mounted their artillery."—Correa, Three Voyages of V. da Gama, Hak. Soc. 308.
1510.—"Having seen Cevel and its customs, I went to another city, distant from it two days journey, which is called Dabuli.... There are Moorish merchants here in very great numbers."—Varthema, 114.
1516.—"This Dabul has a very good harbour, where there always congregate many Moorish ships from various ports, and especially from Mekkah, Aden, and Ormuz with horses, and from Cambay, Diu, and the Malabar country."—Barbosa, 72.
1554.—"23d Voyage, from Dābul to Aden."—The Mohit, in J. As. Soc. Beng., v. 464.
1572.—See Camões, x. 72.
[c. 1665.—"The King of Bijapur has three good ports in this kingdom: these are Rajapur, Dabhol, and Kareputtun."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 181 seq.]
DACCA, n.p. Properly Dhākā, ['the wood of ḍhāk (see DHAWK) trees'; the Imp. Gaz. suggests Ḍhakeswarī, 'the concealed goddess']. A city in the east of Bengal, once of great importance, especially in the later Mahommedan history; famous also for the "Dacca muslins" woven there, the annual advances for which, prior to 1801, are said to have amounted to £250,000. [Taylor, Descr. and Hist. Account of the Cotton Manufacture of Dacca in Bengal]. Dāka is throughout Central Asia applied to all muslins imported through Kabul.
c. 1612.—"... liberos Osmanis assecutus vivos cepit, eosque cum elephantis et omnibus thesauris defuncti, post quam Daeck Bengalae metropolim est reversus, misit ad regem."—De Laet, quoted by Blochmann, Āīn, i. 521.
[c. 1617.—"Dekaka" in Sir T. Roe's List, Hak. Soc. ii. 538.]
c. 1660.—"The same Robbers took Sultan-Sujah at Daka, to carry him away in their Galeasses to Rakan...."—Bernier, E.T. 55; [ed. Constable, 109].
1665.—"Daca is a great Town, that extends itself only in length; every one coveting to have an House by the Ganges side. The length ... is above two leagues.... These Houses are properly no more than paltry Huts built up with Bambouc's, and daub'd over with fat Earth."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 55; [ed. Ball, i. 128].
1682.—"The only expedient left was for the Agent to go himself in person to the Nabob and Duan at Decca."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 9; [Hak. Soc. i. 33].
DACOIT, DACOO, s. Hind. ḍakait, ḍākāyat, ḍākū; a robber belonging to an armed gang. The term, being current in Bengal, got into the Penal Code. By law, to constitute dacoity, there must be five or more in the gang committing the crime. Beames derives the word from ḍāknā, 'to shout,' a sense not in Shakespear's Dict. [It is to be found in Platts, and Fallon gives it as used in E. H. It appears to be connected with Skt. dashṭa, 'pressed together.']
1810.—"Decoits, or water-robbers."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 396.
1812.—"Dacoits, a species of depredators who infest the country in gangs."—Fifth Report, p. 9.
1817.—"The crime of dacoity" (that is, robbery by gangs), says Sir Henry Strachey, "... has, I believe, increased greatly since the British administration of justice."—Mill, H. of B. I., v. 466.
1834.—"It is a conspiracy! a false warrant!—they are Dakoos! Dakoos!!"—The Baboo, ii. 202.
1872.—"Daroga! Why, what has he come here for? I have not heard of any dacoity or murder in the Village."—Govinda Samanta, i. 264.
DADNY, s. H. dādnī, [P. dādan, 'to give']; an advance made to a craftsman, a weaver, or the like, by one who trades in the goods produced.
1678.—"Wee met with Some trouble About ye Investment of Taffaties wch hath Continued ever Since, Soe yt wee had not been able to give out any daudne on Muxadavad Side many weauours absenting themselves...."—MS. Letter of 3d June, from Cassumbazar Factory, in India Office.
1683.—"Chuttermull and Deepchund, two Cassumbazar merchants this day assured me Mr. Charnock gives out all his new Sicca Rupees for Dadny at 2 per cent., and never gives the Company credit for more than 1¼ rupee—by which he gains and putts in his own pocket Rupees ¾ per cent. of all the money he pays, which amounts to a great Summe in ye Yeare: at least £1,000 sterling."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 121, also see i. 83].
1748.—"The Sets being all present at the Board inform us that last year they dissented to the employment of Fillick Chund, Gosserain, Occore, and Otteram, they being of a different caste, and consequently they could not do business with them, upon which they refused Dadney, and having the same objection to make this year, they propose taking their shares of the Dadney."—Ft. William Cons., May 23. In Long, p. 9.
1772.—"I observe that the Court of Directors have ordered the gomastahs to be withdrawn, and the investment to be provided by Dadney merchants."—Warren Hastings to J. Purling, in Gleig, i. 227.
DAGBAIL, s. Hind. from Pers. dāgh-i-bel, 'spade-mark.' The line dug to trace out on the ground a camp, or a road or other construction. As the central line of a road, canal, or railroad it is the equivalent of English 'lockspit.'
DAGOBA, s. Singhalese dāgaba, from Pali dhātugabbha, and Sansk. dhātu-garbha, 'Relic-receptacle'; applied to any dome-like Buddhist shrine (see TOPE, PAGODA). Gen. Cunningham alleges that the Chaitya was usually an empty tope dedicated to the Adi-Buddha (or Supreme, of the quasi-Theistic Buddhists), whilst the term Dhātu-garbha, or Dhagoba, was properly applied only to a tope which was an actual relic-shrine, or repository of ashes of the dead (Bhilsa Topes, 9). ["The Shan word 'Htat,' or 'Tat,' and the Siamese 'Sat-oop,' for a pagoda placed over portions of Gaudama's body, such as his flesh, teeth, and hair, is derived from the Sanskrit 'Dhātu-garba,' a relic shrine" (Hallett, A Thousand Miles, 308).]
We are unable to say who first introduced the word into European use. It was well known to William von Humboldt, and to Ritter; but it has become more familiar through its frequent occurrence in Fergusson's Hist. of Architecture. The only surviving example of the native use of this term on the Continent of India, so far as we know, is in the neighbourhood of the remains of the great Buddhist establishments at Nalanda in Behar. See quotation below.