c. A.D. 250.—"Βοῶν δε γένη δύο, δρομικούς τε καὶ ἄλλους ἀγρίους δεινῶς· ἐκ τουτῶν γε τῶν βοῶν καὶ τὰς μυιοσόβας ποιοῦνται, καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα παμμέλανες εῖσιν οἵδε· τὰς δὲ οὐρὰς ἔχουσι λευκὰς ἰσχυρῶς."—Aelian. de Nat. An. xv. 14.
A.D. 634-5.—"... with his armies which were darkened by the spotless chāmaras that were waved over them."—Aihole Inscription.
c. 940.—"They export from this country the hair named al-zamar (or al-chamar) of which those fly-flaps are made, with handles of silver or ivory, which attendants held over the heads of kings when giving audience."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 385. The expressions of Maṣ'ūdī are aptly illustrated by the Assyrian and Persepolitan sculptures. (See also Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. 18; Nic. Conti, p. 14, in India in the XVth Century).
1623.—"For adornment of their horses they carried, hung to the cantles of their saddles, great tufts of a certain white hair, long and fine, which they told me were the tails of certain wild oxen found in India."—P. della Valle, ii. 662; [Hak. Soc. ii. 260].
1809.—"He also presented me in trays, which were as usual laid at my feet, two beautiful chowries."—Lord Valentia, i. 428.
1810.—"Near Brahma are Indra and Indranee on their elephant, and below is a female figure holding a chamara or chowree."—Maria Graham, 56.
1827.—"A black female slave, richly dressed, stood behind him with a chowry, or cow's tail, having a silver handle, which she used to keep off the flies."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. x.
CHOWRYBURDAR, s. The servant who carries the Chowry. H. P. chauṅrī-bardār.
1774.—"The Deb-Rajah on horseback ... a chowra-burdar on each side of him."—Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, 24.
[1838.—"... the old king was sitting in the garden with a chowrybadar waving the flies from him."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 138.]
CHOWT, CHOUT, s. Mahr. chauth, 'one fourth part.' The blackmail levied by the Mahrattas from the provincial governors as compensation for leaving their districts in immunity from plunder. The term is also applied to some other exactions of like ratio (see Wilson).
[1559.—Mr. Whiteway refers to Couto (Dec. VII. bk. 6, ch. 6), where this word is used in reference to payments made in 1559 in the time of D. Constantine de Bragança, and in papers of the early part of the 17th century the King of the Chouteas is frequently mentioned.]
1644.—"This King holds in our lands of Daman a certain payment which they call Chouto, which was paid him long before they belonged to the Portuguese, and so after they came under our power the payment continued to be made, and about these exactions and payments there have risen great disputes and contentions on one side and another."—Bocarro (MS.).
1674.—"Messengers were sent to Bassein demanding the chout of all the Portuguese territory in these parts. The chout means the fourth part of the revenue, and this is the earliest mention we find of the claim."—Orme's Fragments, p. 45.
1763-78.—"They (the English) were ... not a little surprised to find in the letters now received from Balajerow and his agent to themselves, and in stronger terms to the Nabob, a peremptory demand of the Chout or tribute due to the King of the Morattoes from the Nabobship of Arcot."—Orme, ii. 228-9.
1803.—"The Peshwah ... cannot have a right to two choutes, any more than to two revenues from any village in the same year."—Wellington Desp. (ed. 1837), ii. 175.
1858.—"... They (the Mahrattas) were accustomed to demand of the provinces they threatened with devastation a certain portion of the public revenue, generally the fourth part; and this, under the name of the chout, became the recognized Mahratta tribute, the price of the absence of their plundering hordes."—Whitney, Oriental and Ling. Studies, ii. 20-21.
CHOYA, CHAYA, CHEY, s. A root, [generally known as chayroot,] (Hedyotis umbellata, Lam., Oldenlandia umb., L.) of the Nat. Ord. Cinchonaceae, affording a red dye, sometimes called 'India Madder,' ['Dye Root,' 'Rameshwaram Root']; from Tam. shāyaver, Malayāl. chāyaver (chāya, 'colour,' ver, 'root'). It is exported from S. India, and was so also at one time from Ceylon. There is a figure of the plant in Lettres Edif. xiv. 164.
c. 1566.—"Also from S. Tome they layd great store of red yarne, of bombast died with a roote which they call saia, as aforesayd, which colour will never out."—Caesar Frederike, in Hakl. [ii. 354].
1583.—"Ne vien anchora di detta saia da un altro luogo detto Petopoli, e se ne tingono parimente in S. Thomè."—Balbi, f. 107.
1672.—"Here groweth very good Zaye."—Baldaeus, Ceylon.
[1679.—"... if they would provide mustors of Chae and White goods...."—Memoriall of S. Master, in Kistna Man., p. 131.]
1726.—"Saya (a dye-root that is used on the Coast for painting chintzes)."—Valentijn, Chor. 45.
1727.—"The Islands of Diu (near Masulipatam) produce the famous Dye called Shaii. It is a Shrub growing in Grounds that are overflown with the Spring tides."—A. Hamilton, i. 370; [ed. 1744, i. 374].
1860.—"The other productions that constituted the exports of the Island were sapan-wood to Persia; and choya-roots, a substitute for Madder, collected at Manaar ... for transmission to Surat."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 54-55. See also Chitty's Ceylon Gazetteer (1834), p. 40.
CHUCKAROO, s. English soldier's lingo for Chokra (q.v.)
CHUCKER. From H. chakar, chakkar, chakrā, Skt. chakra, 'a wheel or circle.'
(a.) s. A quoit for playing the English game; but more properly the sharp quoit or discus which constituted an ancient Hindu missile weapon, and is, or was till recently, carried by the Sikh fanatics called Akālī (see AKALEE), generally encircling their peaked turbans. The thing is described by Tavernier (E. T. ii. 41: [ed. Ball, i. 82]) as carried by a company of Mahommedan Fakīrs whom he met at Sherpūr in Guzerat. See also Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly, &c., p. 47: [Egerton, Handbook, Pl. 15, No. 64].
1516.—"In the Kingdom of Dely ... they have some steel wheels which they call chacarani, two fingers broad, sharp outside like knives, and without edge inside; and the surface of these is the size of a small plate. And they carry seven or eight of these each, put on the left arm; and they take one and put it on the finger of the right hand, and make it spin round many times, and so they hurl it at their enemies."—Barbosa, 100-101.
1630.—"In her right hand shee bare a chuckerey, which is an instrument of a round forme, and sharp-edged in the superficies thereof ... and slung off, in the quickness of his motion, it is able to deliuer or conuey death to a farre remote enemy."—Lord, Disc. of the Banian Religion, 12.
(b.) v. and s. To lunge a horse. H. chakarnā or chakar karnā. Also 'the lunge.'
1829.—"It was truly tantalizing to see those fellows chuckering their horses, not more than a quarter of a mile from our post."—John Shipp, i. 153.
[(c.) In Polo, a 'period.'
[1900.—"Two bouts were played to-day.... In the opening chukker Capt. —— carried the ball in."—Overland Mail, Aug. 13.]
CHUCKERBUTTY, n.p. This vulgarized Bengal Brahman name is, as Wilson points out, a corruption of chakravarttī, the title assumed by the most exalted ancient Hindu sovereigns, an universal Emperor, whose chariot-wheels rolled over all (so it is explained by some).
c. 400.—"Then the Bikshuni Uthala began to think thus with herself, 'To-day the King, ministers, and people are all going to meet Buddha ... but I—a woman—how can I contrive to get the first sight of him?' Buddha immediately, by his divine power, changed her into a holy Chakravartti Raja."—Travels of Fah-hian, tr. by Beale, p. 63.
c. 460.—"On a certain day (Asoka), having ... ascertained that the supernaturally gifted ... Nága King, whose age extended to a Kappo, had seen the four Buddhas ... he thus addressed him: 'Beloved, exhibit to me the person of the omniscient being of infinite wisdom, the Chakkawatti of the doctrine.'"—The Mahawanso, p. 27.
1856.—"The importance attached to the possession of a white elephant is traceable to the Buddhist system. A white elephant of certain wonderful endowments is one of the seven precious things, the possession of which marks the Maha Chakravartti Raja ... the holy and universal sovereign, a character which appears once in a cycle."—Mission to the Court of Ava (Major Phayre's), 1858, p. 154.
CHUCKLAH, s. H. chaklā, [Skt. chakra, 'a wheel']. A territorial subdivision under the Mahommedan government, thus defined by Warren Hastings, in the paper quoted under CHOWDRY:
1759.—"The jurisdiction of a Phojdar (see FOUJDAR), who receives the rents from the Zemindars, and accounts for them with the Government."
1760.—"In the treaty concluded with the Nawáb Meer Mohummud Cásim Khán, on the 27th Sept. 1760, it was agreed that ... the English army should be ready to assist him in the management of all affairs, and that the lands of the chuklahs (districts) of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong, should be assigned for all the charges of the company and the army...."—Harington's Analysis of the Laws and Regulations, vol. i. Calcutta, 1805-1809, p. 5.
CHUCKLER, s. Tam. and Malayāl. shakkili, the name of a very low caste, members of which are tanners or cobblers, like the Chamārs (see CHUMAR) of Upper India. But whilst the latter are reputed to be a very dark caste, the Chucklers are fair (see Elliot's Gloss. by Beames, i. 71, and Caldwell's Gram. 574). [On the other hand the Madras Gloss. (s.v.) says that as a rule they are of "a dark black hue."] Colloquially in S. India Chuckler is used for a native shoemaker.
c. 1580.—"All the Gentoos (Gentios) of those parts, especially those of Bisnaga, have many castes, which take precedence one of another. The lowest are the Chaquivilis, who make shoes, and eat all unclean flesh...."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 95.
1759.—"Shackelays are shoemakers, and held in the same despicable light on the Coromandel Coast as the Niaddes and Pullies on the Malabar."—Ives, 26.
c. 1790.—"Aussi n'est-ce que le rébut de la classe méprisée des parrias; savoir les tschakelís ou cordonniers et les vettians ou fossoyeurs, qui s'occupent de l'enterrement et la combustion des morts."—Haafner, ii. 60.
[1844.—"... the chockly, who performs the degrading duty of executioner...."—Society, Manners, &c., of India, ii. 282.]
1869.—"The Komatis or mercantile caste of Madras by long established custom, are required to send an offering of betel to the chucklers, or shoemakers, before contracting their marriages."—Sir W. Elliot, in J. Ethn. Soc., N. S. vol. i. 102.
CHUCKMUCK, s. H. chakmak. 'Flint and steel.' One of the titles conferred on Haidar 'Ali before he rose to power was 'Chakmak Jang,' 'Firelock of War'? See H. of Hydur Naik, 112.
CHUCKRUM, s. An ancient coin once generally current in the S. of India, Malayāl. chakram, Tel. chakramu; from Skt. chakra (see under CHUCKER). It is not easy to say what was its value, as the statements are inconsistent: nor do they confirm Wilson's, that it was equal to one-tenth of a pagoda. [According to the Madras Gloss. (s.v.) it bore the same relation to the gold Pagoda that the Anna does to the Rupee, and under it again was the copper Cash, which was its sixteenth.] The denomination survives in Travancore, [where 28½ go to one rupee. (Ibid.)]
1554.—"And the fanoms of the place are called chocrões, which are coins of inferior gold; they are worth 12½ or 12¼ to the pardao of gold, reckoning the pardao at 360 reis."—A. Nunez, Livro dos Pesos, 36.
1711.—"The Enemy will not come to any agreement unless we consent to pay 30,000 chuckrums, which we take to be 16,600 and odd pagodas."—In Wheeler, ii. 165.
1813.—Milburn, under Tanjore, gives the chuckrum as a coin equal to 20 Madras, or ten gold fanams. 20 Madras fanams would be 4⁄9 of a pagoda.
[From the difficulty of handling these coins, which are small and round, they are counted on a chuckrum board as in the case of the Fanam (q.v.).]
CHUDDER, s. H. chādar, a sheet, or square piece of cloth of any kind; the ample sheet commonly worn as a mantle by women in N. India. It is also applied to the cloths spread over Mahommedan tombs. Barbosa (1516) and Linschoten (1598) have chautars, chautares, as a kind of cotton piece-goods, but it is certain that this is not the same word. Chowtars occur among Bengal piece-goods in Milburn, ii. 221. [The word is chautár, 'anything with four threads,' and it occurs in the list of cotton cloths in the Āīn (i. 94). In a letter of 1610 we have "Chautares are white and well requested" (Danvers, Letters, i. 75); "Chauters of Agra" (Foster, Letters, ii. 45); Cocks has "fine Casho or Chowter" (Diary, i. 86); and in 1615 they are called "Cowter" (Foster, iv. 51).]
1525.—"Chader of Cambaya."—Lembrança, 56.
[c. 1610.—"From Bengal comes another sort of hanging, of fine linen painted and ornamented with colours in a very agreeable fashion; these they call iader."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 222.]
1614.—"Pintados, chints and chadors."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.
1673.—"The habit of these water-nymphs was fine Shudders of lawn embroidered on the neck, wrist, and skirt with a border of several coloured silks or threads of gold."—Herbert, 3rd ed. 191.
1832.—"Chuddur ... a large piece of cloth or sheet, of one and a half or two breadths, thrown over the head, so as to cover the whole body. Men usually sleep rolled up in it."—Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, xii.-xiii.
1878.—"Two or three women, who had been chattering away till we appeared, but who, on seeing us, drew their 'chadders' ... round their faces, and retired to the further end of the boat."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 79.
The Rampore Chudder is a kind of shawl, of the Tibetan shawl-wool, of uniform colour without pattern, made originally at Rāmpur on the Sutlej; and of late years largely imported into England: [(see the Panjab Mono. on Wool, p. 9). Curiously enough a claim to the derivation of the title from Rāmpur, in Rohilkhand, N.W.P. is made in the Imperial Gazetteer, 1st ed. (s.v.).]
CHUL! CHULLO! v. in imperative; 'Go on! Be quick.' H. chalo! imper. of chalnā, to go, go speedily. [Another common use of the word in Anglo-Indian slang is—"It won't chul," 'it won't answer, succeed.']
c. 1790.—"Je montai de très-bonne heure dans mon palanquin.—Tschollo (c'est-à-dire, marche), crièrent mes coulis, et aussitôt le voyage commença."—Haafner, ii. 5.
[CHUMAR, s. H. Chamār, Skt. charma-kāra, 'one who works in leather,' and thus answering to the Chuckler of S. India; an important caste found all through N. India, whose primary occupation is tanning, but a large number are agriculturists and day labourers of various kinds.
[1823.—"From this abomination, beef-eating ... they [the Bheels] only rank above the Choomars, or shoemakers, who feast on dead carcases, and are in Central India, as elsewhere, deemed so unclean that they are not allowed to dwell within the precincts of the village."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 179.]
CHUMPUK, s. A highly ornamental and sacred tree (Michelia champaca, L., also M. Rheedii), a kind of magnolia, whose odorous yellow blossoms are much prized by Hindus, offered at shrines, and rubbed on the body at marriages, &c. H. champak, Skt. champaka. Drury strangely says that the name is "derived from Ciampa, an island between Cambogia and Cochin China, where the tree grows." Champa is not an island, and certainly derives its Sanskrit name from India, and did not give a name to an Indian tree. The tree is found wild in the Himālaya from Nepāl, eastward; also in Pegu and Tenasserim, and along the Ghauts to Travancore. The use of the term champaka extends to the Philippine Islands. [Mr. Skeat notes that it is highly prized by Malay women, who put it in their hair.]
1623.—"Among others they showed me a flower, in size and form not unlike our lily, but of a yellowish white colour, with a sweet and powerful scent, and which they call champà [ciampá]."—P. della Valle, ii. 517; [Hak. Soc. i. 40].
1786.—"The walks are scented with blossoms of the champac and nagisar, and the plantations of pepper and coffee are equally new and pleasing."—Sir W. Jones, in Mem., &c., ii. 81.
1810.—"Some of these (birds) build in the sweet-scented champaka and the mango."—Maria Graham, 22.
1819.—
"The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream;
And the chumpak's odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream."
Shelley, Lines to an Indian Air.
1821.—
"Some chumpak flowers proclaim it yet divine."
Medwin, Sketches in Hindoostan, 73.
CHUNÁM, s. Prepared lime; also specially used for fine polished plaster. Forms of this word occur both in Dravidian languages and Hind. In the latter chūnā is from Skt. chūrṇa, 'powder'; in the former it is somewhat uncertain whether the word is, or is not, an old derivative from the Sanskrit. In the first of the following quotations the word used seems taken from the Malayāl. chuṇṇāmba, Tam. shuṇṇāmbu.
1510.—"And they also eat with the said leaves (betel) a certain lime made from oyster shells, which they call cionama."—Varthema, 144.
1563.—"... so that all the names you meet with that are not Portuguese are Malabar; such as betre (betel), chuna, which is lime...."—Garcia, f. 37g.
c. 1610.—"... l'vn porte son éventail, l'autre la boëte d'argent pleine de betel, l'autre une boëte ou il y a du chunan, qui est de la chaux."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 84; [Hak. Soc. ii. 135].
1614.—"Having burnt the great idol into chunah, he mixed the powdered lime with pān leaves, and gave it to the Rājpūts that they might eat the objects of their worship."—Firishta, quoted by Quatremère, Not. et Ext., xiv. 510.
1673.—"The Natives chew it (Betel) with Chinam (Lime of calcined Oyster Shells)."—Fryer, 40.
1687.—"That stores of Brick, Iron, Stones, and Chenam be in readiness to make up any breach."—Madras Consultations, in Wheeler, i. 168.
1689.—"Chinam is Lime made of Cockle-shells, or Lime-stone; and Pawn is the Leaf of a Tree."—Ovington, 123.
1750-60.—"The flooring is generally composed of a kind of loam or stucco, called chunam, being a lime made of burnt shells."—Grose, i. 52.
1763.—"In the Chuckleh of Silet for the space of five years ... my phoasdar and the Company's gomastah shall jointly prepare chunam, of which each shall defray all expenses, and half the chunam so made shall be given to the Company, and the other half shall be for my use."—Treaty of Mir Jaffir with the Company, in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, i. 64.
1809.—"The row of chunam pillars which supported each side ... were of a shining white."—Ld. Valentia, i. 61.
CHUNÁM, TO, v. To set in mortar; or, more frequently, to plaster over with chunam.
1687.—"... to get what great jars he can, to put wheat in, and chenam them up, and set them round the fort curtain."—In Wheeler, i. 168.
1809.—"... having one ... room ... beautifully chunammed."—Ld. Valentia, i. 386.
Both noun and verb are used also in the Anglo-Chinese settlements.
CHUNÁRGURH, n.p. A famous rock-fort on the Ganges, above Benares, and on the right bank. The name is believed to be a corr. of Charana-giri, 'Foot Hill,' a name probably given from the actual resemblance of the rock, seen in longitudinal profile, to a human foot. [There is a local legend that it represents the foot of Vishnu. A native folk etymology makes it a corr. of Chandālgaṛh, from some legendary connection with the Bhangi tribe (see CHANDAUL). (See Crooke, Tribes and Castes, i. 263.)]
[1768.—"Sensible of the vast importance of the fort of Chunar to Sujah al Dowlah ... we have directed Col. Barker to reinforce the garrison...."—Letter to Court of Directors, in Verelst, App. 78.
[1785.—"Chunar, called by the natives Chundalghur...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 442.]
CHUPATTY, s. H. chapātī, an unleavened cake of bread (generally of coarse wheaten meal), patted flat with the hand, and baked upon a griddle; the usual form of native bread, and the staple food of Upper India. (See HOPPER).
1615.—Parson Terry well describes the thing, but names it not: "The ordinary sort of people eat bread made of a coarse grain, but both toothsome and wholesome and hearty. They make it up in broad cakes, thick like our oaten cakes; and then bake it upon small round iron hearths which they carry with them."—In Purchas, ii. 1468.
1810.—"Chow-patties, or bannocks."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 348.
1857.—"From village to village brought by one messenger and sent forward by another passed a mysterious token in the shape of one of those flat cakes made from flour and water, and forming the common bread of the people, which in their language, are called chupatties."—Kaye's Sepoy War, i. 570. [The original account of this by the Correspondent of the 'Times,' dated "Bombay, March 3, 1857," is quoted in 2 ser. N. & Q. iii. 365.]
There is a tradition of a noble and gallant Governor-General who, when compelled to rough it for a day or two, acknowledged that "chuprassies and masaulchies were not such bad diet," meaning Chupatties and Mussalla.
CHUPKUN, s. H. chapkan. The long frock (or cassock) which is the usual dress in Upper India of nearly all male natives who are not actual labourers or indigent persons. The word is probably of Turki or Mongol origin, and is perhaps identical with the chakman of the Āīn (i. 90), a word still used in Turkistan. [Vambéry, (Sketches, 121 seqq.) describes both the Tchapan or upper coat and the Tchekmen or gown.] Hence Beames's connection of chapkan with the idea of chap as meaning compressing or clinging [Platts chapaknā, 'to be pressed'], "a tightly-fitting coat or cassock," is a little fanciful. (Comp. Gram. i. 212 seq.) Still this idea may have shaped the corruption of a foreign word.
1883.—"He was, I was going to say, in his shirt-sleeves, only I am not sure that he wore a shirt in those days—I think he had a chupkun, or native under-garment."—C. Raikes, in L. of Ld. Lawrence, i. 59.
CHUPRA, n.p. Chaprā, [or perhaps rather Chhaprā, 'a collection of straw huts,' (see CHOPPER),] a town and head-quarter station of the District Sāran in Bahār, on the north bank of the Ganges.
1665.—"The Holland Company have a House there (at Patna) by reason of their trade in Salt Peter, which they refine at a great Town called Choupar ... 10 leagues above Patna."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 53; [ed. Ball, i. 122].
1726.—"Sjoppera (Chupra)."—Valentijn, Chorom., &c., 147.
CHUPRASSY, s. H. chaprāsī, the bearer of a chaprās, i.e. a badge-plate inscribed with the name of the office to which the bearer is attached. The chaprāsī is an office-messenger, or henchman, bearing such a badge on a cloth or leather belt. The term belongs to the Bengal Presidency. In Madras Peon is the usual term; in Bombay Puttywalla, (H. paṭṭīwālā), or "man of the belt." The etymology of chaprās is obscure; [the popular account is that it is a corr. of P. chap-o-rāst, 'left and right']; but see Beames (Comp. Gram. i. 212), who gives buckle as the original meaning.
1865.—"I remember the days when every servant in my house was a chuprassee, with the exception of the Khansaumaun and a Portuguese Ayah."—The Dawk Bungalow, p. 389.
c. 1866.—
"The big Sahib's tent has gone from under the Peepul tree,
With his horde of hungry chuprassees, and oily sons of the quill—
I paid them the bribe they wanted, and Sheitan will settle the bill."
Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree.
1877.—"One of my chuprassies or messengers ... was badly wounded."—Meadows Taylor, Life, i. 227.
1880.—"Through this refractory medium the people of India see their rulers. The Chuprassie paints his master in colours drawn from his own black heart. Every lie he tells, every insinuation he throws out, every demand he makes, is endorsed with his master's name. He is the arch-slanderer of our name in India."—Ali Baba, 102-3.
CHURR, s. H. char, Skt. char, 'to move.' "A sand-bank or island in the current of a river, deposited by the water, claims to which were regulated by the Bengal Reg. xi. 1825" (Wilson). A char is new alluvial land deposited by the great rivers as the floods are sinking, and covered with grass, but not necessarily insulated. It is remarkable that Mr. Marsh mentions a very similar word as used for the same thing in Holland. "New sandbank land, covered with grasses, is called in Zeeland schor" (Man and Nature, p. 339). The etymologies are, however, probably quite apart.
1878.—"In the dry season all the various streams ... are merely silver threads winding among innumerable sandy islands, the soil of which is specially adapted for the growth of Indigo. They are called Churs."—Life in the Mofussil, ii. 3 seq.
CHURRUCK, s. A wheel or any rotating machine; particularly applied to simple machines for cleaning cotton. Pers. charkh, 'the celestial sphere,' 'a wheel of any kind,' &c. Beng. charak is apparently a corruption of the Persian word, facilitated by the nearness of the Skt. chakra, &c.
—— POOJAH. Beng. charak-pūjā (see POOJA). The Swinging Festival of the Hindus, held on the sun's entrance into Aries. The performer is suspended from a long yard, traversing round on a mast, by hooks passed through the muscle over the blade-bones, and then whirled round so as to fly out centrifugally. The chief seat of this barbarous display is, or latterly was, in Bengal, but it was formerly prevalent in many parts of India. [It is the Shirry (Ca. and Tel. sidi, Tam. shedil, Tel. sidi, 'a hook') of S. India.] There is an old description in Purchas's Pilgrimage, p. 1000; also (in Malabar) in A. Hamilton, i. 270; [at Ikkeri, P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 259]; and (at Calcutta) in Heber's Journal, quoted below.
c. 1430.—"Alii ad ornandos currus perforato latere, fune per corpus immisso se ad currum suspendunt, pendentesque et ipsi exanimati idolum comitantur; id optimum sacrificium putant et acceptissimum deo."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae, iv.
[1754.—See a long account of the Bengal rite in Ives, 27 seqq.].
1824.—"The Hindoo Festival of 'Churruck Poojah' commenced to-day, of which, as my wife has given an account in her journal, I shall only add a few particulars."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 57.
CHURRUS, s.
a. H. charas. A simple apparatus worked by oxen for drawing water from a well, and discharging it into irrigation channels by means of pulley ropes, and a large bag of hide (H. charsā, Skt. charma). [See the description in Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 153. Hence the area irrigated from a well.]
[1829.—"To each Churrus, chursa, or skin of land, there is attached twenty-five beeghas of irrigated land."—Tod, Annals (Calcutta repr.), ii. 688.]
b. H. charas, [said to be so called because the drug is collected by men who walk with leather aprons through the field]. The resinous exudation of the hemp-plant (Cannabis Indica), which is the basis of intoxicating preparations (see BANG, GUNJA).
[1842.—"The Moolah sometimes smoked the intoxicating drug called Chirs."—Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 344.]
CHUTKARRY, CHATTAGAR, in S. India, a half-caste; Tam. shaṭṭi-kar, 'one who wears a waistcoat' (C. P. B).
CHUTNY, s. H. chatnī. A kind of strong relish, made of a number of condiments and fruits, &c., used in India, and more especially by Mahommedans, and the merits of which are now well known in England. For native chutny recipes, see Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, 2nd ed. xlvii. seqq.
1813.—"The Chatna is sometimes made with cocoa-nut, lime-juice, garlic, and chillies, and with the pickles is placed in deep leaves round the large cover, to the number of 30 or 40."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 50 seq.; [2nd ed. i. 348].
1820.—"Chitnee, Chatnee, some of the hot spices made into a paste, by being bruised with water, the 'kitchen' of an Indian peasant."—Acc. of Township of Loony, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bombay, ii. 194.
CHUTT, s. H. chhat. The proper meaning of the vernacular word is 'a roof or platform.' But in modern Anglo-Indian its usual application is to the coarse cotton sheeting, stretched on a frame and whitewashed, which forms the usual ceiling of rooms in thatched or tiled houses; properly chādar-chhat, 'sheet-ceiling.'
CHUTTANUTTY, n.p. This was one of the three villages purchased for the East India Company in 1686, when the agents found their position in Hugli intolerable, to form the settlement which became the city of Calcutta. The other two villages were Calcutta and Govindpūr. Dr. Hunter spells it Sūtanatī, but the old Anglo-Indian orthography indicates Chatānatī as probable. In the letter-books of the Factory Council in the India Office the earlier letters from this establishment are lost, but down to 27th March, 1700, they are dated from "Chuttanutte; on and after June 8th, from "Calcutta"; and from August 20th in the same year from "Fort William" in Calcutta. [See Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lix.] According to Major Ralph Smyth, Chatānatī occupied "the site of the present native town," i.e. the northern quarter of the city. Calcutta stood on what is now the European commercial part; and Govindpūr on the present site of Fort William.[69]
1753.—"The Hoogly Phousdar demanding the payment of the ground rent for 4 months from January, namely:—
| R. | A. | P. | |
| Sootaloota, Calcutta | 325 | 0 | 0 |
| Govindpoor, Picar | 70 | 0 | 0 |
| Govindpoor, Calcutta | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| Buxies | 1 | 8 | 0 |
Agreed that the President do pay the same out of cash."—Consn. Ft. William, April 30, in Long, 43.
CHUTTRUM, s. Tam. shattiram, which is a corruption of Skt. sattra, 'abode.' In S. India a house where pilgrims and travelling members of the higher castes are entertained and fed gratuitously for a day or two. [See CHOULTRY, DHURMSALLA.]
1807.—"There are two distinct kinds of buildings confounded by Europeans under the name of Choultry. The first is that called by the natives Chaturam, and built for the accommodation of travellers. These ... have in general pent roofs ... built in the form of a square enclosing a court.... The other kind are properly built for the reception of images, when these are carried in procession. These have flat roofs, and consist of one apartment only, and by the natives are called Mandapam.... Besides the Chaturam and the Mandapam, there is another kind of building which by Europeans is called Choultry; in the Tamul language it is called Tany Pundal, or Water Shed ... small buildings where weary travellers may enjoy a temporary repose in the shade, and obtain a draught of water or milk."—F. Buchanan, Mysore, i. 11, 15.
CINDERELLA'S SLIPPER. A Hindu story on the like theme appears among the Hala Kanara MSS. of the Mackenzie Collection:—
"Suvarṇadevi having dropped her slipper in a reservoir, it was found by a fisherman of Kusumakesari, who sold it to a shopkeeper, by whom it was presented to the King Ugrabáhu. The Prince, on seeing the beauty of the slipper, fell in love with the wearer, and offered large rewards to any person who should find and bring her to him. An old woman undertook the task, and succeeded in tracing the shoe to its owner...."—Mackenzie Collection, by H. H. Wilson, ii. 52. [The tale is not uncommon in Indian folk-lore. See Miss Cox, Cinderella (Folk-lore Soc.), ii. 91, 183, 465, &c.]
CINTRA ORANGES. See ORANGE and SUNGTARA.
CIRCARS, n.p. The territory to the north of the Coromandel Coast, formerly held by the Nizam, and now forming the districts of Kistna, Godávari, Vizagapatam, Ganjám, and a part of Nellore, was long known by the title of "The Circars," or "Northern Circars" (i.e. Governments), now officially obsolete. The Circars of Chicacole (now Vizagapatam Dist.), Rajamandri and Ellore (these two embraced now in Godávari Dist.), with Condapilly (now embraced in Kistna Dist.), were the subject of a grant from the Great Mogul, obtained by Clive in 1765, confirmed by treaty with the Nizam in 1766. Gantūr (now also included in Kistna Dist.) devolved eventually by the same treaty (but did not come permanently under British rule till 1803). [For the history see Madras Admin. Man. i. 179.] C. P. Brown says the expression "The Circars" was first used by the French, in the time of Bussy. [Another name for the Northern Circars was the Carling or Carlingo country, apparently a corr. of Kalinga (see KLING), see Pringle, Diary, &c., of Ft. St. George, 1st ser. vol. 2, p. 125. (See SIRCAR.)]
1758.—"Il est à remarquer qu'après mon départ d'Ayder Abad, Salabet Zingue a nommé un Phosdar, ou Gouverneur, pour les quatres Cerkars."—Mémoire, by Bussy, in Lettres de MM. de Bussy, de Lally et autres, Paris, 1766, p. 24.
1767.—"Letter from the Chief and Council at Masulipatam ... that in consequence of orders from the President and Council of Fort St. George for securing and sending away all vagrant Europeans that might be met with in the Circars, they have embarked there for this place...."—Fort William Consn., in Long, 476 seq.
1789.—"The most important public transaction ... is the surrender of the Guntoor Circar to the Company, by which it becomes possessed of the whole Coast, from Jaggernaut to Cape Comorin. The Nizam made himself master of that province, soon after Hyder's invasion of the Carnatic, as an equivalent for the arrears of peshcush, due to him by the Company for the other Circars."—Letter of T. Munro, in Life by Gleig, i. 70.
1823.—"Although the Sirkárs are our earliest possessions, there are none, perhaps, of which we have so little accurate knowledge in everything that regards the condition of the people."—Sir T. Munro, in Selections, &c., by Sir A. Arbuthnot, i. 204.
We know from the preceding quotation what Munro's spelling of the name was.
1836.—"The district called the Circars, in India, is part of the coast which extends from the Carnatic to Bengal.... The domestic economy of the people is singular; they inhabit villages (!!), and all labour is performed by public servants paid from the public stock."—Phillips, Million of Facts, 320.
1878.—"General Sir J. C., C.B., K.C.S.I. He entered the Madras Army in 1820, and in 1834, according to official despatches, displayed 'active zeal, intrepidity, and judgment' in dealing with the savage tribes in Orissa known as the Circars"(!!!).—Obituary Notice in Homeward Mail, April 27.
CIVILIAN, s. A term which came into use about 1750-1770, as a designation of the covenanted European servants of the E. I. Company, not in military employ. It is not used by Grose, c. 1760, who was himself of such service at Bombay. [The earliest quotation in the N.E.D. is of 1766 from Malcolm's L. of Clive, 54.] In Anglo-Indian parlance it is still appropriated to members of the covenanted Civil Service [see COVENANTED SERVANTS]. The Civil Service is mentioned in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, (c. 1785), iii. 164. From an early date in the Company's history up to 1833, the members of the Civil Service were classified during the first five years as Writers (q.v.), then to the 8th year as Factors (q.v.); in the 9th and 11th as Junior Merchants; and thenceforward as Senior Merchants. These names were relics of the original commercial character of the E. I. Company's transactions, and had long ceased to have any practical meaning at the time of their abolition in 1833, when the Charter Act (3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 85), removed the last traces of the Company's commercial existence.