[c. 1590.—"A paper authenticated by proper signatures is called a sunnud...."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, i. 214; ed. Blochmann, i. 259.]
1758.—"They likewise brought sunnuds, or the commission for the nabobship."—Orme, Hist., ed. 1803, ii. 284.
1759.—"That your Petitioners, being the Bramins, &c. ... were permitted by Sunnud from the President and Council to collect daily alms from each shop or doocan (Doocaun) of this place, at 5 cowries per diem."—In Long, 184.
1776.—"If the path to and from a House ... be in the Territories of another Person, that Person, who always hath passed to and fro, shall continue to do so, the other Person aforesaid, though he hath a Right of Property in the Ground, and hath an attested Sunnud thereof, shall not have Authority to cause him any Let or Molestation."—Halhed, Code, 100-101.
1799.—"I enclose you sunnuds for pension for the Killadar of Chittledroog."—Wellington, i. 45.
1800.—"I wished to have traced the nature of landed property in Soondah ... by a chain of Sunnuds up to the 8th century."—Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 249.
1809.—"This sunnud is the foundation of all the rights and privileges annexed to a Jageer (Jagheer)."—Harrington's Analysis, ii. 410.
SUNYÁSEE, s. Skt. sannyāsī, lit. 'one who resigns, or abandons,' scil. 'wordly affairs'; a Hindu religious mendicant. The name of Sunnyásee was applied familiarly in Bengal, c. 1760-75, to a body of banditti claiming to belong to a religious fraternity, who, in the interval between the decay of the imperial authority and the regular establishment of our own, had their head-quarters in the forest-tracts at the foot of the Himālaya. From these they used to issue periodically in large bodies, plundering and levying exactions far and wide, and returning to their asylum in the jungle when threatened with pursuit. In the days of Nawāb Mīr Kāsim 'Ali (1760-64) they were bold enough to plunder the city of Dacca; and in 1766 the great geographer James Rennell, in an encounter with a large body of them in the territory of Koch (see COOCH) Bihār, was nearly cut to pieces. Rennell himself, five years later, was employed to carry out a project which he had formed for the suppression of these bands, and did so apparently with what was considered at the time to be success, though we find the depredators still spoken of by W. Hastings as active, two or three years later.
[c. 200 A.D.—"Having thus performed religious acts in a forest during the third portion of his life, let him become a Sannyasi for the fourth portion of it, abandoning all sensual affection."—Manu, vi. 33.
[c. 1590.—"The fourth period is Sannyása, which is an extraordinary state of austerity that nothing can surpass.... Such a person His Majesty calls Sannyásí."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 278.]
1616.—"Sunt autem Sanasses apud illos Brachmanes quidam, sanctimoniae opinione habentes, ab hominum scilicet consortio semoti in solitudine degentes et nonnunquã totũ nudi corpus in publicũ prodeuntes."—Jarric, Thes. i. 663.
1626.—"Some (an vnlearned kind) are called Sannases."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 549.
1651.—"The Sanyasys are people who set the world and worldly joys, as they say, on one side. These are indeed more precise and strict in their lives than the foregoing."—Rogerius, 21.
1674.—"Saniade, or Saniasi, is a dignity greater than that of Kings."—Faria y Sousa, Asia Port. ii. 711.
1726.—"The San-yasés are men who, forsaking the world and all its fruits, betake themselves to a very strict and retired manner of life."—Valentijn, Choro. 75.
1766.—"The Sanashy Faquirs (part of the same Tribe which plundered Dacca in Cossim Ally's Time[256]) were in arms to the number of 7 or 800 at the Time I was surveying Báár (a small Province near Boutan), and had taken and plundered the Capital of that name within a few Coss of my route.... I came up with Morrison immediately after he had defeated the Sanashys in a pitched Battle.... Our Escorte, which were a few Horse, rode off, and the Enemy with drawn Sabres immediately surrounded us. Morrison escaped unhurt, Richards, my Brother officer, received only a slight Wound, and fought his Way off; my Armenian Assistant was killed, and the Sepoy Adjutant much wounded.... I was put in a Palankeen, and Morrison made an attack on the Enemy and cut most of them to Pieces. I was now in a most shocking Condition indeed, being deprived of the Use of both my Arms, ... a cut of a Sable (sic) had cut through my right Shoulder Bone, and laid me open for nearly a Foot down the Back, cutting thro' and wounding some of my Ribs. I had besides a Cut on the left Elbow whch took off the Muscular part of the breadth of a Hand, a Stab in the Arm, and a large Cut on the head...."—MS. Letter from James Rennell, dd. August 30, in possession of his grandson Major Rodd.
1767.—"A body of 5000 Sinnasses have lately entered the Sircar Sarong country; the Phousdar sent two companies of Sepoys after them, under the command of a serjeant ... the Sinnasses stood their ground, and after the Sepoys had fired away their ammunition, fell on them, killed and wounded near 80, and put the rest to flight...."—Letter to President at Ft. William, from Thomas Rumbold, Chief at Patna, dd. April 20, in Long, p. 526.
1773.—"You will hear of great disturbances committed by the Sinassies, or wandering Fackeers, who annually infest the provinces about this time of the year, in pilgrimage to Juggernaut, going in bodies of 1000 and sometimes even 10,000 men."—Letter of Warren Hastings, dd. February 2, in Gleig, i. 282.
" "At this time we have five battalions of Sepoys in pursuit of them."—Do. do., March 31, in Gleig, i. 294.
1774.—"The history of these people is curious.... They ... rove continually from place to place, recruiting their numbers with the healthiest children they can steal.... Thus they are the stoutest and most active men in India.... Such are the Senassies, the gypsies of Hindostan."—Do. do., dd. August 25, in Gleig, 303-4. See the same vol., also pp. 284, 296-7-8, 395.
1826.—"Being looked upon with an evil eye by many persons in society, I pretended to bewail my brother's loss, and gave out my intention of becoming a Sunyasse, and retiring from the world."—Pandurang Hari, 394; [ed. 1873, ii. 267; also i. 189].
SUPÁRA, n.p. The name of a very ancient port and city of Western India; in Skt. Sūrpāraka,[257] popularly Supāra. It was near Wasāi (Baçaim of the Portuguese—see (1) Bassein)—which was for many centuries the chief city of the Konkan, where the name still survives as that of a well-to-do town of 1700 inhabitants, the channel by which vessels in former days reached it from the sea being now dry. The city is mentioned in the Mahābhārata as a very holy place, and in other old Sanskrit works, as well as in cave inscriptions at Kārlī and Nāsik, going back to the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Christian era. Excavations affording interesting Buddhist relics, were made in 1882 by Mr. (now Sir) J. M. Campbell (see his interesting notice in Bombay Gazetteer, xiv. 314-342; xvi. 125) and Pundit Indrajī Bhagwānlāl. The name of Supāra is one of those which have been plausibly connected, through Sophir, the Coptic name of India, with the Ophir of Scripture. Some Arab writers call it the Sofāla of India.
c. A.D. 80-90.—"Τοπικὰ δὲ ἐμπόρια κατὰ τὸ ἐξῆς κείμενα ἀπὸ Βαρυγάζων, Σούππαρα, καὶ Καλλιένα πόλις ..."—Periplus, § 52, ed. Fabricii.
c. 150.—
"Ἀριακῆς Σαδινῶν
Σουπάρα ...
Γοάριος ποταμοῦ ἐκβολαι ...
Δοῦγγα ...
Βήνδα ποταμοῦ ἐκβολαί ...
Σίμυλλα ἐμπόριον καὶ ἄκρα...."
Ptolemy, VII. i. f. § 6.
c. 460.—"The King compelling Wijayo and his retinue, 700 in number, to have the half of their heads shaved, and having embarked them in a vessel, sent them adrift on the ocean.... Wijayo himself landed at the port of Suppâraka...."—The Mahawanso, by Turnour, p. 46.
c. 500.—"Σουφείρ, χώρα, ἐν ᾗ οἱ πολύτιμοι λίθοι, καὶ ὁ χρυσός, ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ."—Hesychius, s.v.
c. 951.—"Cities of Hind ... Kambáya, Subárá, Sindán."—Istakhri, in Elliot, i. 27.
A.D. 1095.—"The Mahâmândalîka, the illustrious Anantadêva, the Emperor of the Koṅkan (Concan), has released the toll mentioned in this copper-grant given by the Sîlâras, in respect of every cart belonging to two persons ... which may come into any of the ports, Sri Sthânaka (Tana), as well as Nâgapur, Surpâraka, Chemuli (Chaul) and others, included within the Koṅkan Fourteen Hundred...."—Copper-Plate Grant, in Ind. Antiq. ix. 38.
c. 1150.—"Súbára is situated 1½ mile from the sea. It is a populous busy town, and is considered one of the entrepôts of India."—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. 85.
1321.—"There are three places where the Friars might reap a great harvest, and where they could live in common. One of these is Supera, where two friars might be stationed; and a second is in the district of Parocco (Broach), where two or three might abide; and the third is Columbus (Quilon)."—Letter of Fr. Jordanus, in Cathay, &c., 227.
c. 1330.—"Sufâlah Indica. Birunio nominatur Sûfârah.... De eo nihil commemorandum inveni."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 189.
1538.—"Rent of the caçabe (Cusbah), of Çupara ... 14,122 fedeas."—S. Bothelho, Tombo, 175.
1803.—Extract from a letter dated Camp Soopara, March 26, 1803.
"We have just been paying a formal visit to his highness the peishwa," &c.—In Asiatic Annual Reg. for 1803, Chron. p. 99.
1846.—"Sopara is a large place in the Agasee mahal, and contains a considerable Mussulman population, as well as Christian and Hindoo ... there is a good deal of trade; and grain, salt, and garden produce are exported to Guzerat and Bombay."—Desultory Notes, by John Vaupell, Esq., in Trans. Bo. Geog. Soc. vii. 140.
SUPREME COURT. The designation of the English Court established at Fort William by the Regulation Act of 1773 (13 Geo. III. c. 63), and afterwards at the other two Presidencies. Its extent of jurisdiction was the subject of acrimonious controversies in the early years of its existence; controversies which were closed by 21 Geo. III. c. 70, which explained and defined the jurisdiction of the Court. The use of the name came to an end in 1862 with the establishment of the 'High Court,' the bench of which is occupied by barrister judges, judges from the Civil Service, and judges promoted from the native bar.
The Charter of Charles II., of 1661, gave the Company certain powers to administer the laws of England, and that of 1683 to establish Courts of Judicature. That of Geo. I. (1726) gave power to establish at each Presidency Mayor's Courts for civil suits, with appeal to the Governor and Council, and from these, in cases involving more than 1000 pagodas, to the King in Council. The same charter constituted the Governor and Council of each Presidency a Court for trial of all offences except high treason. Courts of Requests were established by charter of Geo. II., 1753. The Mayor's Court at Madras and Bombay survived till 1797, when (by 37 Geo. III. ch. 142) a Recorder's Court was instituted at each. This was superseded at Madras by a Supreme Court in 1801, and at Bombay in 1823.
SURA, s. Toddy (q.v.), i.e. the fermented sap of several kinds of palm, such as coco, palmyra, and wild-date. It is the Skt. sura, 'vinous liquor,' which has passed into most of the vernaculars. In the first quotation we certainly have the word, though combined with other elements of uncertain identity, applied by Cosmas to the milk of the coco-nut, perhaps making some confusion between that and the fermented sap. It will be seen that Linschoten applies sura in the same way. Bluteau, curiously, calls this a Caffre word. It has in fact been introduced from India into Africa by the Portuguese (see Ann. Marit. iv. 293).
c. 545.—"The Argell" (i.e. Nargil, or nargeela, or coco-nut) "is at first full of very sweet water, which the Indians drink, using it instead of wine. This drink is called Rhonco-sura,[258] and is exceedingly pleasant."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., clxxvi.
[1554.—"Cura." See under ARRACK.]
1563.—"They grow two qualities of palm-tree, one kind for the fruit, and the other to give çura."—Garcia, f. 67.
1578.—"Sura, which is, as it were, vino mosto."—Acosta, 100.
1598.—"... in that sort the pot in short space is full of water, which they call Sura, and is very pleasant to drinke, like sweet whay, and somewhat better."—Linschoten, 101; [Hak. Soc. ii. 48].
1609-10.—"... A goodly country and fertile ... abounding with Date Trees, whence they draw a liquor, called Tarree (Toddy) or Sure...."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 436.
1643.—"Là ie fis boire mes mariniers de telle sorte que peu s'en falut qu'ils ne renuersassent notre almadie ou batteau: Ce breuvage estoit du sura, qui est du vin fait de palmes."—Mocquet, Voyages, 252.
c. 1650.—"Nor could they drink either Wine, or Sury, or Strong Water, by reason of the great Imposts which he laid upon them."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 86; [ed. Ball, i. 343].
1653.—"Les Portugais appelent ce tari ou vin des Indes, Soure ... de cette liqueur le singe, et la grande chauue-souris ... sont extremement amateurs, aussi bien que les Indiens Mansulmans (sic), Parsis, et quelque tribus d'Indou...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 263.
SURAT, n.p. In English use the name of this city is accented Surátt; but the name is in native writing and parlance generally Sŭrăt. In the Āīn, however (see below), it is written Sūrat; also in Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī (p. 106). Surat was taken by Akbar in 1573, having till then remained a part of the falling Mahommedan kingdom of Guzerat. An English factory was first established in 1608-9, which was for more than half a century the chief settlement of the English Company in Continental India. The transfer of the Chiefs to Bombay took place in 1687.
We do not know the origin of the name. Various legends on the subject are given in Mr. (now Sir J.) Campbell's Bombay Gazetteer (vol. ii.), but none of them have any probability. The ancient Indian Saurāshṭra was the name of the Peninsula of Guzerat or Kattywar, or at least of the maritime part of it. This latter name and country is represented by the differently spelt and pronounced Sōrath (see SŪRATH). Sir Henry Elliot and his editor have repeatedly stated the opinion that the names are identical. Thus: "The names 'Surat' and 'Sūrath' are identical, both being derived from the Sankrit Suráshtra; but as they belong to different places a distinction in spelling has been maintained. 'Surat' is the city; 'Súrath' is a pránt or district of Kattiwar, of which Junágarh is the chief town" (Elliot, v. 350; see also 197). Also: "The Sanskrit Suráshtra and Gurjjara survive in the modern names Surat and Guzerat, and however the territories embraced by the old terms have varied, it is hard to conceive that Surat was not in Suráshtra nor Guzerat in Gurjjara. All evidence goes to prove that the old and modern names applied to the same places. Thus Ptolemy's Surastrene comprises Surat...." (Dowson (?) ibid. i. 359). This last statement seems distinctly erroneous. Surat is in Ptolemy's Λάρικη, not in Συραστρηνή, which represents, like Saurāshtra, the peninsula. It must remain doubtful whether there was any connection between the names, or the resemblance was accidental. It is possible that continental Surat may have originally had some name implying its being the place of passage to Saurāshtra or Sorath.
Surat is not a place of any antiquity. There are some traces of the existence of the name ascribed to the 14th century, in passages of uncertain value in certain native writers. But it only came to notice as a place of any importance about the very end of the 15th century, when a rich Hindu trader, Gopi by name, is stated to have established himself on the spot, and founded the town. The way, however, in which it is spoken of by Barbosa previous to 1516 shows that the rise of its prosperity must have been rapid.
[Surat in English slang is equivalent to the French Rafiot, in the sense of 'no great shakes,' an adulterated article of inferior quality (Barrére, s.v. Rafiot). This perhaps was accounted for by the fact that "until lately the character of Indian cotton in the Liverpool market stood very low, and the name 'Surats,' the description under which the cotton of this province is still included, was a byword and a general term of contempt" (Berar Gazetteer, 226 seq.).]
1510.—"Don Afonso" (de Noronha, nephew of Alboquerque) "in the storm not knowing whither they went, entered the Gulf of Cambay, and struck upon a shoal in front of Çurrate. Trying to save themselves by swimming or on planks many perished, and among them Don Afonso."—Correa, ii. 29.
1516.—"Having passed beyond the river of Reynel, on the other side there is a city which they call Çurate, peopled by Moors, and close upon the river; they deal there in many kinds of wares, and carry on a great trade; for many ships of Malabar and other parts sail thither, and sell what they bring, and return loaded with what they choose...."—Barbosa, Lisbon ed. 280.
1525.—"The corjaa (Corge) of cotton cloths of Çuryate, of 14 yards each, is worth ... 250 fedeas."—Lembrança, 45.
1528.—"Heytor da Silveira put to sea again, scouring the Gulf, and making war everywhere with fire and sword, by sea and land; and he made an onslaught on Çurrate and Reynel, great cities on the sea-coast, and sacked them, and burnt part of them, for all the people fled, they being traders and without a garrison...."—Correa, iii. 277.
1553.—"Thence he proceeded to the bar of the river Tapty, above which stood two cities the most notable on that gulf. The first they call Surat, 3 leagues from the mouth, and the other Reiner, on the opposite side of the river and half a league from the bank.... The latter was the most sumptuous in buildings and civilisation, inhabited by warlike people, all of them Moors inured to maritime war, and it was from this city that most of the foists and ships of the King of Cambay's fleet were furnished. Surat again was inhabited by an unwarlike people whom they call Banyans, folk given to mechanic crafts, chiefly to the business of weaving cotton cloths."—Barros, IV. iv. 8.
1554.—"So saying they quitted their rowing-benches, got ashore, and started for Surrat."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 83.
1573.—"Next day the Emperor went to inspect the fortress.... During his inspection some large mortars and guns attracted his attention. Those mortars bore the name of Sulaimání, from the name of Sulaimán Sultán of Turkey. When he made his attempt to conquer the ports of Gujarát, he sent these ... with a large army by sea. As the Turks ... were obliged to return, they left these mortars.... The mortars remained upon the sea-shore, until Khudáwand Khán built the fort of Surat, when he placed them in the fort. The one which he left in the country of Súrath was taken to the fort of Junágarh by the ruler of that country."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī, in Elliot, v. 350.
c. 1590.—"Sūrat is among famous ports. The river Taptī runs hard by, and at seven coss distance joins the salt sea. Rānīr on the other side of the river is now a port dependent on Sūrat, but was formerly a big city. The ports of Khandevī and Balsār are also annexed to Sūrat. Fruit, and especially the ananās, is abundant.... The sectaries of Zardasht, emigrant from Fārs, have made their dwelling here; they revere the Zhand and Pazhand and erect their dakhmas (or places for exposing the dead).... Through the carelessness of the agents of Government and the commandants of the troops (sipah-salārān, Sipah Selar), a considerable tract of this Sirkār is at present in the hands of the Frank, e.g. Daman, Sanjān (St. John's), Tārāpūr, Māhim, and Basai (see (1) Bassein), that are both cities and forts."—Āin, orig. i. 488; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 243].
[1615.—"To the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Roe ... these in Zuratt."—Foster, Letters, iii. 196.]
1638.—"Within a League of the Road we entred into the River upon which Surat is seated, and which hath on both sides a very fertile soil, and many fair gardens, with pleasant Country-houses, which being all white, a colour which it seems the Indians are much in love with, afford a noble prospect amidst the greenness whereby they are encompassed. But the River, which is the Tapte ... is so shallow at the mouth of it, that Barks of 70 or 80 Tun can hardly come into it."—Mandelslo, p. 12.
1690.—"Suratt is reckon'd the most fam'd Emporium of the Indian Empire, where all Commodities are vendible.... And the River is very commodious for the Importation of Foreign Goods, which are brought up to the City in Hoys and Yachts, and Country Boats."—Ovington, 218.
1779.—"There is some report that he (Gen. Goddard) is gone to Bender-Souret ... but the truth of this God knows."—Seir Mutaq. iii. 328.
SURATH, more properly Sōrath, and Sōreth, n.p. This name is the legitimate modern form and representative of the ancient Indian Saurāshṭra and Greek Syrastrēnē, names which applied to what we now call the Kattywar Peninsula, but especially to the fertile plains on the sea-coast. ["Suráshṭra, the land of the Sus, afterwards Sanskritized into Sauráshṭra the Goodly Land, preserves its name in Sorath the southern part of Káthiáváḍa. The name appears as Suráshṭra in the Mahábhárata and Pánini's Gaṇapátha, in Rudradáman's (A.D. 150) and Skandagupta's (A.D. 456) Girnár inscriptions, and in several Valabhi copper-plates. Its Prákrit form appears as Suraṭha in the Násik inscription of Gotamiputra (A.D. 150) and in later Prákrit as Suraṭhṭha in the Tirthakalpa of Jinapra-bhásuri of the 13th or 14th century. Its earliest foreign mention is perhaps Strabo's Saraostus and Pliny's Oratura" (Bombay Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 6)]. The remarkable discovery of one of the great inscriptions of Aśoka (B.C. 250) on a rock at Girnār, near Junāgarh in Saurāshtra, shows that the dominion of that great sovereign, whose capital was at Pataliputra (Παλιμβόθρα) or Patna, extended to this distant shore. The application of the modern form Sūrath or Sōrath has varied in extent. It is now the name of one of the four prānts or districts into which the peninsula is divided for political purposes, each of these prānts containing a number of small States, and being partly managed, partly controlled by a Political Assistant. Sorath occupies the south-western portion, embracing an area of 5,220 sq. miles.
c. A.D. 80-90.—"Ταύτης τὰ μὲν μεσόγεια τῇ Σκυθίᾳ συνορίζοντα Ἀβιρία καλεῖται, τὰ δὲ παραθαλάσσια Συραστρήνη."—Periplus, § 41.
c. 150.—
"Συραστρηνῆς, * * *
Βαρδάξημα πόλις ...
Συράστρα κώμη ...
Μονόγλωσσον ἐμπόριον...."
Ptolemy, VII. i. 2-3.
" "Πάλιν ἡ μὲν παρὰ τὸ λοιπὸν μέρος του Ἰνδοῦ πασα καλεῖται κοινῶς μὲν ... Ἰνδοσκυθία
* * * * * *
καὶ ἡ περὶ τὸν Κάνθι κόλπον ... Συραστρηνή."—Ibid. 55.
c. 545.—"Εἰσὶν οὐν τὰ λαμπρὰ ἐμπόρια τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ταῦτα, Σινδοῦ, Ὀῤῥοθα, Καλλιάνα, Σιβὼρ, ἡ Μαλὲ, πέντε ἐμπόρια ἔχουσα βάλλοντα τὸ πέπερι."—Cosmas, lib. xi. These names may be interpreted as Sind, Sorath, Calyan, Choul (?), Malabar.
c. 640.—"En quittant le royaume de Fa-la-pi (Vallabhi), il fit 500 li à l'ouest, et arriva au royaume de Sou-la-tch'a (Sourâchtra).... Comme ce royaume se trouve sur le chemin de la mer occidentale, tous les habitans profitent des avantages qu'offre la mer; ils se livrent au négoce, et à un commerce d'échange."—Hiouen-Thsang, in Pèl. Bouddh., iii. 164-165.
1516.—"Passing this city and following the sea-coast, you come to another place which has also a good port, and is called Çurati Mangalor,[259] and here, as at the other, put in many vessels of Malabar for horses, grain, cloths, and cottons, and for vegetables and other goods prized in India, and they bring hither coco-nuts, Jagara (Jaggery), which is sugar that they make drink of, emery, wax, cardamoms, and every other kind of spice, a trade in which great gain is made in a short time."—Barbosa, in Ramusio, i. f. 296.
1573.—See quotation of this date under preceding article, in which both the names Surat and Sūrath, occur.
1584.—"After his second defeat Muzaffar Gujarátí retreated by way of Champánír, Bírpúr, and Jhaláwar, to the country of Súrath, and rested at the town of Gondal, 12 kos from the fort of Junágarh.... He gave a lac of Mahmúdís and a jewelled dagger to Amín Khán Ghorí, ruler of Súrath, and so won his support."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 437-438.
c. 1590.—"Sircar Surat (Sūrath) was formerly an independent territory; the chief was of the Ghelolo tribe, and commanded 50,000 cavalry, and 100,000 infantry. Its length from the port of Ghogeh (Gogo) to the port of Aramroy (Arāmrāī) measures 125 cose; and the breadth from Sindehar (Sirdhār), to the port of Diu, is a distance of 72 cose."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 73; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 243].
1616.—"7 Soret, the chief city, is called Janagar; it is but a little Province, yet very rich; it lyes upon Guzarat; it hath the Ocean to the South."—Terry, ed. 1665, p. 354.
SURKUNDA, s. Hind. sarkanḍā, [Skt. śara, 'reed-grass,' kāṇḍa, 'joint, section']. The name of a very tall reed-grass, Saccharum Sara, Roxb., perhaps also applied to Saccharum procerum, Roxb. These grasses are often tall enough in the riverine plains of Eastern Bengal greatly to overtop a tall man standing in a howda on the back of a tall elephant. It is from the upper part of the flower-bearing stalk of surkunda that sirky (q.v.) is derived. A most intelligent visitor to India was led into a curious mistake about the name of this grass by some official, who ought to have known better. We quote the passage. ——'s story about the main branch of a river channel probably rests on no better foundation.
1875.—"As I drove yesterday with ——, I asked him if he knew the scientific name of the tall grass which I heard called tiger-grass at Ahmedabad, and which is very abundant here (about Lahore). I think it is a saccharum, but am not quite sure. 'No,' he said, 'but the people in the neighbourhood call it Sikunder's Grass, as they still call the main branch of a river 'Sikander's channel.' Strange, is it not?—how that great individuality looms through history."—Grant Duff, Notes of an Indian Journey, 105.
SURPOOSE, s. Pers. sar-posh, 'head-cover,' [which again becomes corrupted into our Tarboosh (tarbūsh), and 'Tarbrush' of the wandering Briton]. A cover, as of a basin, dish, hooka-bowl, &c.
1829.—"Tugging away at your hookah, find no smoke; a thief having purloined your silver chelam (see CHILLUM) and surpoose."—Mem. of John Shipp, ii. 159.
SURRAPURDA, s. Pers. sarā-parda. A canvas screen surrounding royal tents or the like (see CANAUT).
1404.—"And round this pavilion stood an enclosure, as it were, of a town or castle made of silk of many colours, inlaid in many ways, with battlements at the top, and with cords to strain it outside and inside, and with poles inside to hold it up.... And there was a gateway of great height forming an arch, with doors within and without made in the same fashion as the wall ... and above the gateway a square tower with battlements: however fine the said wall was with its many devices and artifices, the said gateway, arch and tower, was of much more exquisite work still. And this enclosure they call Zalaparda."—Clavijo, s. cxvi.
c. 1590.—"The Sarápardah was made in former times of coarse canvass, but his Majesty has now caused it to be made of carpeting, and thereby improved its appearance and usefulness."—Āīn, i. 54.
[1839.—"The camp contained numerous enclosures of serrapurdahs or canvass skreens...."—Elphinstone, Caubul, 2nd ed. i. 101.]
SURRINJAUM, s. Pers. saranjām, lit. 'beginning-ending.' Used in India for 'apparatus,' 'goods and chattels,' and the like. But in the Mahratta provinces it has a special application to grants of land, or rather assignments of revenue, for special objects, such as keeping up a contingent of troops for service; to civil officers for the maintenance of their state; or for charitable purposes.
[1823.—"It was by accident I discovered the deed for this tenure (for the support of troops), which is termed serinjam. The Pundit of Dhar shewed some alarm; at which I smiled, and told him that his master had now the best tenure in India...."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. i. 103.]
[1877.—"Government ... did not accede to the recommendation of the political agent immediately to confiscate his saringam, or territories."—Mrs. Guthrie, My Year in an Indian Fort, i. 166.]
SURRINJAUMEE, GRAM, s. Hind. grām-saranjāmī; Skt. grāma, 'a village,' and saranjām (see SURRINJAUM); explained in the quotation.
1767.—"Gram-serenjammee, or peons and pykes stationed in every village of the province to assist the farmers in the collections, and to watch the villages and the crops on the ground, who are also responsible for all thefts within the village they belong to ... (Rs.) 1,54,521 : 14."—Revenue Accounts of Burdwan. In Long, 507.
SURROW, SEROW, &c., s. Hind. sarāo. A big, odd, awkward-looking antelope in the Himālaya, 'something in appearance between a jackass and a Tahir' (Tehr or Him. wild goat).—Col. Markham in Jerdon. It is Nemorhoedus bubalina, Jerdon; [N. bubalinus, Blanford (Mammalia, 513)].
SURWAUN, s. Hind. from Pers. sārwān, sārbān, from sār in the sense of camel, a camel-man.
[1828.—"... camels roaring and blubbering, and resisting every effort, soothing or forcible, of their serwans to induce them to embark."—Mundy, Pen and Pencil Sketches, ed. 1858, p. 185.]
1844.—"... armed Surwans, or camel-drivers."—G. O. of Sir C. Napier, 93.
SUTLEDGE, n.p. The most easterly of the Five Rivers of the Punjab, the great tributaries of the Indus. Hind. Satlaj, with certain variations in spelling and pronunciation. It is in Skt. Satadru, 'flowing in a hundred channels,' Sutudru, Sutudri, Sitadru, &c., and is the Σαράδρος, Ζαράδρος, or Σαδάδρης of Ptolemy, the Sydrus (or Hesudrus) of Pliny (vi. 21).
c. 1020.—"The Sultán ... crossed in safety the Síhún (Indus), Jelam, Chandráha, Ubrá (Ráví), Bah (Bíyáh), and Sataldur...."—Al-'Utbí, in Elliot, ii. 41.
c. 1030.—"They all combine with the Satlader below Múltán, at a place called Panjnad, or 'the junction of the five rivers.'"—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 48. The same writer says: "(The name) should be written Shataludr. It is the name of a province in Hind. But I have ascertained from well-informed people that it should be Sataludr, not Shataldudr" (sic).—Ibid. p. 52.
c. 1310.—"After crossing the Panjáb, or five rivers, namely, Sind, Jelam, the river of Loháwar, Satlút, and Bíyah...."—Wassāf, in Elliot, iii. 36.
c. 1380.—"The Sultán (Fíroz Sháh) ... conducted two streams into the city from two rivers, one from the river Jumna, the other from the Sutlej."—Táríkh-i-Fíroz-Sháhí, in Elliot, iii. 300.
c. 1450.—"In the year 756 H. (1355 A.D.) the Sultán proceeded to Díbálpúr, and conducted a stream from the river Satladar, for a distance of 40 kos as far as Jhajar."—Táríkh-i-Mubárak Sháhí, in Elliot, iv. 8.
c. 1582.—"Letters came from Lahore with the intelligence that Ibrahím Husain Mirzá had crossed the Satlada, and was marching upon Dipálpúr."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 358.
c. 1590.—"Sūbah Dihlī. In the 3rd climate. The length (of this Sūbah) from Palwal to Lodhīāna, which is on the bank of the river Satlaj, is 165 Kuroh."—Āīn, orig. i. 513; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 278].
1793.—"Near Moultan they unite again, and bear the name of Setlege, until both the substance and name are lost in the Indus."—Rennell, Memoir, 102.
In the following passage the great French geographer has missed the Sutlej:
1753.—"Les cartes qui ont précédé celles que j'ai composées de l'Arie, ou de l'Inde ... ne marquoient aucune rivière entre l'Hyphasis, ou Hypasis, dernier des fleuves qui se rendent dans l'Indus, et le Gemné, qui est le Jomanes de l'Antiquité.... Mais la marche de Timur a indiqué dans cette intervalle deux rivières, celle de Kehker et celle de Panipat. Dans un ancien itineraire de l'Inde, que Pline nous a conservé, on trouve entre l'Hyphasis et le Jomanes une rivière sous le nom d'Hesidrus à égale distance d'Hyphasis et de Jomanes, et qu'on a tout lieu de prendre pour Kehker."—D'Anville, p. 47.
SUTTEE, s. The rite of widow-burning; i.e. the burning of the living widow along with the corpse of her husband, as practised by people of certain castes among the Hindus, and eminently by the Rājpūts.
The word is properly Skt. satī, 'a good woman,' 'a true wife,' and thence specially applied, in modern vernaculars of Sanskrit parentage, to the wife who was considered to accomplish the supreme act of fidelity by sacrificing herself on the funeral pile of her husband. The application of this substantive to the suicidal act, instead of the person, is European. The proper Skt. term for the act is saha-gamana, or 'keeping company,' [saha-maraṇa, 'dying together'].[260] A very long series of quotations in illustration of the practice, from classical times downwards, might be given. We shall present a selection.
We should remark that the word (satī or suttee) does not occur, so far as we know, in any European work older than the 17th century. And then it only occurs in a disguised form (see quotation from P. Della Valle). The term masti which he uses is probably mahā-satī, which occurs in Skt. Dictionaries ('a wife of great virtue'). Della Valle is usually eminent in the correctness of his transcriptions of Oriental words. This conjecture of the interpretation of masti is confirmed, and the traveller himself justified, by an entry in Mr. Whitworth's Dictionary of a word Masti-kalla used in Canara for a monument commemorating a sati. Kalla is stone and masti = mahā-satī. We have not found the term exactly in any European document older than Sir C. Malet's letter of 1787, and Sir W. Jones's of the same year (see below).
Suttee is a Brahmanical rite, and there is a Sanskrit ritual in existence (see Classified Index to the Tanjore MSS., p. 135a). It was introduced into Southern India with the Brahman civilisation, and was prevalent there chiefly in the Brahmanical Kingdom of Vijayanagar, and among the Mahrattas. In Malabar, the most primitive part of S. India, the rite is forbidden (Anāchāranirṇaya, v. 26). The cases mentioned by Teixeira below, and in the Lettres Édifiantes, occurred at Tanjore and Madura. A (Mahratta) Brahman at Tanjore told one of the present writers that he had to perform commemorative funeral rites for his grandfather and grandmother on the same day, and this indicated that his grandmother had been a satī.
The practice has prevailed in various regions besides India. Thus it seems to have been an early custom among the heathen Russians, or at least among nations on the Volga called Russians by Maṣ'ūdī and Ibn Fozlān. Herodotus (Bk. v. ch. 5) describes it among certain tribes of Thracians. It was in vogue in Tonga and the Fiji Islands. It has prevailed in the island of Bali within our own time, though there accompanying Hindu rites, and perhaps of Hindu origin,—certainly modified by Hindu influence. A full account of Suttee as practised in those Malay Islands will be found in Zollinger's account of the Religion of Sassak in J. Ind. Arch. ii. 166; also see Friedrich's Bali as in note preceding. [A large number of references to Suttee are collected in Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 198 seqq.]
In Diodorus we have a long account of the rivalry as to which of the two wives of Kēteus, a leader of the Indian contingent in the army of Eumenes, should perform suttee. One is rejected as with child. The history of the other terminates thus: