[1875.—"I know of no flesh equal to that of the ibex; and the navo, a species of gigantic antelope of Chinese Tibet, with the barra-singh, a red deer of Kashmir, are nearly equally good."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 91.]
[BARBER'S BRIDGE, n.p. This is a curious native corruption of an English name. The bridge in Madras, known as Barber's Bridge, was built by an engineer named Hamilton. This was turned by the natives into Ambuton, and in course of time the name Ambuton was identified with the Tamil ambattan, 'barber,' and so it came to be called Barber's Bridge.—See Le Fanu, Man. of the Salem Dist. ii. 169, note.]
BARBICAN, s. This term of mediæval fortification is derived by Littré, and by Marcel Devic, from Ar. barbakh, which means a sewer-pipe or water-pipe. And one of the meanings given by Littré is, "une ouverture longue et étroite pour l'écoulement des eaux." Apart from the possible, but untraced, history which this alleged meaning may involve, it seems probable, considering the usual meaning of the word as 'an outwork before a gate,' that it is from Ar. P. bāb-khāna, 'gate-house.' This etymology was suggested in print about 50 years ago by one of the present writers,[36] and confirmed to his mind some years later, when in going through the native town of Cawnpore, not long before the Mutiny, he saw a brand-new double-towered gateway, or gate-house, on the face of which was the inscription in Persian characters: "Bāb-Khāna-i-Mahommed Bakhsh," or whatever was his name, i.e. "The Barbican of Mahommed Bakhsh." [The N.E.D. suggests P. barbar-khānah, 'house on the wall,' it being difficult to derive the Romanic forms in bar- from bāb-khāna.]
The editor of the Chron. of K. James of Aragon (1833, p. 423) says that barbacana in Spain means a second, outermost and lower wall; i.e. a fausse-braye. And this agrees with facts in that work, and with the definition in Cobarruvias; but not at all with Joinville's use, nor with V.-le-Duc's explanation.
c. 1250.—"Tuit le baron ... s'acorderent que en un tertre ... féist l'en une forteresse qui fust bien garnie de gent, si qui se li Tur fesoient saillies ... cell tore fust einsi come barbacane (orig. 'quasi antemurale') de l'oste."—The Med. Fr. tr. of William of Tyre, ed. Paul Paris, i. 158.
c. 1270.—"... on condition of his at once putting me in possession of the albarrana tower ... and should besides make his Saracens construct a barbacana round the tower."—James of Aragon, as above.
1309.—"Pour requerre sa gent plus sauvement, fist le roys faire une barbaquane devant le pont qui estoit entre nos dous os, en tel maniere que l'on pooit entrer de dous pars en la barbaquane à cheval."—Joinville, p. 162.
1552.—"Lourenço de Brito ordered an intrenchment of great strength to be dug, in the fashion of a barbican (barbacã) outside the wall of the fort ... on account of a well, a stone-cast distant...."—Barros, II. i. 5.
c. 1870.—"Barbacane. Défense extérieure protégeant une entrée, et permettant de réunir un assez grand nombre d'hommes pour disposer des sorties ou protéger une retraite."—Viollet-le-Duc, H. d'une Forteresse, 361.
BARBIERS, s. This is a term which was formerly very current in the East, as the name of a kind of paralysis, often occasioned by exposure to chills. It began with numbness and imperfect command of the power of movement, sometimes also affecting the muscles of the neck and power of articulation, and often followed by loss of appetite, emaciation, and death. It has often been identified with Beriberi, and medical opinion seems to have come back to the view that the two are forms of one disorder, though this was not admitted by some older authors of the last century. The allegation of Lind and others, that the most frequent subjects of barbiers were Europeans of the lower class who, when in drink, went to sleep in the open air, must be contrasted with the general experience that beriberi rarely attacks Europeans. The name now seems obsolete.
1673.—"Whence follows Fluxes, Dropsy, Scurvy, Barbiers (which is an enervating (sic) the whole Body, being neither able to use hands or Feet), Gout, Stone, Malignant and Putrid Fevers."—Fryer, 68.
1690.—"Another Distemper with which the Europeans are sometimes afflicted, is the Barbeers, or a deprivation of the Vse and Activity of their Limbs, whereby they are rendered unable to move either Hand or Foot."—Ovington, 350.
1755.—(If the land wind blow on a person sleeping) "the consequence of this is always dangerous, as it seldom fails to bring on a fit of the Barbiers (as it is called in this country), that is, a total deprivation of the use of the limbs."—Ives, 77.
[c. 1757.—"There was a disease common to the lower class of Europeans, called the Barbers, a species of palsy, owing to exposure to the land winds after a fit of intoxication."—In Carey, Good Old Days, ii. 266.]
1768.—"The barbiers, a species of palsy, is a disease most frequent in India. It distresses chiefly the lower class of Europeans, who when intoxicated with liquors frequently sleep in the open air, exposed to the land winds."—Lind on Diseases of Hot Climates, 260. (See BERIBERI.)
BARGANY, BRAGANY, H. bārakānī. The name of a small silver coin current in W. India at the time of the Portuguese occupation of Goa, and afterwards valued at 40 reis (then about 5¼d.). The name of the coin was apparently a survival of a very old system of coinage-nomenclature. Kānī is an old Indian word, perhaps Dravidian in origin, indicating ¼ of ¼ of ¼, or 1-64th part. It was applied to the jital (see JEETUL) or 64th part of the mediæval Delhi silver tanka—this latter coin being the prototype in weight and position of the Rupee, as the kānī therefore was of the modern Anglo-Indian pice (= 1-64th of a Rupee). There were in the currency of Mohammed Tughlak (1324-1351) of Delhi, aliquot parts of the tanka, Dokānīs, Shash-kānīs, Hasht-kānīs, Dwāzda-kānīs, and Shānzda-kānīs, representing, as the Persian numerals indicate, pieces of 2, 6, 8, 12, and 16 kānīs or jitals. (See E. Thomas, Pathan Kings of Delhi, pp. 218-219.) Other fractional pieces were added by Fīroz Shāh, Mohammed's son and successor (see Id. 276 seqq. and quotation under c. 1360, below). Some of these terms long survived, e.g. do-kānī in localities of Western and Southern India, and in Western India in the present case the bārakānī or 12 kānī, a vernacular form of the dwāzda-kānī of Mohammed Tughlak.
1330.—"Thousands of men from various quarters, who possessed thousands of these copper coins ... now brought them to the treasury, and received in exchange gold tankas and silver tankas (Tanga), shash-gānīs and du-gānīs, which they carried to their homes."—Táríkh-i-Fíroz-Sháhi, in Elliot, iii. 240-241.
c. 1350—"Sultan Fíroz issued several varieties of coins. There was the gold tanka and the silver tanka. There were also distinct coins of the respective value of 48, 25, 24, 12, 10, 8 and 6, and one jītal, known as chihal-o-hasht-gānī, bist-o-panjgānī, bist-o-chahār-gānī, dwāzdah-gānī, dah-gānī, hasht-gānī, shāsh-gānī, and yak jītal."—Ibid. 357-358.
1510.—Barganym, in quotation from Correa under Pardao.
1554.—"E as tamgas brancas que se recebem dos foros, são de 4 barganis a tamga, e de 24 leaes o bargany ..." i.e. "And the white tangas that are received in payment of land revenues are at the rate of 4 barganis to the tanga, and of 24 leals to the bargany."—A. Nunez, in Subsidios, p. 31.
" "Statement of the Revenues which the King our Lord holds in the Island and City of Guoa.
"Item—The Islands of Tiçoary, and Divar, and that of Chorão, and Johão, all of them, pay in land revenue (de foro) according to ancient custom 36,474 white tanguas, 3 barguanis, and 21 leals, at the tale of 3 barguanis to the tangua and 24 leals to the barguanim, the same thing as 24 bazarucos, amounting to 14,006 pardaos, 1 tangua and 47 leals, making 4,201,9162⁄5 reis. The Isle of Tiçoary (Salsette) is the largest, and on it stands the city of Guoa; the others are much smaller and are annexed to it, they being all contiguous, only separated by rivers."—Botelho, Tombo, ibid. pp. 46-7.
1584.—"They vse also in Goa amongst the common sort to bargain for coals, wood, lime and such like, at so many braganines, accounting 24 basaruchies for one braganine, albeit there is no such money stamped."—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 411; (but it is copied from G. Balbi's Italian, f. 71v).
BARGEER, s. H. from P. bārgīr. A trooper of irregular cavalry who is not the owner of his troop horse and arms (as is the normal practice (see SILLADAR)), but is either put in by another person, perhaps a native officer in the regiment, who supplies horses and arms and receives the man's full pay, allowing him a reduced rate, or has his horse from the State in whose service he is. The P. word properly means 'a load-taker,' 'a baggage horse.' The transfer of use is not quite clear. ["According to a man's reputation or connections, or the number of his followers, would be the rank (mansab) assigned to him. As a rule, his followers brought their own horses and other equipment; but sometimes a man with a little money would buy extra horses, and mount relations or dependants upon them. When this was the case, the man riding his own horse was called, in later parlance, a silaḥdār (literally, 'equipment-holder'), and one riding somebody else's horse was a bārgīr ('burden-taker')."—W. Irvine, The Army of the Indian Moghuls, J.R.A.S. July 1896, p. 539.]
1844.—"If the man again has not the cash to purchase a horse, he rides one belonging to a native officer, or to some privileged person, and becomes what is called his bargeer...."—Calcutta Rev., vol ii. p. 57.
BARKING-DEER, s. The popular name of a small species of deer (Cervulus aureus, Jerdon) called in H. kākar, and in Nepal ratwā; also called Ribfaced-Deer, and in Bombay Baikree. Its common name is from its call, which is a kind of short bark, like that of a fox but louder, and may be heard in the jungles which it frequents, both by day and by night.—(Jerdon).
[1873.—"I caught the cry of a little barking-deer."—Cooper, Mishmee Hills, 177.]
BARODA, n.p. Usually called by the Dutch and older English writers Brodera; proper name according to the Imp. Gazetteer, Wadodra; a large city of Guzerat, which has been since 1732 the capital of the Mahratta dynasty of Guzerat, the Gaikwārs. (See GUICOWAR).
1552.—In Barros, "Cidade de Barodar," IV. vi. 8.
1555.—"In a few days we arrived at Barūj; some days after at Baloudra, and then took the road towards Champaïz (read Champanīr?)."—Sidī 'Alī, p. 91.
1606.—"That city (Champanel) may be a day's journey from Deberadora or Barodar, which we commonly call Verdora."—Couto, IV. ix. 5.
[1614.—"We are to go to Amadavar, Cambaia and Brothera."—Foster, Letters, ii. 213; also see iv. 197.]
1638.—-"La ville de Brodra est située dans une plaine sablonneuse, sur la petite riviere de Wasset, a trente Cos, ou quinze lieües de Broitschea."—Mandelslo, 130.
1813.—Brodera, in Forbes, Or. Mem., iii. 268; [2nd ed. ii. 282, 389].
1857.—"The town of Baroda, originally Barpatra (or a bar leaf, i.e. leaf of the Ficus indica, in shape), was the first large city I had seen."—Autob. of Lutfullah, 39.
BAROS, n.p. A fort on the West Coast of Sumatra, from which the chief export of Sumatra camphor, so highly valued in China, long took place. [The name in standard Malay is, according to Mr Skeat, Barus.] It is perhaps identical with the Panṣūr or Fanṣūr of the Middle Ages, which gave its name to the Fanṣūrī camphor, famous among Oriental writers, and which by the perpetuation of a misreading is often styled Ḳaiṣūrī camphor, &c. (See CAMPHOR, and Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 282, 285 seqq.) The place is called Barrowse in the E. I. Colonial Papers, ii. 52, 153.
1727.—"Baros is the next place that abounds in Gold, Camphire, and Benzoin, but admits of no foreign Commerce."—A. Hamilton, ii. 113.
BARRACKPORE, n.p. The auxiliary Cantonment of Calcutta, from which it is 15 m. distant, established in 1772. Here also is the country residence of the Governor-General, built by Lord Minto, and much frequented in former days before the annual migration to Simla was established. The name is a hybrid. (See ACHANOCK).
BARRAMUHUL, n.p. H. Bāramaḥall, 'Twelve estates'; an old designation of a large part of what is now the district of Salem in the Madras Presidency. The identification of the Twelve Estates is not free from difficulty; [see a full note in Le Fanu's Man. of Salem, i. 83, seqq.].
1881.—"The Baramahal and Dindigal was placed under the Government of Madras; but owing to the deficiency in that Presidency of civil servants possessing a competent knowledge of the native languages, and to the unsatisfactory manner in which the revenue administration of the older possessions of the Company under the Madras Presidency had been conducted, Lord Cornwallis resolved to employ military officers for a time in the management of the Baramahl."—Arbuthnot, Mem. of Sir T. Munro, xxxviii.
BASHAW, s. The old form of what we now call pasha, the former being taken from bāshā, the Ar. form of the word, which is itself generally believed to be a corruption of the P. pādishāh. Of this the first part is Skt. patis, Zend. paitis, Old P. pati, 'a lord or master' (comp. Gr. δεσπότης). Pechah, indeed, for 'Governor' (but with the ch guttural) occurs in I. Kings x. 15, II. Chron. ix. 14, and in Daniel iii. 2, 3, 27. Prof. Max Müller notices this, but it would seem merely as a curious coincidence.—(See Pusey on Daniel, 567.)
1554.—"Hujusmodi Bassarum sermonibus reliquorum Turcarum sermones congruebant."—Busbeq. Epist. ii. (p. 124).
1584.—
"Great kings of Barbary and my portly bassas."
Marlowe, Tamburlane the Great,
1st Part, iii. 1.
c. 1590.—"Filius alter Osmanis, Vrchanis frater, alium non habet in Annalibus titulum, quam Alis bassa: quod bassae vocabulum Turcis caput significat."—Lennclavius, Annales Sultanorum Othmanidarum, ed. 1650, p. 402. This etymology connecting bāshā with the Turkish bāsh, 'head,' must be rejected.
c. 1610.—"Un Bascha estoit venu en sa Cour pour luy rendre compte du tribut qu'il luy apportoit; mais il fut neuf mois entiers à attendre que celuy qui a la charge ... eut le temps et le loisir de le compter...."—Pyrard de Laval (of the Great Mogul), ii. 161.
1702.—"... The most notorious injustice we have suffered from the Arabs of Muscat, and the Bashaw of Judda."—In Wheeler, ii. 7.
1727.—"It (Bagdad) is now a prodigious large City, and the Seat of a Beglerbeg.... The Bashaws of Bassora, Comera, and Musol (the ancient Nineveh) are subordinate to him."—A. Hamilton, i. 78.
BASIN, s. H. besan. Pease-meal, generally made of Gram (q.v.) and used, sometimes mixed with ground orange-peel or other aromatic substance, to cleanse the hair, or for other toilette purposes.
[1832.—"The attendants present first the powdered peas, called basun, which answers the purpose of soap."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 328.]
BASSADORE, n.p. A town upon the island of Kishm in the Persian Gulf, which belonged in the 16th century to the Portuguese. The place was ceded to the British Crown in 1817, though the claim now seems dormant. The permission for the English to occupy the place as a naval station was granted by Saiyyid Sultan bin Aḥmad of 'Omān, about the end of the 18th century; but it was not actually occupied by us till 1821, from which time it was the depôt of our Naval Squadron in the Gulf till 1882. The real form of the name is, according to Dr. Badger's transliterated map (in H. of Imâns, &c. of Omân), Bāsīdū.
1673.—"At noon we came to Bassatu, an old ruined town of the Portugals, fronting Congo."—Fryer, 320.
BASSAN, s. H. bāsan, 'a dinner-plate'; from Port. bacia (Panjab N. & Q. ii. 117).
BASSEIN, n.p. This is a corruption of three entirely different names, and is applied to various places remote from each other.
(1) Wasāi, an old port on the coast, 26 m. north of Bombay, called by the Portuguese, to whom it long pertained, Baçaim (e.g. Barros, I. ix. 1).
c. 1565.—"Dopo Daman si troua Basain con molte ville ... ne di questa altro si caua che risi, frumenti, e molto ligname."—Cesare de' Federici in Ramusio, iii. 387v.
1756.—"Bandar Bassai."—Mirat-i-Ahmadi, Bird's tr., 129.
1781.—"General Goddard after having taken the fortress of Bessi, which is one of the strongest and most important fortresses under the Mahratta power...."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 327.
(2) A town and port on the river which forms the westernmost delta-arm of the Irawadi in the Province of Pegu. The Burmese name Bathein, was, according to Prof. Forchammer, a change, made by the Burmese conqueror Alompra, from the former name Kuthein (i.e. Kusein), which was a native corruption of the old name Kusima (see COSMIN). We cannot explain the old European corruption Persaim. [It has been supposed that the name represents the Besynga of Ptolemy (Geog. ii. 4; see M‘Crindle in Ind. Ant. xiii. 372); but (ibid. xxii. 20) Col. Temple denies this on the ground that the name Bassein does not date earlier than about 1780. According to the same authority (ibid. xxii. 19), the modern Burmese name is Patheng, by ordinary phonetics used for Putheng, and spelt Pusin or Pusim. He disputes the statement that the change of name was made by Alaungp'aya or Alompra. The Talaing pronunciation of the name is Pasem or Pasim, according to dialect.]
[1781.—"Intanto piaciutto era alla Congregazione di Propagando che il Regno di Ava fosse allora coltivato nella fede da' Sacerdoti secolari di essa Congregazione, e a' nostri destino li Regni di Battiam, Martaban, e Pegu."—Quirini, Percoto, 93.
[1801.—"An ineffectual attempt was made to repossess and defend Bassien by the late Chekey or Lieutenant."—Symes, Mission, 16.]
The form Persaim occurs in Dalrymple, (1759) (Or. Repert., i. 127 and passim).
(3) Basim, or properly Wāsim; an old town in Berar, the chief place of the district so-called. [See Berar Gazett. 176.]
BATÁRA, s. This is a term applied to divinities in old Javanese inscriptions, &c., the use of which was spread over the Archipelago. It was regarded by W. von Humboldt as taken from the Skt. avatāra (see AVATAR); but this derivation is now rejected. The word is used among R. C. Christians in the Philippines now as synonymous with 'God'; and is applied to the infant Jesus (Blumentritt, Vocabular). [Mr. Skeat (Malay Magic, 86 seqq.) discusses the origin of the word, and prefers the derivation given by Favre and Wilkin, Skt. bhaṭṭāra, 'lord.' A full account of the "Petara, or Sea Dyak gods," by Archdeacon J. Perham, will be found in Roth, Natives of Sarawak, I. 168 seqq.]
BATAVIA, n.p. The famous capital of the Dutch possessions in the Indies; occupying the site of the old city of Jakatra, the seat of a Javanese kingdom which combined the present Dutch Provinces of Bantam, Buitenzorg, Krawang, and the Preanger Regencies.
1619.—"On the day of the capture of Jakatra, 30th May 1619, it was certainly time and place to speak of the Governor-General's dissatisfaction that the name of Batavia had been given to the Castle."—Valentijn, iv. 489.
The Governor-General, Jan Pietersen Coen, who had taken Jakatra, desired to have called the new fortress New Hoorn, from his own birth-place, Hoorn, on the Zuider Zee.
c. 1649.—"While I stay'd at Batavia, my Brother dy'd; and it was pretty to consider what the Dutch made me pay for his Funeral."—Tavernier (E.T.), i. 203.
BATCUL, BATCOLE, BATECALA, &c., n.p. Bhatkal. A place often named in the older narratives. It is on the coast of Canara, just S. of Pigeon Island and Hog Island, in lat. 13° 59′, and is not to be confounded (as it has been) with BEITCUL.
1328.—"... there is also the King of Batigala, but he is of the Saracens."—Friar Jordanus, p. 41.
1510.—The "Bathecala, a very noble city of India," of Varthema (119), though misplaced, must we think be this place and not Beitcul.
1548.—"Trelado (i.e. 'Copy') do Contrato que o Gouernador Gracia de Saa fez com a Raynha de Batecalaa por não aver Reey e ela reger o Reeyno."—In S. Botelho, Tombo, 242.
1599.—"... part is subject to the Queene of Baticola, who selleth great store of pepper to the Portugals, at a towne called Onor...."—Sir Fulke Greville to Sir Fr. Walsingham, in Bruce's Annals, i. 125.
1618.—"The fift of March we anchored at Batachala, shooting three Peeces to give notice of our arriuall...."—Wm. Hore, in Purchas, i. 657. See also Sainsbury, ii. p. 374.
[1624.—"We had the wind still contrary, and having sail'd three other leagues, at the usual hour we cast anchor near the Rocks of Baticala."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 390.]
1727.—"The next Sea-port, to the Southward of Onoar, is Batacola, which has the vestigia of a very large city...."—A. Hamilton, i. 282.
[1785.—"Byte Koal." See quotation under DHOW.]
BATEL, BATELO, BOTELLA, s. A sort of boat used in Western India, Sind, and Bengal. Port. batell, a word which occurs in the Roteiro de V. da Gama, 91 [cf. PATTELLO].
[1686.—"About four or five hundred houses burnt down with a great number of their Bettilos, Boras and boats."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. 55.]
1838.—"The Botella may be described as a Dow in miniature.... It has invariably a square flat stern, and a long grab-like head."—Vaupell, in Trans. Bo. Geog. Soc. vii. 98.
1857.—"A Sindhi battéla, called Rahmatí, under the Tindal Kasim, laden with dry fish, was about to proceed to Bombay."—Lutfullah, 347. See also Burton, Sind Revisited (1877), 32, 33.
[1900.—"The Sheikh has some fine war-vessels, called batils."—Bent, Southern Arabia, 8.]
BATTA, s. Two different words are thus expressed in Anglo-Indian colloquial, and in a manner confounded.
a. H. bhata or bhātā: an extra allowance made to officers, soldiers, or other public servants, when in the field, or on other special grounds; also subsistence money to witnesses, prisoners, and the like. Military Batta, originally an occasional allowance, as defined, grew to be a constant addition to the pay of officers in India, and constituted the chief part of the excess of Indian over English military emoluments. The question of the right to batta on several occasions created great agitation among the officers of the Indian army, and the measure of economy carried out by Lord William Bentinck when Governor-General (G. O. of the Gov.-Gen. in Council, 29th November 1828) in the reduction of full batta to half batta, in the allowances received by all regimental officers serving at stations within a certain distance of the Presidency in Bengal (viz. Barrackpore, Dumdum, Berhampore, and Dinapore) caused an enduring bitterness against that upright ruler.
It is difficult to arrive at the origin of this word. There are, however, several Hindi words in rural use, such as bhāt, bhantā, 'advances made to ploughmen without interest,' and bhaṭṭa, bhaṇṭā, 'ploughmen's wages in kind,' with which it is possibly connected. It has also been suggested, without much probability, that it may be allied to bahut, 'much, excess,' an idea entering into the meaning of both a and b. It is just possible that the familiar military use of the term in India may have been influenced by the existence of the European military term bât or bât-money. The latter is from bât, 'a pack-saddle,' [Late Lat. bastum], and implies an allowance for carrying baggage in the field. It will be seen that one writer below seems to confound the two words.
b. H. baṭṭā and bāṭṭā: agio, or difference in exchange, discount on coins not current, or of short weight. We may notice that Sir H. Elliot does not recognize an absolute separation between the two senses of Batta. His definition runs thus: "Difference of exchange; anything extra; an extra allowance; discount on uncurrent, or short-weight coins; usually called Batta. The word has been supposed to be a corruption of Bharta, increase, but it is a pure Hindi vocable, and is more usually applied to discount than to premium."—(Supp. Gloss. ii. 41.) [Platts, on the other hand, distinguishes the two words—Baṭṭa, Skt. vṛitta, 'turned,' or varta, 'livelihood'—"Exchange, discount, difference of exchange, deduction, &c.," and Bhaṭṭa, Skt. bhakta 'allotted,'—"advances to ploughmen without interest; ploughman's wages in kind."] It will be seen that we have early Portuguese instances of the word apparently in both senses.
The most probable explanation is that the word (and I may add, the thing) originated in the Portuguese practice, and in the use of the Canarese word bhatta, Mahr. bhāt, 'rice' in 'the husk,' called by the Portuguese bate and bata, for a maintenance allowance.
The word batty, for what is more generally called paddy, is or was commonly used by the English also in S. and W. India (see Linschoten, Lucena and Fryer quoted s.v. Paddy, and Wilson's Glossary, s.v. Bhatta).
The practice of giving a special allowance for mantimento began from a very early date in the Indian history of the Portuguese, and it evidently became a recognised augmentation of pay, corresponding closely to our batta, whilst the quotation from Botelho below shows also that bata and mantimento were used, more or less interchangeably, for this allowance. The correspondence with our Anglo-Indian batta went very far, and a case singularly parallel to the discontent raised in the Indian army by the reduction of full-batta to half-batta is spoken of by Correa (iv. 256). The mantimento had been paid all the year round, but the Governor, Martin Afonso de Sousa, in 1542, "desiring," says the historian, "a way to curry favour for himself, whilst going against the people and sending his soul to hell," ordered that in future the mantimento should be paid only during the 6 months of Winter (i.e. of the rainy season), when the force was on shore, and not for the other 6 months when they were on board the cruisers, and received rations. This created great bitterness, perfectly analogous in depth and in expression to that entertained with regard to Lord W. Bentinck and Sir John Malcolm, in 1829. Correa's utterance, just quoted, illustrates this, and a little lower down he adds: "And thus he took away from the troops the half of their mantimento (half their batta, in fact), and whether he did well or ill in that, he'll find in the next world."—(See also ibid. p. 430).
The following quotations illustrate the Portuguese practice from an early date:
1502.—"The Captain-major ... between officers and men-at-arms, left 60 men (at Cochin), to whom the factor was to give their pay, and every month a cruzado of mantimento, and to the officers when on service 2 cruzados...."—Correa, i. 328.
1507.—(In establishing the settlement at Mozambique) "And the Captains took counsel among themselves, and from the money in the chest, paid the force each a cruzado a month for mantimento, with which the men greatly refreshed themselves...."—Ibid. 786.
1511.—"All the people who served in Malaca, whether by sea or by land, were paid their pay for six months in advance, and also received monthly two cruzados of mantimento, cash in hand" (i.e. they had double batta).—Ibid. ii. 267.
a.
1548.—"And for 2 ffarazes (see FARASH) 2 pardaos a month for the two and 4 tangas for bata."...—S. Botelho, Tombo, 233. The editor thinks this is for bate, i.e. paddy. But even if so it is used exactly like batta or maintenance money. A following entry has: "To the constable 38,920 reis a year, in which is comprised maintenance (mantimento)."
1554.—An example of batee for rice will be found s.v. MOORAH.
The following quotation shows battee (or batty) used at Madras in a way that also indicates the original identity of batty, 'rice,' and batta, 'extra allowance':—
1680.—"The Peons and Tarryars (see TALIAR) sent in quest of two soldiers who had deserted from the garrison 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...."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Feb. 10. In Notes and Exts. No. iii. p. 3.
1707.—"... that they would allow Batta or subsistence money to all that should desert us."—In Wheeler, ii. 63.
1765.—"... orders were accordingly issued ... that on the 1st January, 1766, the double batta should cease...."—Caraccioli's Clive, iv. 160.
1789.—"... batta, or as it is termed in England, bât and forage money, which is here, in the field, almost double the peace allowance."—Munro's Narrative, p. 97.
1799.—"He would rather live on half-pay, in a garrison that could boast of a fives court, than vegetate on full batta, where there was none."—Life of Sir T. Munro, i. 227.
The following shows Batty used for rice in Bombay:
[1813.—"Rice, or batty, is sown in June."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 23.]
1829.—"To the Editor of the Bengal Hurkaru.—Sir,—Is it understood that the Wives and daughters of officers on half batta are included in the order to mourn for the Queen of Wirtemberg; or will half-mourning be considered sufficient for them?"—Letter in above, dated 15th April 1829.
1857.—"They have made me a K.C.B. I may confess to you that I would much rather have got a year's batta, because the latter would enable me to leave this country a year sooner."—Sir Hope Grant, in Incidents of the Sepoy War.
b.—
1554.—"And gold, if of 10 mates or 24 carats, is worth 10 cruzados the tael ... if of 9 mates, 9 cruzados; and according to whatever the mates may be it is valued; but moreover it has its batao, i.e. its shroffage (çarrafagem) or agio (caibo) varying with the season."—A. Nunes, 40.
1680.—"The payment or receipt of Batta or Vatum upon the exchange of Pollicat for Madras pagodas prohibited, both coines being of the same Matt and weight, upon pain of forfeiture of 24 pagodas for every offence together with the loss of the Batta."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Feb. 10. In Notes and Exts., p. 17.
1760.—"The Nabob receives his revenues in the siccas of the current year only ... and all siccas of a lower date being esteemed, like the coin of foreign provinces, only a merchandize, are bought and sold at a certain discount called batta, which rises and falls like the price of other goods in the market...."—Ft. Wm. Cons., June 30, in Long, 216.
1810.—"... he immediately tells master that the batta, i.e. the exchange, is altered."—Williamson, V. M. i. 203.
BATTAS, BATAKS, &c. n.p. [the latter, according to Mr. Skeat, being the standard Malay name]; a nation of Sumatra, noted especially for their singular cannibal institutions, combined with the possession of a written character of their own and some approach to literature.
c. 1430.—"In ejus insulae, quam dicunt Bathech, parte, anthropophagi habitant ... capita humana in thesauris habent, quae ex hostibus captis abscissa, esis carnibus recondunt, iisque utuntur pro nummis."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fort. lib. iv.
c. 1539.—"This Embassador, that was Brother-in-law to the King of Battas ... brought him a rich Present of Wood of Aloes, Calambaa, and five quintals of Benjamon in flowers."—Cogan's Pinto, 15.
c. 1555.—"This Island of Sumatra is the first land wherein we know man's flesh to be eaten by certaine people which liue in the mountains, called Bacas (read Batas), who vse to gilde their teethe."—Galvano, Discoveries of the World, Hak. Soc. 108.
1586.—"Nel regno del Dacin sono alcuni luoghi, ne' quali si ritrouano certe genti, che mangiano le creature humane, e tali genti, si chaimano Batacchi, e quando frà loro i padri, e le madri sono vechhi, si accordano i vicinati di mangiarli, e li mangiano."—G. Balbi, f. 130.
1613.—"In the woods of the interior dwelt Anthropophagi, eaters of human flesh ... and to the present day continues that abuse and evil custom among the Battas of Sumatra."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 23v.
[The fact that the Battas are cannibals has recently been confirmed by Dr. Volz and H. von Autenrieth (Geogr. Jour., June 1898, p. 672.]
BAWUSTYE, s. Corr. of bobstay in Lascar dialect (Roebuck).
BAY, The, n.p. In the language of the old Company and its servants in the 17th century, The Bay meant the Bay of Bengal, and their factories in that quarter.
1683.—"And the Councell of the Bay is as expressly distinguished from the Councell of Hugly, over which they have noe such power."—In Hedges, under Sept. 24. [Hak. Soc. i. 114.]
1747.—"We have therefore laden on her 1784 Bales ... which we sincerely wish may arrive safe with You, as We do that the Gentlemen at the Bay had according to our repeated Requests, furnished us with an earlier conveyance...."—Letter from Ft. St. David, 2nd May, to the Court (MS. in India Office).
BAYA, s. H. baiā [bayā], the Weaver-bird, as it is called in books of Nat. Hist., Ploceus baya, Blyth (Fam. Fringillidae). This clever little bird is not only in its natural state the builder of those remarkable pendant nests which are such striking objects, hanging from eaves or palm-branches; but it is also docile to a singular degree in domestication, and is often exhibited by itinerant natives as the performer of the most delightful tricks, as we have seen, and as is detailed in a paper of Mr Blyth's quoted by Jerdon. "The usual procedure is, when ladies are present, for the bird on a sign from its master to take a cardamom or sweatmeat in its bill, and deposit it between a lady's lips.... A miniature cannon is then brought, which the bird loads with coarse grains of powder one by one ... it next seizes and skilfully uses a small ramrod: and then takes a lighted match from its master, which it applies to the touch-hole." Another common performance is to scatter small beads on a sheet; the bird is provided with a needle and thread, and proceeds in the prettiest way to thread the beads successively. [The quotation from Abul Faẓl shows that these performances are as old as the time of Akbar and probably older still.]
[c. 1590.—"The baya is like a wild sparrow but yellow. It is extremely intelligent, obedient and docile. It will take small coins from the hand and bring them to its master, and will come to a call from a long distance. Its nests are so ingeniously constructed as to defy the rivalry of clever artificers."—Āīn (trans. Jarrett), iii. 122.]
1790.—"The young Hindu women of Banáras ... wear very thin plates of gold, called tíca's, slightly fixed by way of ornament between the eyebrows; and when they pass through the streets, it is not uncommon for the youthful libertines, who amuse themselves with training Bayā's, to give them a sign, which they understand, and to send them to pluck the pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mistresses."—Asiat. Researches, ii. 110.
[1813.—Forbes gives a similar account of the nests and tricks of the Baya.—Or. Mem., 2nd ed. i. 33.]
BAYADÈRE, s. A Hindu dancing-girl. The word is especially used by French writers, from whom it has been sometimes borrowed as if it were a genuine Indian word, particularly characteristic of the persons in question. The word is in fact only a Gallicized form of the Portuguese bailadeira, from bailar, to dance. Some 50 to 60 years ago there was a famous ballet called Le dieu et la bayadère, and under this title Punch made one of the most famous hits of his early days by presenting a cartoon of Lord Ellenborough as the Bayadère dancing before the idol of Somnāth; [also see DANCING-GIRL].
1513.—"There also came to the ground many dancing women (molheres bailadeiras) with their instruments of music, who make their living by that business, and these danced and sang all the time of the banquet...."—Correa, ii. 364.
1526.—"XLVII. The dancers and danceresses (bayladores e bayladeiras) who come to perform at a village shall first go and perform at the house of the principal man of the village" (Gancar, see GAUM).—Foral de usos costumes dos Gancares e Lavradores de esta Ilha de Goa, in Arch. Port. Or., fascic. 5, 132.
1598.—"The heathenish whore called Balliadera, who is a dancer."—Linschoten, 74; [Hak. Soc. i. 264].
1599.—"In hâc icone primum proponitur Inda Balliadera, id est saltatrix, quae in publicis ludis aliisque solennitatibus saltando spectaculum exhibet."—De Bry, Text to pl. xii. in vol. ii. (also see p. 90, and vol. vii. 26), etc.
[c. 1676.—"All the Baladines of Gombroon were present to dance in their own manner according to custom."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 335.]
1782.—"Surate est renommé par ses Bayadères, dont le véritable nom est Dévédassi: celui de Bayadères que nous leur donnons, vient du mot Balladeiras, qui signifie en Portugais Danseuses."—Sonnerat, i. 7.
1794.—"The name of Balliadere, we never heard applied to the dancing girls; or saw but in Raynal, and 'War in Asia, by an Officer of Colonel Baillie's Detachment;' it is a corrupt Portuguese word."—Moor's Narrative of Little's Detachment, 356.
1825.—"This was the first specimen I had seen of the southern Bayadère, who differ considerably from the nâch girls of northern India, being all in the service of different temples, for which they are purchased young."—Heber, ii. 180.
c. 1836.—"On one occasion a rumour reached London that a great success had been achieved in Paris by the performance of a set of Hindoo dancers, called Les Bayadères, who were supposed to be priestesses of a certain sect, and the London theatrical managers were at once on the qui vive to secure the new attraction.... My father had concluded the arrangement with the Bayadères before his brother managers arrived in Paris. Shortly afterwards, the Hindoo priestesses appeared at the Adelphi. They were utterly uninteresting, wholly unattractive. My father lost £2000 by the speculation; and in the family they were known as the 'Buy-em-dears' ever after."—Edmund Yates, Recollections, i. 29, 30 (1884).
BAYPARREE, BEOPARRY, s. H. bepārī, and byopārī (from Skt. vyāpārin); a trader, and especially a petty trader or dealer.
A friend long engaged in business in Calcutta (Mr J. F. Ogilvy, of Gillanders & Co.) communicates a letter from an intelligent Bengalee gentleman, illustrating the course of trade in country produce before it reaches the hands of the European shipper: