c. 1150.—"Tanah (miswritten Banah) est une jolie ville située sur un grand golfe.... Dans les montagnes environnantes croissent le ... kana et le ... tabāshīr ... Quant au tébachir, on le falsifie en le mélangeant avec de la cendre d'ivoire; mais le veritable est celui qu'on extrait des racines du roseau dit ... al Sharkí."—Edrisi, i. 179.
1563.—"And much less are the roots of the cane tabaxer; so that according to both the translations Avicena is wrong; and Averrois says that it is charcoal from burning the canes of India, whence it appears that he never saw it, since he calls such a white substance charcoal."—Garcia, f. 195v.
c. 1570.—"Il Spodio si congela d'acqua in alcune canne, e io n'ho trouato assai nel Pegù quando faceuo fabricar la mia casa."—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 397.
1578.—"The Spodium or Tabaxir of the Persians ... was not known to the Greeks."—Acosta, 295.
c. 1580.—"Spodium Tabaxir vocant, quo nomine vulgus pharmacopoeorum Spodium factitium, quippe metallicum, intelligunt. At eruditiores viri eo nomine lacrymam quandam, ex caudice arboris procerae in India nascentis, albicantem, odoratam, facultatis refrigeratoriae, et cor maxime roborantis itidem intelligunt."—Prosper Alpinus, Rerum Ægyptiarum, Lib. III. vii.
1598.—"... these Mambus have a certain Matter within them, which is (as it were) the pith of it ... the Indians call it Sacar Mambu, which is as much as to say, as Sugar of Mambu, and is a very deep Medicinable thing much esteemed, and much sought for by the Arabians, Persians, and Moores, that call it Tabaxiir."—Linschoten, p. 104; [Hak. Soc. ii. 56].
1837.—"Allied to these in a botanical point of view is Saccharum officinarum, which has needlessly been supposed not to have yielded saccharum, or the substance known by this name to the ancients; the same authors conjecturing this to be Tabasheer.... Considering that this substance is pure silex, it is not likely to have been arranged with the honeys and described under the head of περι Σακχαρον μελιτον."—Royle on the Ant. of Hindoo Medicine, p. 83. This confirms the views expressed in the article SUGAR.
1854.—"In the cavity of these cylinders water is sometimes secreted, or, less commonly, an opaque white substance, becoming opaline when wetted, consisting of a flinty secretion, of which the plant divests itself, called Tabasheer, concerning the optical properties of which Sir David Brewster has made some curious discoveries."—Engl. Cycl. Nat. Hist. Section, article Bamboo.
TABBY, s. Not Anglo-Indian. A kind of watered silk stuff; Sp. and Port. tabi, Ital. tabino, Fr. tabis, from Ar. 'attābī, the name said to have been given to such stuffs from their being manufactured in early times in a quarter of Baghdad called al-'attābīya; and this derived its name from a prince of the 'Omaiyad family called 'Attāb. [See Burton, Ar. Nights, ii. 371.]
12th cent.—"The 'Attābīya ... here are made the stuffs, called 'Attābīya, which are silks and cottons of divers colours."—Ibn Jubair, p. 227.
[c. 1220.—"'Attabi." See under SUCLAT.]
TABOOT, s. The name applied in India to a kind of shrine, or model of a Mahommedan mausoleum, of flimsy material, intended to represent the tomb of Husain at Kerbela, which is carried in procession during the Moharram (see Herklots, 2nd ed. 119 seqq., and Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Musulm. dans l'Inde, 36). [The word is Ar. tabūt, 'a wooden box, coffin.' The term used in N. India is ta'ziya (see TAZEEA).]
[1856.—"There is generally over the vault in which the corpse is deposited an oblong monument of stone or brick (called 'tarkeebeh') or wood (in which case it is called 'taboot')."—Lane, Mod. Egypt., 5th ed. i. 299.]
[TACK-RAVAN, s. A litter carried on men's shoulders, used only by royal personages. It is Pers. takht-ravān, 'travelling-throne.' In the Hindi of Behar the word is corrupted into tartarwān.
[c. 1660.—"... several articles of Chinese and Japan workmanship; among which were a paleky and a tack-ravan, or travelling throne, of exquisite beauty, and much admired."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 128; in 370, tact-ravan.
[1753.—"Mahommed Shah, emperor of Hindostan, seated in a royal litter (takht revan, which signifies a moving throne) issued from his camp...."—Hanway, iv. 169.]
TAEL, s. This is the trade-name of the Chinese ounce, viz., 1⁄16 of a catty (q.v.); and also of the Chinese money of account, often called "the ounce of silver," but in Chinese called liang. The standard liang or tael is, according to Dr. Wells Williams, = 579.84 grs. troy. It was formerly equivalent to a string of 1000 tsien, or (according to the trade-name) cash (q.v.). The China tael used to be reckoned as worth 6s. 8d., but the rate really varied with the price of silver. In 1879 an article in the Fortnightly Review puts it at 5s. 7½d. (Sept. p. 362); the exchange at Shanghai in London by telegraphic transfer, April 13, 1885, was 4s. 9⅜d.; [on Oct. 3, 1901, 2s. 7¼d.]. The word was apparently got from the Malays, among whom taïl or tahil is the name of a weight; and this again, as Crawfurd indicates, is probably from the India tola (q.v.). [Mr. Pringle writes: "Sir H. Yule does not refer to such forms as tahe (see below), taies (plural in Fryer's New Account, p. 210, sub Machawo), Taye (see quotation below from Saris), tayes (see quotation below from Mocquet), or taey, and taeys (Philip's translation of Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 149). These probably come through the medium of the Portuguese, in which the final l of the singular tael is changed into s in the plural. Such a form as taeis might easily suggest a singular wanting the final s, and from such a singular French and English plurals of the ordinary type would in turn be fashioned" (Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. ii. 126).]
The Chinese scale of weight, with their trade-names, runs: 16 taels = 1 catty, 100 catties = 1 pecul = 133½ lbs. avoird. Milburn gives the weights of Achin as 4 copangs (see KOPANG) = 1 mace, 5 mace = 1 mayam, 16 mayam = 1 tale (see TAEL), 5 tales = 1 buncal, 20 buncals = 1 catty, 200 catties = 1 bahar; and the catty of Achīn as = 2 lbs. 1 oz. 13 dr. Of these names, mace, tale and bahar (qq.v.) seem to be of Indian origin, mayam, bangkal, and kati Malay.
1540.—"And those three junks which were then taken, according to the assertion of those who were aboard, had contained in silver alone 200,000 taels (taeis), which are in our money 300,000 cruzados, besides much else of value with which they were freighted."—Pinto, cap. xxxv.
1598.—"A Tael is a full ounce and a halfe Portingale weight."—Linschoten, 44; [Hak. Soc. i. 149].
1599.—"Est et ponderis genus, quod Tael vocant in Malacca. Tael unum in Malacca pendet 16 masas."—De Bry, ii. 64.
" "Four hundred cashes make a cowpan (see KOBANG). Foure cowpans are one mas. Foure masses make a Perdaw (see PARDAO). Four Perdaws make a Tayel."—Capt. T. Davis, in Purchas, i. 123.
c. 1608.—"Bezar stones are thus bought by the Taile ... which is one Ounce, and the third part English."—Saris, in do., 392.
1613.—"A Taye is five shillinge sterling."—Saris, in do. 369.
1643.—"Les Portugais sont fort desireux de ces Chinois pour esclaves ... il y a des Chinois faicts à ce mestier ... quand ils voyent quelque beau petit garçon ou fille ... les enleuent par force et les cachent ... puis viennent sur la riue de la mer, ou ils sçauent que sont les trafiquans à qui ils les vendent 12 et 15 tayes chacun, qui est enuiron 25 escus."—Mocquet, 342.
c. 1656.—"Vn Religieux Chinois qui a esté surpris auec des femmes de debauche ... l'on a percé le col avec vn fer chaud; à ce fer est attaché vne chaisne de fer d'enuiron dix brasses qu'il est obligé de traisner jusques à ce qu'il ait apporté au Couuent trente theyls d'argent qu'il faut qu'il amasse en demandant l'aumosne."—In Thevenot, Divers Voyages, ii. 67.
[1683.—"The abovesaid Musk weyes Cattee 10: tahe 14: Mas 03...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. ii. 34.]
TAHSEELDAR, s. The chief (native) revenue officer of a subdivision (taḥsīl, conf. Pergunnah, Talook) of a district (see ZILLAH). Hind. from Pers. taḥsīldār, and that from Ar. taḥsīl, 'collection.' This is a term of the Mahommedan administration which we have adopted. It appears by the quotation from Williamson that the term was formerly employed in Calcutta to designate the cash-keeper in a firm or private establishment, but this use is long obsolete. [Possibly there was a confusion with taḥvīldār, 'a cashier.']
[1772.—"Tahsildar, or Sezawaul, an officer employed for a monthly salary to collect the revenues."—Glossary, in Verelst, View of Bengal, s.v.]
1799.—"... He (Tippoo) divided his country into 37 Provinces under Dewans (see DEWAUN) ... and he subdivided these again into 1025 inferior districts, having each a Tisheldar."—Letter of Munro, in Life, i. 215.
1808.—"... he continues to this hour tehsildar of the petty pergunnah of Sheopore."—Fifth Report, 583.
1810.—"... the sircar, or tusseeldar (cash-keeper) receiving one key, and the master retaining the other."—Williamson, V.M. i. 209.
[1826.—"... I told him ... that I was ... the bearer of letters to his head collector or T,huseeldam (sic) there."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 155.]
TAILOR-BIRD, s. This bird is so called from the fact that it is in the habit of drawing together "one leaf or more, generally two leaves, on each side of the nest, and stitches them together with cotton, either woven by itself, or cotton thread picked up; and after putting the thread through the leaf, it makes a knot at the end to fix it" (Jerdon). It is Orthrotomos longicauda, Gmelin (sub-fam. Drymoicinae).
[1813.—"Equally curious in the structure of its nest, and far superior (to the baya) in the variety and elegance of its plumage, is the tailor-bird of Hindostan" (here follows a description of its nest).—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed. i. 33.]
1883.—"Clear and loud above all ... sounds the to-whee, to-whee, to-whee of the tailor-bird, a most plain-looking little greenish thing, but a skilful workman and a very Beaconsfield in the matter of keeping its own counsel. Aided by its industrious spouse, it will, when the monsoon comes on, spin cotton, or steal thread from the durzee, and sew together two broad leaves of the laurel in the pot on your very doorstep, and when it has warmly lined the bag so formed it will bring up therein a large family of little tailors."—Tribes on My Frontier, 145.
TAJ, s. Pers. tāj, 'a crown.' The most famous and beautiful mausoleum in Asia; the Tāj Mahal at Agra, erected by Shāh Jahān over the burial-place of his favourite wife Mumtāz-i-Mahal ('Ornament of the Palace') Banū Begam.
1663.—"I shall not stay to discourse of the Monument of Ekbar, because whatever beauty is there, is found in a far higher degree in that of Taj Mehale, which I am now going to describe to you ... judge whether I had reason to say that the Mausoleum, or Tomb of Taj-Mehale, is something worthy to be admired. For my part I do not yet well know, whether I am somewhat infected still with Indianisme; but I must needs say, that I believe it ought to be reckoned amongst the Wonders of the World...."—Bernier, E.T. 94-96; [ed. Constable, 293].
1665.—"Of all the Monuments that are to be seen at Agra, that of the Wife of Cha-Jehan is the most magnificent; she caus'd it to be set up on purpose near the Tasimacan, to which all strangers must come, that they should admire it. The Tasimacan [? Tāj-i-mukām, 'Place of the Tāj'] is a great Bazar, or Market-place, comprised of six great courts, all encompass'd with Portico's; under which there are Warehouses for Merchants.... The monument of this Begum or Sultaness, stands on the East side of the City.... I saw the beginning and compleating of this great work, that cost two and twenty years labour, and 20,000 men always at work."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 50; [ed. Ball, i. 109].
1856.—
"But far beyond compare, the glorious Taj,
Seen from old Agra's towering battlements,
And mirrored clear in Jumna's silent stream;
Sun-lighted, like a pearly diadem
Set royal on the melancholy brow
Of withered Hindostan; but, when the moon
Dims the white marble with a softer light,
Like some queened maiden, veiled in dainty lace,
And waiting for her bridegroom, stately, pale,
But yet transcendent in her loveliness."
The Banyan Tree.
TALAING, n.p. The name by which the chief race inhabiting Pegu (or the Delta of the Irawadi) is known to the Burmese. The Talaings were long the rivals of the Burmese, alternately conquering and conquered, but the Burmese have, on the whole, so long predominated, even in the Delta, that the use of the Talaing language is now nearly extinct in Pegu proper, though it is still spoken in Martaban, and among the descendants of emigrants into Siamese territory. We have adopted the name from the Burmese to designate the race, but their own name for their people is Mōn or Mūn (see MONE).
Sir Arthur Phayre has regarded the name Talaing as almost undoubtedly a form of Telinga. The reasons given are plausible, and may be briefly stated in two extracts from his Essay On the History of Pegu (J. As. Soc. Beng., vol. xlii. Pt. i.): "The names given in the histories of Tha-htun and Pegu to the first Kings of those cities are Indian; but they cannot be accepted as historically true. The countries from which the Kings are said to have derived their origin ... may be recognised as Karnáta, Kalinga, Venga and Vizianagaram ... probably mistaken for the more famous Vijayanagar.... The word Talingána never occurs in the Peguan histories, but only the more ancient name Kalinga" (op. cit. pp. 32-33). "The early settlement of a colony or city for trade, on the coast of Rámanya by settlers from Talingána, satisfactorily accounts for the name Talaing, by which the people of Pegu are known to the Burmese and all peoples of the west. But the Peguans call themselves by a different name ... Mun, Mwun, or Mon" (ibid. p. 34).
Prof. Forchhammer, however, who has lately devoted much labour to the study of Talaing archæology and literature, entirely rejects this view. He states that prior to the time of Alompra's conquest of Pegu (middle of 18th century) the name Talaing was entirely unknown as an appellation of the Muns, and that it nowhere occurs in either inscriptions or older palm-leaves, and that by all nations of Further India the people in question is known by names related to either Mun or Pegu. He goes on: "The word 'Talaing' is the term by which the Muns acknowledged their total defeat, their being vanquished and the slaves of their Burmese conqueror. They were no longer to bear the name of Muns or Peguans. Alompra stigmatized them with an appellation suggestive at once of their submission and disgrace. Talaing means" (in the Mun language) "'one who is trodden under foot, a slave.'... Alompra could not have devised more effective means to extirpate the national consciousness of a people than by burning their books, forbidding the use of their language, and by substituting a term of abject reproach for the name under which they had maintained themselves for nearly 2000 years in the marine provinces of Burma. The similarity of the two words 'Talaing' and 'Telingana' is purely accidental; and all deductions, historical or etymological ... from the resemblance ... must necessarily be void ab initio" (Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of Br. Burma, Pt. ii. pp. 11-12, Rangoon, 1884).
Here we leave the question. It is not clear whether Prof. F. gives the story of Alompra as a historical fact, or as a probable explanation founded on the etymology. Till this be clear we cannot say that we are altogether satisfied. But the fact that we have been unable to find any occurrence of Talaing earlier than Symes's narrative is in favour of his view.
Of the relics of Talaing literature almost nothing is known. Much is to be hoped from the studies of Prof. Forchhammer himself.
There are linguistic reasons for connecting the Talaing or Mun people with the so-called Kolarian tribes of the interior of India, but the point is not yet a settled one. [Mr. Baines notes coincidences between the Mon and Munda languages, and accepts the connection of Talaing with Telinga (Census Report, 1891, i. p. 128).]
1795.—"The present King of the Birmans ... has abrogated some severe penal laws imposed by his predecessors on the Taliens, or native Peguers. Justice is now impartially distributed, and the only distinction at present between a Birman and a Talien, consists in the exclusion of the latter from places of public trust and power."—Symes, 183.
TALAPOIN, s. A word used by the Portuguese, and after them by French and other Continental writers, as well as by some English travellers of the 17th century, to designate the Buddhist monks of Ceylon and the Indo-Chinese countries. The origin of the expression is obscure. Monseigneur Pallegoix, in his Desc. du Royaume Thai ou Siam (ii. 23) says: "Les Européens les ont appelés talapoins, probablement du nom de l'éventail qu'ils tiennent à la main, lequel s'appelle talapat, qui signifie feuille de palmier." Childers gives Talapannam, Pali, 'a leaf used in writing, &c.' This at first sight seems to have nothing to support it except similarity of sound; but the quotations from Pinto throw some possible light, and afford probability to this origin, which is also accepted by Koeppen (Rel. des Buddhas, i. 331 note), and by Bishop Bigandet (J. Ind. Archip. iv. 220). [Others, however, derive it from Peguan Tilapoin, tala (not tila), 'lord,' poin, 'wealth.']
c. 1554.—"... hũa procissão ... na qual se affirmou ... que hião quarenta mil Sacerdotes ... dos quaes muytos tinhão differentes dignidades, come erão Grepos (?), Talagrepos, Rolins, Neepois, Bicos, Sacareus e Chanfarauhos, os quaes todas pelas vestiduras, de que hião ornados, e pelas divisas, e insignias, que levarão nas mãos, se conhecião, quaes erão huno, e quaes erão outros."—F. M. Pinto, ch. clx. Thus rendered by Cogan: "A Procession ... it was the common opinion of all, that in this Procession were 40,000 Priests ... most of them were of different dignities, and called Grepos, Talagrepos (&c.). Now by the ornaments they wear, as also by the devices and ensigns which they carry in their hands, they may be distinguished."—p. 218.
" "O Chaubainha lhe mandou hũa carta por hum seu Grepo Talapoy, religioso já de idade de oitenta annos."—Pinto, ch. cxlix. By Cogan: "The Chaubinhaa sent the King a Letter by one of his Priests that was fourscore years of age."—Cogan, 199.
[1566.—"Talapoins." See under COSMIN.]
c. 1583.—"... Sì veggono le case di legno tutte dorate, et ornate di bellissimi giardini fatti alla loro vsanza, nelle quali habitano tutti i Talapoi, che sono i loro Frati, che stanno a gouerno del Pagodo."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 96.
1586.—"There are ... many good houses for the Tallapoies to preach in."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 93.
1597.—"The Talipois persuaded the Iangoman, brother to the King of Pegu, to vsurpe the Kingdome, which he refused, pretending his Oath. They replied that no Religion hindered, if he placed his brother in the Vahat, that is, a Golden Throne, to be adored of the people for a God."—Nicolas Pimenta, in Purchas, ii. 1747.
1612.—"There are in all those Kingdoms many persons belonging to different Religious Orders; one of which in Pegu they call Talapois."—Couto, V. vi. 1.
1659.—"Whilst we looked on these temples, wherin these horrid idols sat, there came the Aracan Talpooys, or Priests, and fell down before the idols."—Walter Schulze, Reisen, 77.
1689.—"S'il vous arrive de fermer la bouche aux Talapoins et de mettre en évidence leurs erreurs, ne vous attendez qu'à les avoir pour ennemis implacables."—Lett. Edif. xxv. 64.
1690.—"Their Religious they call Telapoi, who are not unlike mendicant Fryers, living upon the Alms of the People, and so highly venerated by them that they would be glad to drink the Water wherein they wash their Hands."—Ovington, 592.
1696.—"... à permettre l'entrée de son royaume aux Talapoins."—La Bruyère, Caractères, ed. Jouast, 1881, ii. 305.
1725.—"This great train is usually closed by the Priests or Talapois and Musicians."—Valentijn, v. 142.
1727.—"The other Sects are taught by the Talapoins, who ... preach up Morality to be the best Guide to human Life, and affirm that a good Life in this World can only recommend us in the next to have our Souls transmigrated into the Body of some innocent Beast."—A. Hamilton, i. 151; [ed. 1744, i. 152].
" "The great God, whose Adoration is left to their Tallapoies or Priests."—Ibid. ii.; [ed. 1744, ii. 54].
1759.—"When asked if they believed the existence of any Superior Being, they (the Carianners (Carens)) replied that the Bûraghmahs and Pegu Tallopins told them so."—Letter in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 100.
1766.—"André Des Couches. Combien avez-vous de soldats? Croutef. Quatre-vingt-mille, fort médiocrement payés. A. des C. Et de talapoins? Cr. Cent vingt mille, tous faineans et très riches. Il est vrai que dans la dernière guerre nous avons été bien battus; mais, en récompense, nos talapoins ont fait très grande chère," &c.—Voltaire, Dial. xxii. André Des Couches à Siam.
c. 1818.—"A certain priest or Talapoin conceived an inordinate affection for a garment of an elegant shape, which he possessed, and which he diligently preserved to prevent its wearing out. He died without correcting his irregular affection, and immediately becoming a louse, took up his abode in his favourite garment."—Sangermano, p. 20.
1880.—"The Phongyies (Poongee), or Buddhist Monks, sometimes called Talapoins, a name given to them, and introduced into Europe by the Portuguese, from their carrying a fan formed of tála-pat, or palm-leaves."—Saty. Rev., Feb. 21, p. 266, quoting Bp. Bigandet.
TALEE, s. Tam. tāli. A small trinket of gold which is fastened by a string round the neck of a married woman in S. India. It may be a curious question whether the word may not be an adaptation from the Ar. tahlīl, "qui signifie proprement: prononcer la formule lâ ilâha illâ 'llâh.... Cette formule, écrite sur un morceau de papier, servait d'amulette ... le tout était renfermé dans un étui auquel on donnait le nom de tahlīl" (Dozy & Engelmann, 346). These Mahommedan tahlīls were worn by a band, and were the origin of the Span. word tali, 'a baldrick.' [But the talee is a Hindu, not a Mahommedan ornament, and there seems no doubt that it takes its name from Skt. tāla, 'the palmyra' (see TALIPOT), it being the original practice for women to wear this leaf dipped in saffron-water (Mad. Gloss. s.v. Logan, Malabar, i. 134).] The Indian word appears to occur first in Abraham Rogerius, but the custom is alluded to by early writers, e.g. Gouvea, Synodo, f. 43v.
1651.—"So the Bridegroom takes this Tali, and ties it round the neck of his bride."—Rogerius, 45.
1672.—"Among some of the Christians there is also an evil custom, that they for the greater tightening and fast-making of the marriage bond, allow the Bridegroom to tie a Tali or little band round the Bride's neck; although in my time this was as much as possible denounced, seeing that it is a custom derived from Heathenism."—Baldaeus, Zeylon (German), 408.
1674.—"The bridegroom attaches to the neck of the bride a line from which hang three little pieces of gold in honour of the three gods: and this they call Tale; and it is the sign of being a married woman."—Faria y Sousa, Asia Port., ii. 707.
1704.—"Praeterea, quum moris hujus Regionis sit, ut infantes sex vel septem annorum, interdum etiam in teneriori aetate, ex genitorum consensu, matrimonium indissolubile de praesenti contrahant, per impositionem Talii, seu aureae tesserae nuptialis, uxoris collo pensilis: missionariis mandamus ne hujusmodi irrita matrimonia inter Christianos fieri permittant."—Decree of Card. Tournon, in Norbert, Mem. Hist. i. 155.
1726.—"And on the betrothal day the Tali, or bride's betrothal band, is tied round her neck by the Bramin ... and this she must not untie in her husband's life."—Valentijn, Choro. 51.
[1813.—"... the tali, which is a ribbon with a gold head hanging to it, is held ready; and, being shown to the company, some prayers and blessings are pronounced; after which the bridegroom takes it, and hangs it about the bride's neck."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 312.]
TALIAR, TARRYAR, s. A watchman (S. India). Tam. talaiyāri, [from talai, 'head,' a chief watchman].
1680.—"The Peons and Tarryars sent in quest of two soldiers who had deserted ... returned with answer that they could not light of them, whereupon the Peons were turned out of service, but upon Verona's intercession were taken in again and fined each one month's pay, and to repay the money paid them for Battee (see BATTA); also the Pedda Naigu was fined in like manner for his Tarryars."—Fort St. Geo. Consns., Feb. 10. In Notes and Exts., Madras, 1873, No. III. p. 3.
1693.—"Taliars and Peons appointed to watch the Black Town...."—In Wheeler, i. 267.
1707.—"Resolving to march 250 soldiers, 200 talliars, and 200 peons."—Ibid. ii. 74.
[1800.—"In every village a particular officer, called Talliari, keeps watch at night, and is answerable for all that may be stolen."—Buchanan, Mysore, i. 3.]
TALIPOT, s. The great-leaved fan-palm of S. India and Ceylon, Corypha umbraculifera, L. The name, from Skt. tāla-pattra, Hind. tālpāt, 'leaf of the tāla tree,' properly applies to the leaf of such a tree, or to the smaller leaf of the palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis), used for many purposes, e.g. for slips to write on, to make fans and umbrellas, &c. See OLLAH, PALMYRA, TALAPOIN. Sometimes we find the word used for an umbrella, but this is not common. The quotation from Jordanus, though using no name, refers to this tree. [Arrian says: "These trees were called in Indian speech tala, and there grew on them, as there grows at the tops of the palm-trees, a fruit resembling balls of wool" (Indika, vii.).]
c. 1328.—"In this India are certain trees which have leaves so big that five or six men can very well stand under the shade of one of them."—Fr. Jordanus, 29-30.
c. 1430.—"These leaves are used in this country for writing upon instead of paper, and in rainy weather are carried on the head as a covering, to keep off the wet. Three or four persons travelling together can be covered by one of these leaves stretched out." And again: "There is also a tree called tal, the leaves of which are extremely large, and upon which they write."—N. Conti, in India in the XV. Cent., 7 and 13.
1672.—"Talpets or sunshades."—Baldaeus, Dutch ed., 102.
1681.—"There are three other trees that must not be omitted. The first is Talipot...."—Knox, 15.
" "They (the priests) have the honour of carrying the Tallipot with the broad end over their heads foremost; which none but the King does."—Ibid. 74. [See TALAPOIN.]
1803.—"The talipot tree ... affords a prodigious leaf, impenetrable to sun or rain, and large enough to shelter ten men. It is a natural umbrella, and is of as eminent service in that country as a great-coat tree would be in this. A leaf of the talipot-tree is a tent to the soldier, a parasol to the traveller, and a book to the scholar."—Sydney Smith, Works, 3rd ed. iii. 15.
1874.—"... dans les embrasures ... s'étalaient des bananiers, des tallipots...."—Franz, Souvenirs d'un Cosaque, ch. iv.
1881.—"The lofty head of the talipot palm ... the proud queen of the tribe in Ceylon, towers above the scrub on every side. Its trunk is perfectly straight and white, like a slender marble column, and often more than 100 feet high. Each of the fans that compose the crown of leaves covers a semicircle of from 12 to 16 feet radius, a surface of 150 to 200 square feet."—Haeckel's Visit to Ceylon, E.T. p. 129.
TALISMAN, s. This word is used by many medieval and post-medieval writers for what we should now call a moollah, or the like, a member of the Mahommedan clergy, so to call them. It is doubtless the corruption of some Ar. term, but of what it is not easy to say. Qu. talāmiẓa, 'disciples, students'? [See Burton, Ar. Nights, ix. 165.] On this Prof. Robertson Smith writes: "I have got some fresh light on your Talisman.
"W. Bedwell, the father of English Arabists, in his Catalogue of the Chapters of the Turkish Alkoran, published (1615) along with the Mohammedis Imposturae, and Arabian Trudgman, has the following, quoted from Postellus de Orbis Concordia, i. 13: 'Haec precatio (the fātiḥa) illis est communis ut nobis dominica: et ita quibusdum ad battologiam usque recitatur ut centies idem, aut duo aut tria vocabula repetant dicendo, Alhamdu lillah, hamdu lillah, hamdu lillah, et cetera ejus vocabula eodem modo. Idque facit in publicà oratione Taalima, id est sacrificulus, pro his qui negligenter orant ut aiunt, ut ea repititione suppleat eorum erroribus.... Quidam medio in campo tam assiduè, ut defessi considant; alii circumgirando corpus,' etc.
"Here then we have a form without the s, and one which from the vowels seem to be ti'lima, 'a very learned man.' This, owing to the influence of the guttural, would sound in modern pronunciation nearly as Taalima. At the same time ti'lima is not the name of an office, and prayers on behalf of others can be undertaken by any one who receives a mandate, and is paid for them; so it is very possible that Postellus, who was an Arabic scholar, made the pointing suit his idea of the word meant, and that the real word is talāmi, a shortened form, recognised by Jawhari, and other lexicographers, of talāmidh, 'disciples.' That students should turn a penny by saying prayers for others is very natural." This, therefore, confirms our conjecture of the origin.
1338.—"They treated me civilly, and set me in front of their mosque during their Easter; at which mosque, on account of its being their Easter, there were assembled from divers quarters a number of their Cadini, i.e. of their bishops, and of their Talismani, i.e. of their priests."—Letter of Friar Pascal, in Cathay, &c., p. 235.
1471.—"In questa città è vna fossa d'acqua nel modo di vna fontana, la qual'è guardata da quelli suoi Thalassimani, cioè preti; quest'acqua dicono che ha gran vertù contra la lebra, e contra le caualette."—Giosafa Barbaro, in Ramusio, ii. f. 107.
1535.—
"Non vi sarebbe più confusione
S'a Damasco il Soldan desse l'assalto;
Un muover d'arme, un correr di persone
E di talacimanni un gridar d'alto."
Ariosto, xviii. 7.
1554.—"Talismánnos habent hominum genus templorum ministerio dicatum...."—Busbeq. Epistola. i. p. 40.
c. 1590.—"Vt Talismanni, qui sint commodius intelligatur: sciendum, certos esse gradus Mahumetanis eorum qui legum apud ipsos periti sunt, et partim jus dicunt, partim legem interpretantur. Ludovicus Bassanus Iadrensis in hunc modum comparat eos cum nostris Ecclesiasticis.... Muphtim dicit esse inter ipsos instar vel Papae nostro, vel Patriarchae Graecorum.... Huic proximi sunt Cadilescheri.... Bassanus hos cum Archiepiscopis nostris comparat. Sequuntur Cadij ... locum obtinent Episcopi. Secundum hos sunt eis Hoggiae,[262] qui seniores dicuntur, vt Graecis et nostris Presbyteri. Excipiunt Hoggias Talismani, seu Presbyteros Diaconi. Vltimi sunt Dervisii, qui Calogeris Graecorum, monachis nostris respondent. Talismani Mahumetanis ad preces interdiu et noctu quinquis excitant."—Leunclavius, Annales Sultanorum Othmanidarum, ed. 1650, 414.
1610.—"Some hauing two, some foure, some sixe adioyning turrets, exceeding high, and exceeding slender: tarrast aloft on the outside like the maine top of a ship ... from which the Talismanni with elated voices (for they vse no bels) do congregate the people...."—Sandys, p. 31.
c. 1630.—"The Fylalli converse most in the Alcoran. The Deruissi are wandering wolves in sheepes clothing. The Talismanni regard the houres of prayer by turning the 4 hour'd glasse. The Muyezini crie from the tops of Mosques, battologuizing Llala Hyllula."—Sir T. Herbert, 267; [and see ed. 1677, p. 323].
1678.—"If he can read like a Clerk a Chapter out of the Alcoran ... he shall be crowned with the honour of being a Mullah or Talman...."—Fryer, 368.
1687.—"... It is reported by the Turks that ... the victorious Sultan ... went with all Magnificent pomp and solemnity to pay his thanksgiving and devotions at the church of Sancta Sophia; the Magnificence so pleased him, that he immediately added a yearly Rent of 10,000 zechins to the former Endowments, for the maintenance of Imaums or Priests, Doctours of their Law, Talismans and others who continually attend there for the education of youth...."—Sir P. Rycaut, Present State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 54.
TĀLIYAMĀR, s. Sea-Hind. for 'cut-water.' Port. talhamar.—Roebuck.
TALLICA, s. Hind. from Ar. ta'līḳah. An invoice or schedule.
1682.—"... that he ... would send another Droga (Daroga) or Customer on purpose to take our Tallicas."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 26; [Hak. Soc. i. 60. Also see under KUZZANNA].
TALOOK, s. This word, Ar. ta'alluḳ, from root 'alaḳ, 'to hang or depend,' has various shades of meaning in different parts of India. In S. and W. India it is the subdivision of a district, presided over as regards revenue matters by a tahseeldar. In Bengal it is applied to tracts of proprietary land, sometimes not easily distinguished from Zemindaries, and sometimes subordinate to or dependent on Zemindars. In the N.W. Prov. and Oudh the ta'alluḳ is an estate the profits of which are divided between different proprietors, one being superior, the other inferior (see TALOOKDAR). Ta'alluḳ is also used in Hind. for 'department' of administration.
1885.—"In October, 1779, the Dacca Council were greatly disturbed in their minds by the appearance amongst them of John Doe, who was then still in his prime. One Chundermonee demised to John Doe and his assigns certain lands in the pergunna Bullera ... whereupon George III., by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, commanded the Sheriff of Calcutta to give John Doe possession. At this Mr. Shakspeare burst into fury, and in language which must have surprised John Doe, proposed 'that a sezawul be appointed for the collection of Patparrah Talook, with directions to pay the same into Bullera cutcherry.'"—Sir J. Stephen, Nuncomar and Impey, ii. 159-60. A sazãwal is "an officer specially appointed to collect the revenue of an estate, from the management of which the owner or farmer has been removed."—(Wilson).
TALOOKDĀR, s. Hind. from Pers. ta'alluḳdār, 'the holder of a ta'alluḳ' (see TALOOK) in either of the senses of that word; i.e. either a Government officer collecting the revenue of a ta'alluḳ (though in this sense it is probably now obsolete everywhere), or the holder of an estate so designated. The famous Talookdars of Oudh are large landowners, possessing both villages of which they are sole proprietors, and other villages, in which there are subordinate holders, in which the Talookdar is only the superior proprietor (see Carnegie, Kachari Technicalities).
[1769.—"... inticements are frequently employed by the Talookdars to augment the concourse to their lands."—Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 233. In his Glossary he defines "Talookdar, the Zemeen-dar of a small district."]
TAMARIND, s. The pod of the tree which takes its name from that product, Tamarindus indica, L., N.O. Leguminosae. It is a tree cultivated throughout India and Burma for the sake of the acid pulp of the pod, which is laxative and cooling, forming a most refreshing drink in fever. The tree is not believed by Dr. Brandis to be indigenous in India, but is supposed to be so in tropical Africa. The origin of the name is curious. It is Ar. tamar-u'l-Hind, 'date of India,' or perhaps rather in Persian form, tamar-i-Hindī. It is possible that the original name may have been thamar, 'fruit' of India, rather than tamar, 'date.'