1806.—"In this irregular excavation are left two dhagopes, or solid masses of stone, bearing the form of a cupola."—Salt, Caves of Salsette, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. i. 47, pub. 1819.
1823.—"... from the centre of the screens or walls, projects a daghope."—Des. of Caves near Nasick, by Lt.-Col. Delamaine in As. Journal, N.S. 1830, vol. iii. 276.
1834.—"... Mihindu-Kumara ... preached in that island (Ceylon) the Religion of Buddha, converted the aforesaid King, built Dagobas (Dagops, i.e. sanctuaries under which the relics or images of Buddha are deposited) in various places."—Ritter, Asien, Bd. iii. 1162.
1835.—"The Temple (cave at Nāsik) ... has no interior support, but a rock-ceiling richly adorned with wheel-ornaments and lions, and in the end-niche a Dagop ..."—Ibid. iv. 683.
1836.—"Although the Dagops, both from varying size and from the circumstance of their being in some cases independent erections and in others only elements of the internal structure of a temple, have very different aspects, yet their character is universally recognised as that of closed masses devoted to the preservation or concealment of sacred objects."—W. v. Humboldt, Kawi-Sprache, i. 144.
1840.—"We performed pradakshina round the Dhagobs, reclined on the living couches of the devotees of Nirwan."—Letter of Dr. John Wilson, in Life, 282.
1853.—"At the same time he (Sakya) foresaw that a dágoba would be erected to Kantaka on the spot...."—Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 160.
1855.—"All kinds and forms are to be found ... the bell-shaped pyramid of dead brickwork in all its varieties ... the bluff knob-like dome of the Ceylon Dagobas...."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 35.
1872.—"It is a remarkable fact that the line of mounds (at Nalanda in Bihar) still bears the name of 'dagop' by the country people. Is not this the dágoba of the Pálí annals?"—Broadley, Buddh. Remains of Bíhár, in J.A.S.B. xli., Pt. i. 305.
DAGON, n.p. A name often given by old European travellers to the place now called Rangoon, from the great Relic-shrine or dagoba there, called Shwé (Golden) Dagôn. Some have suggested that it is a corruption of dagoba, but this is merely guesswork. In the Talaing language tă'kkūn signifies 'athwart,' and, after the usual fashion, a legend had grown up connecting the name with the story of a tree lying 'athwart the hill-top,' which supernaturally indicated where the sacred relics of one of the Buddhas had been deposited (see J.A.S.B. xxviii. 477). Prof. Forchhammer recently (see Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of B. Burma, No. 1) explained the true origin of the name. Towns lying near the sacred site had been known by the successive names of Asitañña-nagara and Ukkalanagara. In the 12th century the last name disappears and is replaced by Trikumbha-nagara, or in Pali form Tikumbha-nagara, signifying '3-Hill-city.'[102] The Kalyāni inscription near Pegu contains both forms. Tikumbha gradually in popular utterance became Tikum, Tăkum, and Tăkun, whence Dagôn. The classical name of the great Dagoba is Tikumbha-cheti, and this is still in daily Burman use. When the original meaning of the word Tăkum had been effaced from the memory of the Talaings, they invented the fable alluded to above in connection with the word tă'kkūn. [This view has been disputed by Col. Temple (Ind. Ant., Jan. 1893, p. 27). He gives the reading of the Kalyāni inscription as Tigumpanagara and goes on to say: "There is more in favour of this derivation (from dagoba) than of any other yet produced. Thus we have dāgaba, Singhalese, admittedly from dhātugabbha, and as far back as the 16th century we have a persistent word tigumpa or digumpa (dagon, digon) in Burma with the same meaning. Until a clear derivation is made out, it is, therefore, not unsafe to say that dagon represents some medieval Indian current form of dhātugabbha. This view is supported by a word gompa, used in the Himālayas about Sikkim for a Buddhist shrine, which looks primâ facie like the remains of some such word as gabbha, the latter half of the compound dhātugabbha.... Neither Trikumbha-nagara in Skt. nor Tikumbha-nagara in Pali would mean 'Three-hill-city,' kumbha being in no sense a 'hill' which is kūta, and there are not three hills on the site of the Shwe-Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon."]
c. 1546.—"He hath very certaine intelligence, how the Zemindoo hath raised an army, with an intent to fall upon the Towns of Cosmin and Dalaa (DALA), and to gain all along the rivers of Digon and Meidoo, the whole Province of Danapluu, even to Ansedaa (hod. Donabyu and Henzada)."—F. M. Pinto, tr. by H. C. 1653, p. 288.
c. 1585.—"After landing we began to walk, on the right side, by a street some 50 paces wide, all along which we saw houses of wood, all gilt, and set off with beautiful gardens in their fashion, in which dwell all the Talapoins, which are their Friars, and the rulers of the Pagode or Varella of Dogon."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 96.
c. 1587.—"About two dayes iourney from Pegu there is a Varelle (see VARELLA) or Pagode, which is the pilgrimage of the Pegues: it is called Dogonne, and is of a wonderfulle bignesse and all gilded from the foot to the toppe."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 398, [393].
c. 1755.—Dagon and Dagoon occur in a paper of this period in Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory, i. 141, 177; [Col. Temple adds: "The word is always Digon in Flouest's account of his travels in 1786 (T'aung Pao, vol. i. Les Francais en Birmanie au xviiie Siècle, passim). It is always Digon (except once: "Digone capitale del Pegù," p. 149) in Quirini's Vita di Monsignor G. M. Percoto, 1781; and it is Digon in a map by Antonio Zultae e figli Venezia, 1785. Symes, Embassy to Ava, 1803 (pp. 18, 23) has Dagon. Crawfurd, 1829, Embassy to Ava (pp. 346-7), calls it Dagong. There is further a curious word, "Too Degon," in one of Mortier's maps, 1740."]
DAIBUL, n.p. See DIULSIND.
DAIMIO, s. A feudal prince in Japan. The word appears to be approximately the Jap. pronunciation of Chin. taiming, 'great name.' ["The Daimyōs were the territorial lords and barons of feudal Japan. The word means literally 'great name.' Accordingly, during the Middle Ages, warrior chiefs of less degree, corresponding, as one might say, to our knights or baronets, were known by the correlative title of Shōmyō, that is, 'small name.' But this latter fell into disuse. Perhaps it did not sound grand enough to be welcome to those who bore it" (Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 101 seq.).]
DAISEYE, s. This word, representing Desai, repeatedly occurs in Kirkpatrick's Letters of Tippoo (e.g. p. 196) for a local chief of some class. See DESSAYE.
DALA, n.p. This is now a town on the (west) side of the river of Rangoon, opposite to that city. But the name formerly applied to a large province in the Delta, stretching from the Rangoon River westward.
1546.—See Pinto, under DAGON.
1585.—"The 2d November we came to the city of Dala, where among other things there are 10 halls full of elephants, which are here for the King of Pegu, in charge of various attendants and officials."—Gasp. Balbi, f. 95.
DALAWAY, s. In S. India the Commander-in-chief of an army; [Tam. talavāy, Skt. dala, 'army,' vah, 'to lead']; Can. and Mal. dhaḷavāy and daḷavāyi. Old Can. dhaḷa, H. dal, 'an army.'
1615.—"Caeterum Deleuaius ... vehementer à rege contendit, ne com̃itteret vt vllum condenda nova hac urbe Arcomaganensis portus antiquissimus detrimentum caperet."—Jarric, Thesaurus, i. p. 179.
1700.—"Le Talavai, c'est le nom qu'on donne au Prince, qui gouverne aujourd'hui le Royaume sous l'autorité de la Reine."—Lettres Edif. x. 162. See also p. 173 and xi. 90.
c. 1747.—"A few days after this, the Dulwai sent for Hydur, and seating him on a musnud with himself, he consulted with him on the re-establishment of his own affairs, complaining bitterly of his own distress for want of money."—H. of Hydur Naik, 44. (See also under DHURNA.)
1754.—"You are imposed on, I never wrote to the Maissore King or Dalloway any such thing, nor they to me; nor had I a knowledge of any agreement between the Nabob and the Dallaway."—Letter from Gov. Saunders of Madras to French Deputies in Cambridge's Acct. of the War, App. p. 29.
1763-78.—"He (Haidar) has lately taken the King (Mysore) out of the hands of his Uncle, the Dalaway."—Orme, iii. 636.
[1810.—"Two manuscripts ... preserved in different branches of the family of the ancient Dulwoys of Mysoor."—Wilks, Mysore, Pref. ed. 1869, p. xi.]
DALOYET, DELOYET, s. An armed attendant and messenger, the same as a Peon. H. ḍhalait, ḍhalāyat, from ḍhāl, 'a shield.' The word is never now used in Bengal and Upper India.
1772.—"Suppose every farmer in the province was enjoined to maintain a number of good serviceable bullocks ... obliged to furnish the Government with them on a requisition made to him by the Collector in writing (not by sepoys, delects (sic), or hercarras)" (see HURCARRA).—W. Hastings, to G. Vansittart, in Gleig, i. 237.
1809.—"As it was very hot, I immediately employed my delogets to keep off the crowd."—Ld. Valentia, i. 339. The word here and elsewhere in that book is a misprint for deloyets.
DAM, s. H. dām. Originally an actual copper coin, regarding which we find the following in the Āīn, i. 31, ed. Blochmann:—"1. The Dám weighs 5 tánks, i.e. 1 tolah, 8 māshas, and 7 surkhs; it is the fortieth part of a rupee. At first this coin was called Paisah, and also Bahloli; now it is known under this name (dám). On one side the place is given where it was struck, on the other the date. For the purpose of calculation, the dám is divided into 25 parts, each of which is called a jétal. This imaginary division is only used by accountants.
"2. The adhelah is half of a dám. 3. The Páulah is a quarter of a dám. 4. The damrí is an eighth of a dám."
It is curious that Akbar's revenues were registered in this small currency, viz. in laks of dáms. We may compare the Portuguese use of reis [see REAS].
The tendency of denominations of coins is always to sink in value. The jetal [see JEETUL], which had become an imaginary money of account in Akbar's time, was, in the 14th century, a real coin, which Mr. E. Thomas, chief of Indian numismatologists, has unearthed [see Chron. Pathan Kings, 231]. And now the dām itself is imaginary. According to Elliot the people of the N.W.P. not long ago calculated 25 dāms to the paisā, which would be 1600 to a rupee. Carnegy gives the Oudh popular currency table as:
| 26 | kauris | = | 1 damrī |
| 1 | damrī | = | 3 dām |
| 20 | da" | = | 1 ānā |
| 25 | dām | = | 1 pice. |
But the Calcutta Glossary says the dām is in Bengal reckoned 1⁄20 of an ānā, i.e. 320 to the rupee. ["Most things of little value, here as well as in Bhagalpur (writing of Behar) are sold by an imaginary money called Takā, which is here reckoned equal to two Paysas. There are also imaginary monies called Chadām and Damrī; the former is equal to 1 Paysa or 25 cowries, the latter is equal to one-eighth of a Paysa" (Buchanan, Eastern Ind. i. 382 seq.)]. We have not in our own experience met with any reckoning of dāms. In the case of the damrī the denomination has increased instead of sinking in relation to the dām. For above we have the damrī = 3 dāms, or according to Elliot (Beames, ii. 296) = 3¼ dāms, instead of ⅛ of a dām as in Akbar's time. But in reality the damrī's absolute value has remained the same. For by Carnegy's table 1 rupee or 16 anas would be equal to 320 damrīs, and by the Āīn, 1 rupee = 40 × 8 damrīs = 320 damrīs. Damrī is a common enough expression for the infinitesimal in coin, and one has often heard a Briton in India say: "No, I won't give a dumree!" with but a vague notion what a damrī meant, as in Scotland we have heard, "I won't give a plack," though certainly the speaker could not have stated the value of that ancient coin. And this leads to the suggestion that a like expression, often heard from coarse talkers in England as well as in India, originated in the latter country, and that whatever profanity there may be in the animus, there is none in the etymology, when such an one blurts out "I don't care a dām!" i.e. in other words, "I don't care a brass farthing!"
If the Gentle Reader deems this a far-fetched suggestion, let us back it by a second. We find in Chaucer (The Miller's Tale):
"——ne raught he not a kers,"
which means, "he recked not a cress" (ne flocci quidem); an expression which is also found in Piers Plowman:
"Wisdom and witte is nowe not worthe a kerse."
And this we doubt not has given rise to that other vulgar expression, "I don't care a curse";—curiously parallel in its corruption to that in illustration of which we quote it.
[This suggestion about dām was made by a writer in Asiat. Res., ed. 1803, vii. 461: "This word was perhaps in use even among our forefathers, and may innocently account for the expression 'not worth a fig,' or a dam, especially if we recollect that ba-dam, an almond, is to-day current in some parts of India as small money. Might not dried figs have been employed anciently in the same way, since the Arabic word fooloos, a halfpenny, also denotes a cassia bean, and the root fuls means the scale of a fish. Mankind are so apt, from a natural depravity, that 'flesh is heir to,' in their use of words, to pervert them from their original sense, that it is not a convincing argument against the present conjecture our using the word curse in vulgar language in lieu of dam." The N.E.D. disposes of the matter: "The suggestion is ingenious, but has no basis in fact." In a letter to Mr. Ellis, Macaulay writes: "How they settle the matter I care not, as the Duke says, one twopenny damn"; and Sir G. Trevelyan notes: "It was the Duke of Wellington who invented this oath, so disproportioned to the greatness of its author." (Life, ed. 1878, ii. 257.)]
1628.—"The revenue of all the territories under the Emperors of Delhi amounts, according to the Royal registers, to 6 arbs and 30 krors of dáms. One arb is equal to 100 krors (a kror being 10,000,000), and a hundred krors of dams are equal to 2 krors and 50 lacs of rupees."—Muhammad Sharīf Hanifī, in Elliot, vii. 138.
c. 1840.—"Charles Greville saw the Duke soon after, and expressing the pleasure he had felt in reading his speech (commending the conduct of Capt. Charles Elliot in China), added that, however, many of the party were angry with it; to which the Duke replied,—'I know they are, and I don't care a damn. I have no time to do what is right.'
"A twopenny damn was, I believe, the form usually employed by the Duke, as an expression of value: but on the present occasion he seems to have been less precise."—Autobiography of Sir Henry Taylor, i. 296. The term referred to seems curiously to preserve an unconscious tradition of the pecuniary, or what the idiotical jargon of our time calls the 'monetary,' estimation contained in the expression.
1881.—"A Bavarian printer, jealous of the influence of capital, said that 'Cladstone baid millions of money to the beeble to fote for him, and Beegonsfeel would not bay them a tam, so they fote for Cladstone.'"—A Socialistic Picnic, in St. James's Gazette, July 6.
[1900.—"There is not, I dare wager, a single bishop who cares one 'twopenny-halfpenny dime' for any of that plenteousness for himself."—H. Bell, Vicar of Muncaster, in Times, Aug. 31.]
DAMAN, n.p. Damān, one of the old settlements of the Portuguese which they still retain, on the coast of Guzerat, about 100 miles north of Bombay; written by them Damão.
1554.—"... the pilots said: 'We are here between Diu and Daman; if the ship sinks here, not a soul will escape; we must make sail for the shore."—Sidi 'Ali, 80.
[1607-8.—"Then that by no means or ships or men can goe saffelie to Suratt, or theare expect any quiett trade for the many dangers likelie to happen vnto them by the Portugals Cheef Comanders of Diu and Demon and places there aboute...."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 247.]
1623.—"Il capitano ... sperava che potessimo esser vicini alla città di Daman; laqual esta dentro il golfo di Cambaia a man destra...."—P. della Valle, ii. 499 [Hak. Soc. i. 15].
DAMANI, s. Applied to a kind of squall. (See ELEPHANTA.)
DAMMER, s. This word is applied to various resins in different parts of India, chiefly as substitutes for pitch. The word appears to be Malayo-Javanese damar, used generically for resins, a class of substances the origin of which is probably often uncertain. [Mr. Skeat notes that the Malay damar means rosin and a torch made of rosin, the latter consisting of a regular cylindrical case, made of bamboo or other suitable material, filled to the top with rosin and ignited.] To one of the dammer-producing trees in the Archipelago the name Dammara alba, Rumph. (N. O. Coniferae), has been given, and this furnishes the 'East India Dammer' of English varnish-makers. In Burma the dammer used is derived from at least three different genera of the N. O. Dipterocarpeae; in Bengal it is derived from the sāl tree (see SAUL-WOOD) (Shorea robusta) and other Shoreae, as well as by importation from transmarine sources. In S. India "white dammer," "Dammer Pitch," or Piney resin, is the produce of Vateria indica, and "black dammer" of Canarium strictum; in Cutch the dammer used is stated by Lieut. Leech (Bombay Selections, No. xv. p. 215-216) to be made from chandrūz (or chandras = copal) boiled with an equal quantity of oil. This is probably Fryer's 'rosin taken out of the sea' (infra). [On the other hand Mr. Pringle (Diary, &c., Fort St. George, 1st ser. iv. 178) quotes Crawfurd (Malay Archip. i. 455): (Dammer) "exudes through the bark, and is either found adhering to the trunk and branches in large lumps, or in masses on the ground, under the trees. As these often grow near the sea-side or on banks of rivers, the damar is frequently floated away and collected at different places as drift"; and adds: "The dammer used for caulking the masula boats at Madras when Fryer was there, may have been, and probably was, imported from the Archipelago, and the fact that the resin was largely collected as drift may have been mentioned in answer to his enquiries."] Some of the Malay dammer also seems, from Major M‘Nair's statement, to be, like copal, fossil. [On this Mr. Skeat says: "It is true that it is sometimes dug up out of the ground, possibly because it may form on the roots of certain trees, or because a great mass of it will fall and partially bury itself in the ground by its own weight, but I have never heard of its being found actually fossilised, and I should question the fact seriously."]
The word is sometimes used in India [and by the Malays, see above] for 'a torch,' because torches are formed of rags dipped in it. This is perhaps the use which accounts for Haex's explanation below.
1584.—"Demnar (for demmar) from Siacca and Blinton" (i.e. Siak and Billiton).—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 43.
1631.—In Haex's Malay Vocabulary: "Damar, Lumen quod accenditur."
1673.—"The Boat is not strengthened with Knee-Timbers as ours are, the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe, and calked with Dammar (a sort of Rosin taken out of the sea)."—Fryer, 37.
" "The long continued Current from the Inland Parts (at Surat) through the vast Wildernesses of huge Woods and Forests, wafts great Rafts of Timber for Shipping and Building: and Damar for Pitch, the finest sented Bitumen (if it be not a gum or Rosin) I ever met with."—Ibid. 121.
1727.—"Damar, a gum that is used for making Pitch and Tar for the use of Shipping."—A. Hamilton, ii. 73; [ed. 1744, ii. 72].
c. 1755.—"A Demar-Boy (Torch-boy)."—Ives, 50.
1878.—"This dammar, which is the general Malayan name for resin, is dug out of the forests by the Malays, and seems to be the fossilised juices of former growth of jungle."—McNair, Perak, &c., 188.
1885.—"The other great industry of the place (in Sumatra) is dammar collecting. This substance, as is well known, is the resin which exudes from notches made in various species of coniferous and dipterocarpous trees ... out of whose stem ... the native cuts large notches up to a height of 40 or 50 feet from the ground. The tree is then left for 3 or 4 months when, if it be a very healthy one, sufficient dammar will have exuded to make it worth while collecting; the yield may then be as much as 94 Amsterdam pounds."—H. O. Forbes, A Naturalist's Wanderings, p. 135.
DANA, s. H. dāna, literally 'grain,' and therefore the exact translation of gram in its original sense (q.v.). It is often used in Bengal as synonymous with gram, thus: "Give the horse his dāna." We find it also in this specific way by an old traveller:
1616.—"A kind of graine called Donna, somewhat like our Pease, which they boyle, and when it is cold give them mingled with course Sugar, and twise or thrise in the Weeke, Butter to scoure their Bodies."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1471.
DANCING-GIRL, s. This, or among the older Anglo-Indians, Dancing-Wench, was the representative of the (Portuguese Bailadeira) Bayadère, or Nautch-girl (q.v.), also Cunchunee. In S. India dancing-girls are all Hindus, [and known as Devadāsī or Bhogam-dāsī;] in N. India they are both Hindu, called Rāmjanī (see RUM-JOHNNY), and Mussulman, called Kanchanī (see CUNCHUNEE). In Dutch the phrase takes a very plain-spoken form, see quotation from Valentijn; [others are equally explicit, e.g. Sir T. Roe (Hak. Soc. i. 145) and P. della Valle, ii. 282.]
1606.—See description by Gouvea, f. 39.
1673.—"After supper they treated us with the Dancing Wenches, and good soops of Brandy and Delf Beer, till it was late enough."—Fryer, 152.
1701.—"The Governor conducted the Nabob into the Consultation Room ... after dinner they were diverted with the Dancing Wenches."—In Wheeler, i. 377.
1726.—"Wat de dans-Hoeren (anders Dewataschi (Deva-dāsī) ... genaamd, en an de Goden hunner Pagoden als getrouwd) belangd."—Valentijn, Chor. 54.
1763-78.—"Mandelslow tells a story of a Nabob who cut off the heads of a set of dancing girls ... because they did not come to his palace on the first summons."—Orme, i. 28 (ed. 1803).
1789.—"... dancing girls who display amazing agility and grace in all their motions."—Munro, Narrative, 73.
c. 1812.—"I often sat by the open window, and there, night after night, I used to hear the songs of the unhappy dancing girls, accompanied by the sweet yet melancholy music of the cithára."—Mrs. Sherwood's Autobiog. 423.
[1813.—Forbes gives an account of the two classes of dancing girls, those who sing and dance in private houses, and those attached to temples.—Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 61.]
1815.—"Dancing girls were once numerous in Persia; and the first poets of that country have celebrated the beauty of their persons and the melody of their voices."—Malcolm, H. of Persia, ii. 587.
1838.—"The Maharajah sent us in the evening a new set of dancing girls, as they were called, though they turned out to be twelve of the ugliest old women I ever saw."—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh, 154.
1843.—"We decorated the Temples of the false gods. We provided the dancing girls. We gilded and painted the images to which our ignorant subjects bowed down."—Macaulay's Speech on the Somnauth Proclamation.
(a). A boatman. The term is peculiar to the Gangetic rivers. H. and Beng. ḍānḍi, from ḍānḍ or ḍanḍ, 'a staff, an oar.'
1685.—"Our Dandees (or boatmen) boyled their rice, and we supped here."—Hedges, Diary, Jan. 6; [Hak. Soc. i. 175].
1763.—"The oppressions of your officers were carried to such a length that they put a stop to all business, and plundered and seized the Dandies and Mangies' [see MANJEE] vessel."—W. Hastings to the Nawab, in Long, 347.
1809.—"Two naked dandys paddling at the head of the vessel."—Ld. Valentia, i. 67.
1824.—"I am indeed often surprised to observe the difference between my dandees (who are nearly the colour of a black teapot) and the generality of the peasants whom we meet."—Bp. Heber, i. 149 (ed. 1844).
—— (b). A kind of ascetic who carries a staff. Same etymology. See Solvyns, who gives a plate of such an one.
[1828.—"... the Dandi is distinguished by carrying a small Dand, or wand, with several processes or projections from it, and a piece of cloth dyed with red ochre, in which the Brahmanical cord is supposed to be enshrined, attached to it."—H. H. Wilson, Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, ed. 1861, i. 193.]
—— (c). H. same spelling, and same etymology. A kind of vehicle used in the Himālaya, consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock to a bamboo staff, and carried by two (or more) men. The traveller can either sit sideways, or lie on his back. It is much the same as the Malabar muncheel (q.v.), [and P. della Valle describes a similar vehicle which he says the Portuguese call Rete (Hak. Soc. i. 183)].
[1875.—"The nearest approach to travelling in a dandi I can think of, is sitting in a half-reefed top-sail in a storm, with the head and shoulders above the yard."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 103.]
1876.—"In the lower hills when she did not walk she travelled in a dandy."—Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Thibet, 2nd S., p. vii.
DANGUR, n.p. H. Ḍhāngar, the name by which members of various tribes of Chūtiā Nāgpūr, but especially of the Orāons, are generally known when they go out to distant provinces to seek employment as labourers ("coolies"). A very large proportion of those who emigrate to the tea-plantations of E. India, and also to Mauritius and other colonies, belong to the Orāon tribe. The etymology of the term Ḍhāngar is doubtful. The late Gen. Dalton says: "It is a word that from its apparent derivation (dāng or dhāng, 'a hill') may mean any hill-man; but amongst several tribes of the Southern tributary Maháls, the terms Dhángar and Dhángarin mean the youth of the two sexes, both in highland and lowland villages, and it cannot be considered the national designation of any particular tribe" (Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 245) [and see Risley, Tribes and Castes, i. 219].
DARCHEENEE, s. P. dār-chīnī, 'China-stick,' i.e. cinnamon.
1563.—"... The people of Ormuz, because this bark was brought for sale there by those who had come from China, called it dar-chini, which in Persian means 'wood of China,' and so they sold it in Alexandria...."—Garcia, f. 59-60.
1621.—"As for cinnamon which you wrote was called by the Arabs dartzeni, I assure you that the dar-síni, as the Arabs say, or dar-chini as the Persians and Turks call it, is nothing but our ordinary canella."—P. della Valle, ii. 206-7.
DARJEELING, DĀRJĪLING, n.p. A famous sanitarium in the Eastern Himālaya, the cession of which was purchased from the Raja of Sikkim in 1835; a tract largely added to by annexation in 1849, following on an outrage committed by the Sikkim Minister in imprisoning Dr. (afterwards Sir) Joseph Hooker and the late Dr. A. Campbell, Superintendent of Darjeeling. The sanitarium stands at 6500 to 7500 feet above the sea. The popular Tibetan spelling of the name is, according to Jaeshcke, rDor-rje-glin, 'Land of the Dorje,' i.e. 'of the Adamant or thunderbolt,' the ritual sceptre of the Lamas. But 'according to several titles of books in the Petersburg list of MSS. it ought properly to be spelt Dar-rgyas-glin' (Tib. Eng. Dict. p. 287).
DARÓGA, s. P. and H. dāroghā. This word seems to be originally Mongol (see Kovalevsky's Dict. No. 1672). In any case it is one of those terms brought by the Mongol hosts from the far East. In their nomenclature it was applied to a Governor of a province or city, and in this sense it continued to be used under Timur and his immediate successors. But it is the tendency of official titles, as of denominations of coin, to descend in value; and that of dāroghā has in later days been bestowed on a variety of humbler persons. Wilson defines the word thus: "The chief native officer in various departments under the native government, a superintendent, a manager: but in later times he is especially the head of a police, customs, or excise station." Under the British Police system, from 1793 to 1862-63, the Darogha was a local Chief of Police, or Head Constable, [and this is still the popular title in the N.W.P. for the officer in charge of a Police Station.] The word occurs in the sense of a Governor in a Mongol inscription, of the year 1314, found in the Chinese Province of Shensi, which is given by Pauthier in his Marc. Pol., p. 773. The Mongol Governor of Moscow, during a part of the Tartar domination in Russia, is called in the old Russian Chronicles Doroga (see Hammer, Golden Horde, 384). And according to the same writer the word appears in a Byzantine writer (unnamed) as Δάρηγας (ibid. 238-9). The Byzantine form and the passages below of 1404 and 1665 seem to imply some former variation in pronunciation. But Clavijo has also derroga in § clii.
c. 1220.—"Tuli Khan named as Darugha at Merv one called Barmas, and himself marched upon Nishapur."—Abulghāzi, by Desmaisons, 135.
1404.—"And in this city (Tauris) there was a kinsman of the Emperor as Magistrate thereof, whom they call Derrega, and he treated the said Ambassadors with much respect."—Clavijo, § lxxxii. Comp. Markham, 90.
1441.—"... I reached the city of Kerman.... The deroghah (governor) the Emir Hadji Mohamed Kaiaschirin, being then absent...."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in the XVth Cent., p. 5.
c. 1590.—"The officers and servants attached to the Imperial Stables. 1. The Atbegi.... 2. The Dāroghah. There is one appointed for each stable...."—Āīn, tr. Blochmann, i. 137.
1621.—"The 10th of October, the darogā, or Governor of Ispahan, Mir Abdulaazim, the King's son-in-law, who, as was afterwards seen in that charge of his, was a downright madman...."—P. della Valle, ii. 166.
1665.—"There stands a Derega, upon each side of the River, who will not suffer any person to pass without leave."—Tavernier, E.T., ii. 52; [ed. Ball, i. 117].
1673.—"The Droger, or Mayor of the City, or Captain of the Watch, or the Rounds; It is his duty to preside with the Main Guard a-nights before the Palace-gates."—Fryer, 339.
1673.—"The Droger being Master of his Science, persists; what comfort can I reap from your Disturbance?"—Fryer, 389.
1682.—"I received a letter from Mr. Hill at Rajemaul advising ye Droga of ye Mint would not obey a Copy, but required at least a sight of ye Originall."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 14; [Hak. Soc. i. 57].
c. 1781.—"About this time, however, one day being very angry, the Darogha, or master of the mint, presented himself, and asked the Nawaub what device he would have struck on his new copper coinage. Hydur, in a violent passion, told him to stamp an obscene figure on it."—Hydur Naik, tr. by Miles, 488.
1812.—"Each division is guarded by a Darogha, with an establishment of armed men."—Fifth Report, 44.
DATCHIN, s. This word is used in old books of Travel and Trade for a steelyard employed in China and the Archipelago. It is given by Leyden as a Malay word for 'balance,' in his Comp. Vocab. of Barma, Malay and Thai, Serampore, 1810. It is also given by Crawfurd as ḍachin, a Malay word from the Javanese. There seems to be no doubt that in Peking dialect ch'eng is 'to weigh,' and also 'steelyard'; that in Amoy a small steelyard is called ch'in; and that in Canton dialect the steelyard is called t'okch'ing. Some of the Dictionaries also give ta 'chêng, 'large steelyard.' Datchin or dotchin may therefore possibly be a Chinese term; but considering how seldom traders' words are really Chinese, and how easily the Chinese monosyllables lend themselves to plausible combinations, it remains probable that the Canton word was adopted from foreigners. It has sometimes occurred to us that it might have been adopted from Achin (d'Achin); see the first quotation. [The N.E.D., following Prof. Giles, gives it as a corruption of the Cantonese name toh-ch'ing (in Court dialect to-ch'êng) from toh 'to measure,' ch'ing, 'to weigh.' Mr. Skeat notes: "The standard Malay is daching, the Javanese dachin (v. Klinkert, s.v.). He gives the word as of Chinese origin, and the probability is that the English word is from the Malay, which in its turn was borrowed from the Chinese. The final suggestion, d'Achin, seems out of the question.] Favre's Malay Dict. gives (in French) "daxing (Ch. pa-tchen), steelyard, balance," also "ber-daxing, to weigh," and Javan. "daxin, a weight of 100 kātis." Gericke's Javan. Dict. also gives "datsin-Picol," with a reference to Chinese. [With reference to Crawfurd's statement quoted above, Mr. Pringle (Diary, Ft. St. George, 1st ser. iv. 179) notes that Crawfurd had elsewhere adopted the view that the yard and the designation of it originated in China and passed from thence to the Archipelago (Malay Archip. i. 275). On the whole, the Chinese origin seems most probable.]
1554.—At Malacca. "The baar of the great Dachem contains 200 cates, each cate weighing two arratels, 4 ounces, 5 eighths, 15 grains, 3 tenths.... The Baar of the little Dachem contains 200 cates; each cate weighing two arratels."—A. Nunes, 39.
[1684-5.—"... he replyed That he was now Content yt ye Honble Company should solely enjoy ye Customes of ye Place on condition yt ye People of ye Place be free from all dutys & Customes and yt ye Profitt of ye Dutchin be his...."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 12.]
1696.—"For their Dotchin and Ballance they use that of Japan."—Bowyear's Journal at Cochin-China, in Dalrymple, O. R. i. 88.
1711.—"Never weigh your Silver by their Dotchins, for they have usually two Pair, one to receive, the other to pay by."—Lockyer, 113.
" "In the Dotchin, an expert Weigher will cheat two or three per cent. by placing or shaking the Weight, and minding the Motion of the Pole only."—Ibid. 115.
" "... every one has a Chopchin and Dotchin to cut and weigh silver."—Ibid. 141.
1748.—"These scales are made after the manner of the Roman balance, or our English Stilliards, called by the Chinese Litang, and by us Dot-chin."—A Voyage to the E. Indies in 1747 and 1748, &c., London, 1762, p. 324. The same book has, in a short vocabulary, at p. 265, "English scales or dodgeons ... Chinese Litang."
DATURA, s. This Latin-like name is really Skt. dhattūra, and so has passed into the derived vernaculars. The widely-spread Datura Stramonium, or Thorn-apple, is well known over Europe, but is not regarded as indigenous to India; though it appears to be wild in the Himālaya from Kashmīr to Sikkim. The Indian species, from which our generic name has been borrowed, is Datura alba, Nees (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 415) (D. fastuosa, L.). Garcia de Orta mentions the common use of this by thieves in India. Its effect on the victim was to produce temporary alienation of mind, and violent laughter, permitting the thief to act unopposed. He describes his own practice in dealing with such cases, which he had always found successful. Datura was also often given as a practical joke, whence the Portuguese called it Burladora ('Joker'). De Orta strongly disapproves of such pranks. The criminal use of datura by a class of Thugs is rife in our own time. One of the present writers has judicially convicted many. Coolies returning with fortunes from the colonies often become the victims of such crimes. [See details in Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 179 seqq.]
1563.—"Maidservant. A black woman of the house has been giving datura to my mistress; she stole the keys, and the jewels that my mistress had on her neck and in her jewel box, and has made off with a black man. It would be a kindness to come to her help."—Garcia, Colloquios, f. 83.
1578.—"They call this plant in the Malabar tongue unmata caya [ummata-kāya] ... in Canarese Datyro...."—Acosta, 87.
c. 1580.—"Nascitur et ... Datura Indorum, quarum ex seminibus Latrones bellaria parant, quae in caravanis mercatoribus exhibentes largumque somnum, profundumque inducentes aurum gemmasque surripiunt et abeunt."—Prosper Alpinus, Pt. I. 190-1.
1598.—"They name [have] likewise an hearbe called Deutroa, which beareth a seede, whereof bruising out the sap, they put it into a cup, or other vessell, and give it to their husbands, eyther in meate or drinke, and presently therewith the Man is as though hee were half out of his wits."—Linschoten, 60; [Hak. Soc. i. 209].
1608-10.—"Mais ainsi de mesme les femmes quand elles sçauent que leurs maris en entretiennent quelqu'autre, elles s'en desfont par poison ou autrement, et se seruent fort à cela de la semence de Datura, qui est d'vne estrange vertu. Ce Datura ou Duroa, espece de Stramonium, est vne plante grande et haute qui porte des fleurs blanches en Campane, comme le Cisampelo, mais plus grande."—Mocquet, Voyages, 312.
[1610.—"In other parts of the Indies it is called Dutroa."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 114.
[1621.—"Garcias ab Horto ... makes mention of an hearb called Datura, which, if it be eaten, for 24 hours following, takes away all sense of grief, makes them incline to laughter and mirth."—Burton, Anatomy of Mel., Pt. 2, Sec. 5 Mem. I. Subs. 5.]
1673.—"Dutry, the deadliest sort of Solarium (Solanum) or Nightshade."—Fryer, 32.
1676.—
"Make lechers and their punks with dewtry
Commit fantastical advowtry."
Hudibras, Pt. iii. Canto 1.
1690.—"And many of them (the Moors) take the liberty of mixing Dutra and Water together to drink ... which will intoxicate almost to Madness."—Ovington, 235.
1810.—"The datura that grows in every part of India."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 135.
1874.—"Datura. This plant, a native of the East Indies, and of Abyssinia, more than a century ago had spread as a naturalized plant through every country in Europe except Sweden, Lapland, and Norway, through the aid of gipsy quacks, who used the seed as anti-spasmodics, or for more questionable purposes."—R. Brown in Geog. Magazine, i. 371. Note.—The statements derived from Hanbury and Flückiger in the beginning of this article disagree with this view, both as to the origin of the European Datura and the identity of the Indian plant. The doubts about the birthplace of the various species of the genus remain in fact undetermined. [See the discussion in Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 29 seqq.]
DATURA, YELLOW, and YELLOW THISTLE. These are Bombay names for the Argemone mexicana, fico del inferno of Spaniards, introduced accidentally from America, and now an abundant and pestilent weed all over India.
DAWK, s. H. and Mahr. ḍāk, 'Post,' i.e. properly transport by relays of men and horses, and thence 'the mail' or letter-post, as well as any arrangement for travelling, or for transmitting articles by such relays. The institution was no doubt imitated from the barīd, or post, established throughout the empire of the Caliphs by Mo'āwia. The barīd is itself connected with the Latin verēdus, and verēdius.