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Hobson-Jobson / A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive cover

Hobson-Jobson / A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive

Chapter 8: A
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About This Book

A comprehensive glossary compiles Anglo-Indian colloquial words and related terms, offering etymologies, historical citations, variant spellings, and notes on regional usage. Entries combine linguistic analysis with geographical, cultural, and bibliographic information, drawing on travelers' reports, official correspondence, and earlier glossaries. Short discursive passages examine processes of borrowing and adaptation and discuss difficulties of translation across languages. Cross-references and illustrative examples show how local vocabulary became naturalized in English speech and enable readers to trace word histories and contextual meanings across time and place.

CORRIGENDA.

PAGE. COL.
32 b. Apollo Bunder. Mr. S. M. Edwardes (History of Bombay, Town and Island, Census Report, 1901, p. 17) derives this name from 'Pallav Bandar,' 'the Harbour of Clustering Shoots.'
274 a. Crease. 1817. "the Portuguese commander requested permission to see the Cross which Janiere wore...."—Rev. R. Fellowes, History of Ceylon, chap. v. quoted in 9 ser. N. & Q. I. 85.
276 b. For "Porus" read "Portus."
380 b. For "It is probable that what that geographer ..." read "It is probable from what ..."
499 b. The reference to Bao was accidentally omitted. The word is Peguan (pronounced bā-a), "a monastery." The quotation from Sangermano (p. 88) runs: "There is not any village, however small, that has not one or more large wooden houses, which are a species of convent, by the Portuguese in India called Bao."
511 a. For "Adawlvt" read "Adawlat."
565 a. Mr. Edwardes (op. cit. p. 5) derives Mazagong from Skt. matsya-grāma, "fish-village," due to "the pungent odour of the fish, which its earliest inhabitants caught, dried and ate."
655 b. For "Steven's" read "Stevens'."
678 a. Mr. Edwardes (op. cit. p. 15) derives Parell from padel, "the Tree-Trumpet Flower" (Bignonia suaveolens).
816 a. For "shā-bāsh" read "shāh-bāsh."
858 b. For "Sowar" read "Sonar, a goldsmith."
920 b. Tiffin add:
  1784.— "Each temperate day
 With health glides away,
 No Triffings[20] our forenoons profane."
 —Memoirs of the Late War in Asia, by An Officer of
 Colonel Baillie's Detachment
, ii. Appendix, p. 293.
  1802.—"I suffered a very large library to be useless whence I might have extracted that which would have been of more service to me than running about to Tiffins and noisy parties."—Metcalfe, to J. W. Sherer, in Kaye, Life of Lord Metcalfe, I. 81.

A GLOSSARY
OF
ANGLO-INDIAN COLLOQUIAL TERMS AND
PHRASES OF ANALOGOUS ORIGIN.

ABADA, s. A word used by old Spanish and Portuguese writers for a 'rhinoceros,' and adopted by some of the older English narrators. The origin is a little doubtful. If it were certain that the word did not occur earlier than c. 1530-40, it would most probably be an adoption from the Malay badak, 'a rhinoceros.' The word is not used by Barros where he would probably have used it if he knew it (see quotation under GANDA); and we have found no proof of its earlier existence in the language of the Peninsula; if this should be established we should have to seek an Arabic origin in such a word as abadat, ābid, fem. ābida, of which one meaning is (v. Lane) 'a wild animal.' The usual form abada is certainly somewhat in favour of such an origin. [Prof. Skeat believes that the a in abada and similar Malay words represents the Arabic article, which was commonly used in Spanish and Portuguese prefixed to Arabic and other native words.] It will be observed that more than one authority makes it the female rhinoceros, and in the dictionaries the word is feminine. But so Barros makes Ganda. [Mr W. W. Skeat suggests that the female was the more dangerous animal, or the one most frequently met with, as is certainly the case with the crocodile.]

1541.—"Mynes of Silver, Copper, Tin, and Lead, from whence great quantities thereof were continually drawn, which the Merchants carried away with Troops of Elephants and Rhinoceroses (em cafilas de elefantes e badas) for to transport into the Kingdoms of Sornau, by us called Siam, Passiloco, Sarady, (Savady in orig.), Tangu, Prom, Calaminham and other Provinces...."—Pinto (orig. cap. xli.) in Cogan, p. 49. The kingdoms named here are Siam (see under SARNAU); Pitchalok and Sawatti (now two provinces of Siam); Taungu and Prome in B. Burma; Calaminham, in the interior of Indo-China, more or less fabulous.

1544.—"Now the King of Tartary was fallen upon the city of Pequin with so great an army as the like had never been seen since Adam's time; in this army ... were seven and twenty Kings, under whom marched 1,800,000 men ... with four score thousand Rhinoceroses" (donde partirão com oitenta mil badas).—Ibid. (orig. cap. cvii.) in Cogan, p. 149.

[1560.—See quotation under LAOS.]

1585.—"It is a very fertile country, with great stoare of prouisioun; there are elephants in great number and abadas, which is a kind of beast so big as two great buls, and hath vppon his snowt a little horne."—Mendoza, ii. 311.

1592.—"We sent commodities to their king to barter for Amber-greese, and for the hornes of Abath, whereof the Kinge onely hath the traffique in his hands. Now this Abath is a beast that hath one horne only in her forehead, and is thought to be the female Vnicorne, and is highly esteemed of all the Moores in those parts as a most soveraigne remedie against poyson."—Barker in Hakl. ii. 591.

1598.—"The Abada, or Rhinoceros, is not in India,[21] but onely in Bengala and Patane."—Linschoten, 88. [Hak. Soc. ii. 8.]

"Also in Bengala we found great numbers of the beasts which in Latin are called Rhinocerotes, and of the Portingalles Abadas."—Ibid. 28. [Hak. Soc. i. 96.]

c. 1606.—"... ove portano le loro mercanzie per venderle a' Cinesi, particolarmente ... molti corni della Bada, detto Rinoceronte...."—Carletti, p. 199.

1611.—"Bada, a very fierce animal, called by another more common name Rhinoceros. In our days they brought to the King Philip II., now in glory, a Bada which was long at Madrid, having his horn sawn off, and being blinded, for fear he should hurt anybody.... The name of Bada is one imposed by the Indians themselves; but assuming that there is no language but had its origin from the Hebrew in the confusion of tongues ... it will not be out of the way to observe that Bada is an Hebrew word, from Badad, 'solus, solitarius,' for this animal is produced in desert and very solitary places."—Cobarruvias, s.v.

1613.—"And the woods give great timber, and in them are produced elephants, badas...."—Godinho de Eredia, 10 v.

1618.—"A China brought me a present of a cup of abado (or black unecorns horne) with sugar cakes."—Cocks's Diary, ii. 56.

1626.—On the margin of Pigafetta's Congo, as given by Purchas (ii. 1001), we find: "Rhinoceros or Abadas."

1631.—"Lib. v. cap. 1. De Abada seu Rhinocerote."—Bontii Hist. Nat. et Med.

1726.—"Abada, s. f. La hembra del Rhinoceronte."—Dicc. de la Lengua Castellana.

ABCÁREE, ABKÁRY. H. from P. āb-kārī, the business of distilling or selling (strong) waters, and hence elliptically the excise upon such business. This last is the sense in which it is used by Anglo-Indians. In every district of India the privilege of selling spirits is farmed to contractors, who manage the sale through retail shopkeepers. This is what is called the 'Abkary System.' The system has often been attacked as promoting tippling, and there are strong opinions on both sides. We subjoin an extract from a note on the subject, too long for insertion in integrity, by one of much experience in Bengal—Sir G. U. Yule.

June, 1879.—"Natives who have expressed their views are, I believe, unanimous in ascribing the increase of drinking to our Abkaree system. I don't say that this is putting the cart before the horse, but they are certainly too forgetful of the increased means in the country, which, if not the sole cause of the increased consumption, has been at least a very large factor in that result. I myself believe that more people drink now than formerly; but I knew one gentleman of very long and intimate knowledge of Bengal, who held that there was as much drinking in 1820 as in 1860."

In any case exaggeration is abundant. All Sanskrit literature shows that tippling is no absolute novelty in India. [See the article on "Spirituous Drinks in Ancient India," by Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. 389 seqq.]

1790.—"In respect to Abkarry, or Tax on Spirituous Liquors, which is reserved for Taxation ... it is evident that we cannot establish a general rate, since the quantity of consumption and expense of manufacture, etc., depends upon the vicinity of principal stations. For the amount leviable upon different Stills we must rely upon officers' local knowledge. The public, indeed, cannot suffer, since, if a few stills are suppressed by over-taxation, drunkenness is diminished."—In a Letter from Board of Revenue (Bengal) to Government, 12th July. MS. in India Office.

1797.—"The stamps are to have the words 'Abcaree licenses' inscribed in the Persian and Hindu languages and character."—Bengal Regulations, x. 33.

ABIHÓWA. Properly P. āb-o-hawā, 'water and air.' The usual Hindustani expression for 'climate.'

1786.—"What you write concerning the death of 500 Koorgs from small-pox is understood ... they must be kept where the climate [āb-o-hawā] may best agree with them."—Tippoo's Letters, 269.

ABYSSINIA, n.p. This geographical name is a 16-century Latinisation of the Arabic Ḥabash, through the Portuguese Abex, bearing much the same pronunciation, minus the aspirate. [See HUBSHEE.]

[1598.—"The countrey of the Abexynes, at Prester John's land."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 38.

1617.—"He sent mee to buy three Abassines."—Sir T. Roe, Travels, Hak. Soc. ii. 445.]

A. C. (i.e. 'after compliments'). In official versions of native letters these letters stand for the omitted formalities of native compliments.

ACHÁNOCK, n.p. H. Chānak and Achānak. The name by which the station of Barrackpore is commonly known to Sepoys and other natives. Some have connected the name with that of Job Charnock, or, as A. Hamilton calls him, Channock, the founder of Calcutta, and the quotations render this probable. Formerly the Cantonment of Secrole at Benares was also known, by a transfer no doubt, as Chhotā (or 'Little') Achānak. Two additional remarks may be relevantly made: (1) Job's name was certainly Charnock, and not Channock. It is distinctly signed "Job Charnock," in a MS. letter from the factory at "Chutta," i.e. Chuttanuttee (or Calcutta) in the India Office records, which I have seen. (2) The map in Valentijn which shows the village of Tsjannok, though published in 1726, was apparently compiled by Van der Broecke in 1662. Hence it is not probable that it took its name from Job Charnock, who seems to have entered the Company's service in 1658. When he went to Bengal we have not been able to ascertain. [See Diary of Hedges, edited by Sir H. Yule, ii., xcix. In some "Documentary Memoirs of Job Charnock," which form part of vol. lxxv. (1888) of the Hakluyt Soc., Job is said to have "arrived in India in 1655 or 1656."]

1677.—"The ship Falcone to go up the river to Hughly, or at least to Channock."—Court's Letter to Ft. St. Geo. of 12th December. In Notes and Extracts, Madras, 1871, No. 1., p. 21; see also p. 23.

1711.—"Chanock-Reach hath two shoals, the upper one in Chanock, and the lower one on the opposite side ... you must from below Degon as aforesaid, keep the starboard shore aboard until you come up with a Lime-Tree ... and then steer over with Chanock Trees and house between the two shoals, until you come mid-river, but no nearer the house."—The English Pilot, 55.

1726.—"'t stedeken Tsjannock."—Valentijn, v. 153. In Val.'s map of Bengal also, we find opposite to Oegli (Hoogly), Tsjannok, and then Collecatte, and Calcula.

1758.—"Notwithstanding these solemn assurances from the Dutch it was judged expedient to send a detachment of troops ... to take possession of Tanna Fort and Charnoc's Battery opposite to it."—Narrative of Dutch attempt in the Hoogly, in Malcolm's Life of Clive, ii. 76.

1810.—"The old village of Achanock stood on the ground which the post of Barrackpore now occupies."—M. Graham, 142.

1848.—"From an oral tradition still prevalent among the natives at Barrackpore ... we learn that Mr. Charnock built a bungalow there, and a flourishing bazar arose under his patronage, before the settlement of Calcutta had been determined on. Barrackpore is at this day best known to the natives by the name of Chanock."—The Bengal Obituary, Calc. p. 2.

ACHÁR, s. P. āchār, Malay ắchār, adopted in nearly all the vernaculars of India for acid and salt relishes. By Europeans it is used as the equivalent of 'pickles,' and is applied to all the stores of Crosse and Blackwell in that kind. We have adopted the word through the Portuguese; but it is not impossible that Western Asiatics got it originally from the Latin acetaria.—(See Plin. Hist. Nat. xix. 19).

1563.—"And they prepare a conserve of it (Anacardium) with salt, and when it is green (and this they call Achar), and this is sold in the market just as olives are with us."—Garcia, f. 17.

1596.—Linschoten in the Dutch gives the word correctly, but in the English version (Hak. Soc. ii. 26) it is printed Machar.

[1612.—"Achar none to be had except one jar."—Danvers, Letters, i. 230.]

1616.—"Our jurebasso's (Juribasso) wife came and brought me a small jarr of Achar for a present, desyring me to exskews her husband in that he abcented hymselfe to take phisik."—Cocks, i. 135.

1623.—"And all these preserved in a way that is really very good, which they call acciao."—P. della Valle, ii. 708. [Hak. Soc. ii. 327.]

1653.—"Achar est vn nom Indistanni, ou Indien, que signifie des mangues, ou autres fruits confis avec de la moutarde, de l'ail, du sel, et du vinaigre à l'Indienne."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 531.

1687.—"Achar I presume signifies sauce. They make in the East Indies, especially at Siam and Pegu, several sorts of Achar, as of the young tops of Bamboes, &c. Bambo-Achar and Mango-Achar are most used."—Dampier, i. 391.

1727.—"And the Soldiery, Fishers, Peasants, and Handicrafts (of Goa) feed on a little Rice boiled in Water, with a little bit of Salt Fish, or Atchaar, which is pickled Fruits or Roots."—A. Hamilton, i. 252. [And see under KEDGEREE.]

1783.—We learn from Forrest that limes, salted for sea-use against scurvy, were used by the Chulias (Choolia), and were called atchar (Voyage to Mergui, 40). Thus the word passed to Java, as in next quotation:

1768-71.—"When green it (the mango) is made into attjar; for this the kernel is taken out, and the space filled in with ginger, pimento, and other spicy ingredients, after which it is pickled in vinegar."—Stavorinus, i. 237.

ACHEEN, n.p. (P. Āchīn [Tam. Attai, Malay Acheh, Achih] 'a wood-leech'). The name applied by us to the State and town at the N.W. angle of Sumatra, which was long, and especially during the 16th and 17th centuries, the greatest native power on that Island. The proper Malay name of the place is Acheh. The Portuguese generally called it Achem (or frequently by the adhesion of the genitive preposition, Dachem, so that Sir F. Greville below makes two kingdoms), but our Acheen seems to have been derived from mariners of the P. Gulf or W. India, for we find the name so given (Āchīn) in the Āīn-i-Akbari, and in the Geog. Tables of Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī. This form may have been suggested by a jingling analogy, such as Orientals love, with Māchīn (Macheen). See also under LOOTY.

1549.—"Piratarum Acenorum nec periculum nec suspicio fuit."—S. Fr. Xav. Epistt. 337.

1552.—"But after Malacca was founded, and especially at the time of our entry into India, the Kingdom of Pacem began to increase in power, and that of Pedir to diminish. And that neighbouring one of Achem, which was then insignificant, is now the greatest of all."—Barros, III. v. 8.

1563.—

"Occupado tenhais na guerra infesta

Ou do sanguinolento,

Taprobanico[22] Achem, que ho mar molesta

Ou do Cambaico occulto imiguo nosso."

Camões, Ode prefixed to Garcia de Orta.

c. 1569.—"Upon the headland towards the West is the Kingdom of Assi, governed by a Moore King."—Cæsar Frederike, tr. in Hakluyt, ii. 355.

c. 1590.—"The zabád (civet), which is brought from the harbour-town of Sumatra, from the territory of Achín, goes by the name of Sumatra-zabád, and is by far the best."—Āīn, i. 79.

1597.—"... do Pegu como do Dachem."—King's Letter, in Arch. Port. Or. fasc. 3, 669.

1599.—"The iland of Sumatra, or Taprobuna, is possessed by many Kynges, enemies to the Portugals; the cheif is the Kinge of Dachem, who besieged them in Malacca.... The Kinges of Acheyn and Tor (read Jor for Johore) are in lyke sort enemies to the Portugals."—Sir Fulke Greville to Sir F. Walsingham (in Bruce, i. 125).

[1615.—"It so proved that both Ponleema and Governor of Tecoo was come hither for Achein."—Foster, Letters, iv. 3.

1623.—"Acem which is Sumatra."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 287.]

c. 1635.—"Achín (a name equivalent in rhyme and metre to 'Máchín') is a well-known island in the Chinese Sea, near to the equinoctial line."—Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī (Or. Tr. F.), p. 2.

1780.—"Archin." See quotation under BOMBAY MARINE.

1820.—"In former days a great many junks used to frequent Achin. This trade is now entirely at an end."—Crawfurd, H. Ind. Arch. iii. 182.

ADAM'S APPLE. This name (Pomo d'Adamo) is given at Goa to the fruit of the Mimusops Elengi, Linn. (Birdwood); and in the 1635 ed. of Gerarde's Herball it is applied to the Plantain. But in earlier days it was applied to a fruit of the Citron kind.—(See Marco Polo, 2nd ed., i. 101), and the following:

c. 1580.—"In his hortis (of Cairo) ex arboribus virescunt mala citria, aurantia, limonia sylvestria et domestica poma Adami vocata."—Prosp. Alpinus, i. 16.

c. 1712.—"It is a kind of lime or citron tree ... it is called Pomum Adami, because it has on its rind the appearance of two bites, which the simplicity of the ancients imagined to be the vestiges of the impression which our forefather made upon the forbidden fruit...." Bluteau, quoted by Tr. of Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. i. 100. The fruit has nothing to do with zamboa, with which Bluteau and Mr. Birch connect it. See JAMBOO.

ADATI, s. A kind of piece-goods exported from Bengal. We do not know the proper form or etymology. It may have been of half-width (from H. ādhā, 'half'). [It may have been half the ordinary length, as the Salampore (Salempoory) was half the length of the cloth known in Madras as Punjum. (Madras Man. of Ad. iii. 799). Also see Yule's note in Hedges' Diary, ii. ccxl.]

1726.—"Casseri (probably Kasiári in Midnapur Dist.) supplies many Taffatshelas (Alleja, Shalee), Ginggangs, Allegias, and Adathays, which are mostly made there."—Valentijn, v. 159.

1813.—Among piece-goods of Bengal: "Addaties, Pieces 700" (i.e. pieces to the ton).—Milburn, ii. 221.

ADAWLUT, s. Ar.—H.—'adālat, 'a Court of Justice,' from 'adl, 'doing justice.' Under the Mohammedan government there were 3 such courts, viz., Nizāmat 'Adālat, Dīwānī 'Adālat, and Faujdārī 'Adālat, so-called from the respective titles of the officials who nominally presided over them. The first was the chief Criminal Court, the second a Civil Court, the third a kind of Police Court. In 1793 regular Courts were established under the British Government, and then the Sudder Adawlut (Ṣadr 'Adālat) became the chief Court of Appeal for each Presidency, and its work was done by several European (Civilian) Judges. That Court was, on the criminal side, termed Nizamut Adawlat, and on the civil side Dewanny Ad. At Madras and Bombay, Foujdarry was the style adopted in lieu of Nizamut. This system ended in 1863, on the introduction of the Penal Code, and the institution of the High Courts on their present footing. (On the original history and constitution of the Courts see Fifth Report, 1812, p. 6.)

What follows applies only to the Bengal Presidency, and to the administration of justice under the Company's Courts beyond the limits of the Presidency town. Brief particulars regarding the history of the Supreme Courts and those Courts which preceded them will be found under SUPREME COURT.

The grant, by Shāh 'Ālam, in 1765, of the Dewanny of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa to the Company, transferred all power, civil and military, in those provinces, to that body. But no immediate attempt was made to undertake the direct detailed administration of either revenue or justice by the agency of the European servants of the Company. Such superintendence, indeed, of the administration was maintained in the prior acquisitions of the Company—viz., in the Zemindary of Calcutta, in the Twenty-four Pergunnas, and in the Chucklas (Chucklah) or districts of Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, which had been transferred by the Nawab, Kāsim 'Ali Khān, in 1760; but in the rest of the territory it was confined to the agency of a Resident at the Moorshedabad Durbar, and of a 'Chief' at Patna. Justice was administered by the Mohammedan courts under the native officials of the Dewanny.

In 1770, European officers were appointed in the districts, under the name of Supervisors, with powers of control over the natives employed in the collection of the Revenue and the administration of justice, whilst local councils, with superior authority in all branches, were established at Moorshedabad and Patna. It was not till two years later that, under express orders from the Court of Directors, the effective administration of the provinces was undertaken by the agency of the Company's covenanted servants. At this time (1772) Courts of Civil Justice (Mofussil Dewanny Adawlut) were established in each of the Districts then recognised. There were also District Criminal Courts (Foujdary Adawlut) held by Cazee or Mufty under the superintendence, like the Civil Court, of the Collectors, as the Supervisors were now styled; whilst Superior Courts (Sudder Dewanny, Sudder Nizamut Adawlut) were established at the Presidency, to be under the superintendence of three or four members of the Council of Fort William.

In 1774 the Collectors were recalled, and native 'Amils (Aumil) appointed in their stead. Provincial Councils were set up for the divisions of Calcutta, Burdwan, Dacca, Moorshedabad, Dinagepore, and Patna, in whose hands the superintendence, both of revenue collection and of the administration of civil justice, was vested, but exercised by the members in rotation.

The state of things that existed under this system was discreditable. As Courts of Justice the provincial Councils were only "colourable imitations of courts, which had abdicated their functions in favour of their own subordinate (native) officers, and though their decisions were nominally subject to the Governor-General in Council, the Appellate Court was even a more shadowy body than the Courts of first instance. The Court never sat at all, though there are some traces of its having at one time decided appeals on the report of the head of the Khalsa, or native exchequer, just as the Provincial Council decided them on the report of the Cazis and Muftis."[23]

In 1770 the Government resolved that Civil Courts, independent of the Provincial Councils, should be established in the six divisions named above,[24] each under a civilian judge with the title of Superintendent of the Dewanny Adawlut; whilst to the Councils should still pertain the trial of causes relating to the public revenue, to the demands of zemindars upon their tenants, and to boundary questions. The appeal from the District Courts still lay to the Governor-General and his Council, as forming the Court of Sudder Dewanny; but that this might be real, a judge was appointed its head in the person of Sir Elijah Impey, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an appointment which became famous. For it was represented as a transaction intended to compromise the acute dissensions which had been going on between that Court and the Bengal Government, and in fact as a bribe to Impey. It led, by an address from the House of Commons, to the recall of Impey, and constituted one of the charges in the abortive impeachment of that personage. Hence his charge of the Sudder Dewanny ceased in November, 1782, and it was resumed in form by the Governor-General and Council.

In 1787, the first year of Lord Cornwallis's government, in consequence of instructions from the Court of Directors, it was resolved that, with an exception as to the Courts at Moorshedabad, Patna, and Dacca, which were to be maintained independently, the office of judge in the Mofussil Courts was to be attached to that of the collection of the revenue; in fact, the offices of Judge and Collector, which had been divorced since 1774, were to be reunited. The duties of Magistrate and Judge became mere appendages to that of Collector; the administration of justice became a subordinate function; and in fact all Regulations respecting that administration were passed in the Revenue Department of the Government.

Up to 1790 the criminal judiciary had remained in the hands of the native courts. But this was now altered; four Courts of Circuit were created, each to be superintended by two civil servants as judges; the Sudder Nizamut Adawlut at the Presidency being presided over by the Governor-General and the members of Council.

In 1793 the constant succession of revolutions in the judicial system came to something like a pause, with the entire reformation which was enacted by the Regulations of that year. The Collection of Revenue was now entirely separated from the administration of justice; Zillah Courts under European judges were established (Reg. iii.) in each of 23 Districts and 3 cities, in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; whilst Provincial Courts of Appeal, each consisting of three judges (Reg. v.), were established at Moorshedabad, Patna, Dacca, and Calcutta. From these Courts, under certain conditions, further appeal lay to the Sudder Dewanny Adawluts at the Presidency.

As regarded criminal jurisdiction, the judges of the Provincial Courts were also (Reg. ix., 1793) constituted Circuit Courts, liable to review by the Sudder Nizamut. Strange to say, the impracticable idea of placing the duties of both of the higher Courts, civil and criminal, on the shoulders of the executive Government was still maintained, and the Governor-General and his Council were the constituted heads of the Sudder Dewanny and Sudder Nizamut. This of course continued as unworkable as it had been; and in Lord Wellesley's time, eight years later, the two Sudder Adawluts were reconstituted, with three regular judges to each, though it was still ruled (Reg. ii., 1801) that the chief judge in each Court was to be a member of the Supreme Council, not being either the Governor-General or the Commander-in-Chief. This rule was rescinded by Reg. x. of 1805.

The number of Provincial and Zillah Courts was augmented in after years with the extension of territory, and additional Sudder Courts, for the service of the Upper Provinces, were established at Allahabad in 1831 (Reg. vi.), a step which may be regarded as the inception of the separation of the N.W. Provinces into a distinct Lieutenant-Governorship, carried out five years later. But no change that can be considered at all organic occurred again in the judiciary system till 1862; for we can hardly consider as such the abolition of the Courts of Circuit in 1829 (Reg. i.), and that of the Provincial Courts of Appeal initiated by a section in Reg. v. of 1831, and completed in 1833.

1822.—"This refers to a traditional story which Mr. Elphinstone used to relate.... During the progress of our conquests in the North-West many of the inhabitants were encountered flying from the newly-occupied territory. 'Is Lord Lake coming?' was the enquiry. 'No,' was the reply, 'the Adawlut is coming.'"—Life of Ephinstone, ii. 131.

1826.—"The adawlut or Court-house was close by."—Pandurang Hari, 271 [ed. 1873, ii. 90].

ADIGAR, s. Properly adhikār, from Skt. adhikārin, one possessing authority; Tam. adhikāri, or -kāren. The title was formerly in use in South India, and perhaps still in the native States of Malabar, for a rural headman. [See quot. from Logan below.] It was also in Ceylon (adikārama, adikār) the title of chief minister of the Candyan Kings. See PATEL.

1544.—"Fac te comem et humanum cum isti Genti praebeas, tum praesertim magistratibus eorum et Praefectis Pagorum, quos Adigares vocant."—S. Fr. Xav. Epistt. 113.

1583.—"Mentre che noi erauamo in questa città, l'assalirono sù la mezza notte all' improuiso, mettendoui il fuoco. Erano questi d'una città uicina, lontana da S. Thomè, doue stanno i Portoghesi, un miglio, sotto la scorta d'un loro Capitano, che risiede in detta città ... et questo Capitano è da loro chiamato Adicario."—Balbi, f. 87.

1681.—"There are two who are the greatest and highest officers in the land. They are called Adigars; I may term them Chief Judges."—Knox, 48.

1726.—" Adigaar. This is as it were the second of the Dessave."—Valentijn (Ceylon), Names of Officers, &c., 9.

1796.—"In Malabar esiste oggidi l'uffizio ... molti Káriakárer o ministri; molti Adhigári o ministri d'un distretto...."—Fra Paolino, 237.

1803.—"The highest officers of State are the Adigars or Prime Ministers. They are two in number."—Percival's Ceylon, 256.

[1810-17.—"Announcing in letters ... his determination to exercise the office of Serv Adikar."—Wilks, Mysoor, i. 264.

1887.—"Each amsam or parish has now besides the Adhikāri or man of authority, headman, an accountant."—Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 90.]

ADJUTANT, s. A bird so called (no doubt) from its comical resemblance to a human figure in a stiff dress pacing slowly on a parade-ground. It is the H. haṛgīla, or gigantic crane, and popular scavenger of Bengal, the Leptoptilus argala of Linnæus. The H. name is by some dictionaries derived from a supposed Skt. word haḍḍa-gila, 'bone-swallower.' The compound, however appropriate, is not to be found in Böhtlingk and Roth's great Dictionary. The bird is very well described by Aelian, under the name of Κήλα, which is perhaps a relic of the still preserved vernacular one. It is described by another name, as one of the peculiarities of India, by Sultan Baber. See PELICAN.

"The feathers known as Marabou or Comercolly feathers, and sold in Calcutta, are the tail-coverts of this, and the Lept. Javanica, another and smaller species" (Jerdon). The name marabout (from the Ar. murābit, 'quiet,' and thence 'a hermit,' through the Port. marabuto) seems to have been given to the bird in Africa on like reason to that of adjutant in India. [Comercolly, properly Kumārkhāli, is a town in the Nadiya District, Bengal. See Balfour, Cycl. i. 1082.]

c. A.D. 250.—"And I hear that there is in India a bird Kēla, which is 3 times as big as a bustard; it has a mouth of a frightful size, and long legs, and it carries a huge crop which looks like a leather bag; it has a most dissonant voice, and whilst the rest of the plumage is ash-coloured, the tail-feathers are of a pale (or greenish) colour."—Aelian, de Nat. Anim. xvi. 4.

c. 1530.—"One of these (fowls) is the dīng, which is a large bird. Each of its wings is the length of a man; on its head and neck there is no hair. Something like a bag hangs from its neck; its back is black, its breast white; it frequently visits Kābul. One year they caught and brought me a dīng, which became very tame. The flesh which they threw it, it never failed to catch in its beak, and swallowed without ceremony. On one occasion it swallowed a shoe well shod with iron; on another occasion it swallowed a good-sized fowl right down, with its wings and feathers."—Baber, 321.

1754.—"In the evening excursions ... we had often observed an extraordinary species of birds, called by the natives Argill or Hargill, a native of Bengal. They would majestically stalk along before us, and at first we took them for Indians naked.... The following are the exact marks and dimensions.... The wings extended 14 feet and 10 inches. From the tip of the bill to the extremity of the claw it measured 7 feet 6 inches.... In the craw was a Terapin or land-tortoise, 10 inches long; and a large black male cat was found entire in its stomach."—Ives, 183-4.

1798.—"The next is the great Heron, the Argali or Adjutant, or Gigantic Crane of Latham.... It is found also in Guinea."—Pennant's View of Hindostan, ii. 156.

1810.—"Every bird saving the vulture, the Adjutant (or argeelah) and kite, retires to some shady spot."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 3.

[1880.—Ball (Jungle Life, 82) describes the "snake-stone" said to be found in the head of the bird.]

AFGHÁN, n.p. P.—H—Afghān. The most general name of the predominant portion of the congeries of tribes beyond the N.W. frontier of India, whose country is called from them Afghānistān. In England one often hears the country called Afguníst-un, which is a mispronunciation painful to an Anglo-Indian ear, and even Af'gann, which is a still more excruciating solecism. [The common local pronunciation of the name is Aoghān, which accounts for some of the forms below. Bellew insists on the distinction between the Afghān and the Pathān (PUTTAN). "The Afghan is a Pathan merely because he inhabits a Pathan country, and has to a great extent mixed with its people and adopted their language" (Races of Af., p. 25). The name represents Skt. asvaka in the sense of a 'cavalier,' and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander.]

c. 1020.—"... Afgháns and Khiljis...."—'Utbi in Elliot, ii. 24; see also 50, 114.

c. 1265.—"He also repaired the fort of Jalálí, which he garrisoned with Afgháns."—Táríkh-i-Fírozsháhí in do. iii. 106.

14th cent.—The Afghans are named by the continuator of Rashiduddin among the tribes in the vicinity of Herat (see N. & E. xiv. 494).

1504.—"The Afghans, when they are reduced to extremities in war, come into the presence of their enemy with grass between their teeth; being as much as to say, 'I am your ox.'"[25]Baber, 159.

c. 1556.—"He was afraid of the Afgháns."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As., 1st S., ix. 201.

1609.—"Agwans and Potans."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 521.

c. 1665.—"Such are those petty Sovereigns, who are seated on the Frontiers of Persia, who almost never pay him anything, no more than they do to the King of Persia. As also the Balouches and Augans, and other Mountaineers, of whom the greatest part pay him but a small matter, and even care but little for him: witness the Affront they did him, when they stopped his whole Army by cutting off the Water ... when he passed from Atek on the River Indus to Caboul to lay siege to Kandahar...."—Bernier, E. T. 64 [ed. Constable, 205].

1676.—"The people called Augans who inhabit from Candahar to Caboul ... a sturdy sort of people, and great robbers in the night-time."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 44; [ed. Ball, i. 92].

1767.—"Our final sentiments are that we have no occasion to take any measures against the Afghans' King if it should appear he comes only to raise contributions, but if he proceeds to the eastward of Delhi to make an attack on your allies, or threatens the peace of Bengal, you will concert such measures with Sujah Dowla as may appear best adapted for your mutual defence."—Court's Letter, Nov. 20. In Long, 486; also see ROHILLA.

1838.—"Professor Dorn ... discusses severally the theories that have been maintained of the descent of the Afghauns: 1st, from the Copts; 2nd, the Jews; 3rd, the Georgians; 4th, the Toorks; 5th, the Moguls; 6th, the Armenians: and he mentions more cursorily the opinion that they are descended from the Indo-Scythians, Medians, Sogdians, Persians, and Indians: on considering all which, he comes to the rational conclusion, that they cannot be traced to any tribe or country beyond their present seats and the adjoining mountains."—Elphinstone's Caubool, ed. 1839, i. 209.

AFRICO, n.p. A negro slave.