c. 1328.—"Quid dicam? Diabolus ibi etiam loquitur, saepe et saepius, hominibus, nocturnis temporibus, sicut ego audivi."—Jordani Mirabilia, in Rec. de Voyages, iv. 53.
1681.—"This for certain I can affirm, That oftentimes the Devil doth cry with an audible Voice in the Night; 'tis very shrill, almost like the barking of a Dog. This I have often heard myself; but never heard that he did anybody any harm.... To believe that this is the Voice of the Devil these reasons urge, because there is no Creature known to the Inhabitants, that cry like it, and because it will on a sudden depart from one place, and make a noise in another, quicker than any fowl could fly; and because the very Dogs will tremble and shake when they hear it."—Knox's Ceylon, 78.
1849.—"Devil's Bird (Strix Gaulama or Ulama, Singh.). A species of owl. The wild and wailing cry of this bird is considered a sure presage of death and misfortune, unless measures be taken to avert its infernal threats, and refuse its warning. Though often heard even on the tops of their houses, the natives maintain that it has never been caught or distinctly seen, and they consider it to be one of the most annoying of the evil spirits which haunt their country."—Pridham's Ceylon, p. 737-8.
1860.—"The Devil-Bird, is not an owl ... its ordinary note is a magnificent clear shout like that of a human being, and which can be heard at a great distance. It has another cry like that of a hen just caught, but the sounds which have earned for it its bad name ... are indescribable, the most appalling that can be imagined, and scarcely to be heard without shuddering; I can only compare it to a boy in torture, whose screams are being stopped by being strangled."—Mr. Mitford's Note in Tennent's Ceylon, i. 167.
1881.—"The uncanny cry of the devil-bird, Syrnium Indrani...."—Haeckel's Visit to Ceylon, 235.
DEVIL'S REACH, n.p. This was the old name of a reach on the Hoogly R. a little above Pulta (and about 15 miles above Calcutta). On that reach are several groups of dewals, or idol-temples, which probably gave the name.
1684.—"August 28.—I borrowed the late Dutch Fiscall's Budgero (see BUDGEROW), and went in Company with Mr. Beard, Mr. Littleton" (etc.) "as far as ye Devill's Reach, where I caused ye tents to be pitched in expectation of ye President's arrivall and lay here all night."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 156.
1711.—"From the lower Point of Devil's Reach you must keep mid-channel, or nearest the Starboard Shore, for the Larboard is shoal until you come into the beginning of Pulta or Poutto Reach, and there abreast of a single great Tree, you must edge over to the East Shore below Pulta."—The English Pilot, 54.
DEVIL WORSHIP. This phrase is a literal translation of bhūta-pūjā, i.e. worship of bhūtas [see BHOOT], a word which appears in slightly differing forms in various languages of India, including the Tamil country. A bhūta, or as in Tamil more usually, pēy, is a malignant being which is conceived to arise from the person of anyone who has come to a violent death. This superstition, in one form or another, seems to have formed the religion of the Dravidian tribes of S. India before the introduction of Brahmanism, and is still the real religion of nearly all the low castes in that region, whilst it is often patronized also by the higher castes. These superstitions, and especially the demonolatrous rites called 'devil-dancing,' are identical in character with those commonly known as Shamanism [see SHAMAN], and which are spread all over Northern Asia, among the red races of America, and among a vast variety of tribes in Ceylon and in Indo-China, not excluding the Burmese. A full account of the demon-worship of Tinnevelly was given by Bp. Caldwell in a small pamphlet on the "Tinnevelly Shanars" (Madras, 1849), and interesting evidence of its identity with the Shamanism of other regions will be found in his Comparative Grammar (2nd ed. 579 seqq.); see also Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 79 seq.; [Oppert, Orig. Inhabit. of Bharatavarśa, 554 seqq.]
DÉWAL, DÉWÁLÉ, s. H. dewal, Skt. deva-ālaya; a Temple or pagoda. This, or Dewalgarh, is the phrase commonly used in the Bombay territory for a Christian church. In Ceylon Déwálé is a temple dedicated to a Hindu god.
1681.—"The second order of Priests are those called Koppuhs, who are the Priests that belong to the Temples of the other Gods (i.e. other than Boddou, or Buddha). Their Temples are called Dewals."—Knox, Ceylon, 79.
[1797.—"The Company will settle ... the dewal or temple charge."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 285.
[1813.—"They plant it (the nayna tree) near the dewals or Hindoo temples, improperly called Pagodas."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 15].
DEWALEEA, s. H. diwāliyā, 'a bankrupt,' from diwālā, 'bankruptcy,' and that, though the etymology is disputed, is alleged to be connected with dīpa, 'a lamp'; because "it is the custom ... when a merchant finds himself failing, or failed, to set up a blazing lamp in his house, shop, or office, and abscond therefrom for some time until his creditors are satisfied by a disclosure of his accounts or dividend of assets."—Drummond's Illustrations (s.v.).
DEWALLY, s. H. diwālī, from Skt. dīpa-ālikā, 'a row of lamps,' i.e. an illumination. An autumnal feast attributed to the celebration of various divinities, as of Lakshmī and of Bhavānī, and also in honour of Krishna's slaying of the demon Naraka, and the release of 16,000 maidens, his prisoners. It is held on the last two days of the dark half of the month Aśvina or Aśan, and on the new moon and four following days of Karttika, i.e. usually some time in October. But there are variations of Calendar in different parts of India, and feasts will not always coincide, e.g. at the three Presidency towns, nor will any curt expression define the dates. In Bengal the name Diwālī is not used; it is Kālī Pūjā, the feast of that grim goddess, a midnight festival on the most moonless nights of the month, celebrated by illuminations and fireworks, on land and river, by feasting, carousing, gambling, and sacrifice of goats, sheep, and buffaloes.
1613.—"... no equinoctio da entrada de libra, dià chamado Divâly, tem tal privilegio e vertude que obriga falar as arvores, plantas e ervas...."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 38v.
[1623.—"October the four and twentieth was the Davàli, or Feast of the Indian Gentiles."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 206.]
1651.—"In the month of October, eight days after the full moon, there is a feast held in honour of Vistnou, which is called Dipáwali."—A. Rogerius, De Open-Deure.
[1671.—"In October they begin their yeare with great feasting, Jollity, Sending Presents to all they have any busynes with, which time is called Dually."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxiv.]
1673.—"The first New Moon in October is the Banyan's Dually."—Fryer, 110.
1690.—"... their Grand Festival Season, called the Dually Time."—Ovington, 401.
1820.—"The Dewalee, Deepaullee, or Time of Lights, takes place 20 days after the Dussera, and lasts three days; during which there is feasting, illumination, and fireworks."—T. Coats, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo., ii. 211.
1843.—"Nov. 5. The Dīwālī, happening to fall on this day, the whole river was bright with lamps.... Ever and anon some votary would offer up his prayers to Lakshmi the Fortuna, and launch a tiny raft bearing a cluster of lamps into the water,—then watch it with fixed and anxious gaze. If it floats on till the far distance hides it, thrice happy he ... but if, caught in some wild eddy of the stream, it disappears at once, so will the bark of his fortunes be engulphed in the whirlpool of adversity."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 84.
1883.—"The Dīvālī is celebrated with splendid effect at Benares.... At the approach of night small earthen lamps, fed with oil, are prepared by millions, and placed quite close together, so as to mark out every line of mansion, palace, temple, minaret, and dome in streaks of fire."—Monier Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India, 432.
DEWAUN, s. The chief meanings of this word in Anglo-Indian usage are:
(1) Under the Mahommedan Governments which preceded us, "the head financial minister, whether of the state or a province ... charged, in the latter, with the collection of the revenue, the remittance of it to the imperial treasury, and invested with extensive judicial powers in all civil and financial causes" (Wilson). It was in this sense that the grant of the Dewauny (q.v.) to the E. I. Company in 1765 became the foundation of the British Empire in India. (2) The prime minister of a native State. (3) The chief native officer of certain Government establishments, such as the Mint; or the native manager of a Zemindary. (4) (In Bengal) a native servant in confidential charge of the dealings of a house of business with natives, or of the affairs of a large domestic establishment. These meanings are perhaps all reducible to one conception, of which 'Steward' would be an appropriate expression. But the word has had many other ramifications of meaning, and has travelled far.
The Arabian dīwān is, according to Lane, an Arabicized word of Persian origin (though some hold it for pure Arabic), and is in original meaning nearly equivalent to Persian daftar (see DUFTER), i.e. a collection of written leaves or sheets (forming a book for registration); hence 'a register of accounts'; a 'register of soldiers or pensioners'; a 'register of the rights or dues of the State, or relating to the acts of government, the finances and the administration'; also any book, and especially a collection of the poems of some particular poet. It was also applied to signify 'an account'; then a 'writer of accounts'; a 'place of such writers of accounts'; also a 'council, court, or tribunal'; and in the present day, a 'long seat formed of a mattress laid along the wall of a room, with cushions, raised or on the floor'; or 'two or more of such seats.' Thus far (in this paragraph) we abstract from Lane.
The Arabian historian Bilāḍurī (c. 860) relates as to the first introduction of the dīwān that, when 'Omar was discussing with the people how to divide the enormous wealth derived from the conquests in his time, Walīd bin Hishām bin Moghaira said to the caliph, 'I have been in Syria, and saw that its kings make a dīwān; do thou the like.' So 'Omar accepted his advice, and sent for two men of the Persian tongue, and said to them: 'Write down the people according to their rank' (and corresponding pensions).[105]
We must observe that in the Mahommedan States of the Mediterranean the word dīwān became especially applied to the Custom-house, and thus passed into the Romance languages as aduana, douane, dogana, &c. Littré indeed avoids any decision as to the etymology of douane, &c. And Hyde (Note on Abr. Peritsol, in Syntagma Dissertt. i. 101) derives dogana from docân (i.e. P. dukān, 'officina, a shop'). But such passages as that below from Ibn Jubair, and the fact that, in the medieval Florentine treaties with the Mahommedan powers of Barbary and Egypt, the word dīwān in the Arabic texts constantly represents the dogana of the Italian, seem sufficient to settle the question (see Amari, Diplomi Arabi del Real Archivio, &c.; e.g. p. 104, and (Latin) p. 305, and in many other places).[106] The Spanish Dict. of Cobarruvias (1611) quotes Urrea as saying that "from the Arabic noun Diuanum, which signifies the house where the duties are collected, we form diuana, and thence adiuana, and lastly aduana."
At a later date the word was re-imported into Europe in the sense of a hall furnished with Turkish couches and cushions, as well as of a couch of this kind. Hence we get cigar-divans, et hoc genus omne. The application to certain collections of poems is noticed above. It seems to be especially applied to assemblages of short poems of homogeneous character. Thus the Odes of Horace, the Sonnets of Petrarch, the In Memoriam of Tennyson, answer to the character of Dīwān so used. Hence also Goethe took the title of his West-Östliche Diwan.
c. A.D. 636.—"... in the Caliphate of Omar the spoil of Syria and Persia began in ever-increasing volume to pour into the treasury of Medina, where it was distributed almost as soon as received. What was easy in small beginnings by equal sharing or discretionary preference, became now a heavy task.... At length, in the 2nd or 3rd year of his Caliphate, Omar determined that the distribution should be regulated on a fixed and systematic scale.... To carry out this vast design, a Register had to be drawn and kept up of every man, woman, and child, entitled to a stipend from the State.... The Register itself, as well as the office for its maintenance and for pensionary account, was called the Dewân or Department of the Exchequer."—Muir's Annals, &c., pp. 225-9.
As Minister, &c.
[1610.—"We propose to send you the copy hereof by the old scrivano of the Aduano."—Danvers, Letters, i. 51.
[1616.—"Sheak Isuph Dyvon of Amadavaz."—Foster, Letters, iv. 311.]
1690.—"Fearing miscarriage of ye Originall ffarcuttee [fārigh-khaṭṭī, Ar. 'a deed of release,' variously corrupted in Indian technical use] we have herewith Sent you a Coppy Attested by Hugly Cazee, hoping ye Duan may be Sattisfied therewith."—MS. Letter in India Office, from Job Charnock and others at Chuttanutte to Mr. Ch. Eyre at Ballasore.
c. 1718.—"Even the Divan of the Qhalissah Office, who is, properly speaking, the Minister of the finances, or at least the accomptant general, was become a mere cypher, or a body without a soul."—Seir Mutaqherin, i. 110.
1762.—"A letter from Dacca states that the Hon'ble Company's Dewan (Manikchand) died on the morning of this letter.... As they apprehend he has died worth a large sum of money which the Government's people (i.e. of the Nawāb) may be desirous to possess to the injury of his lawful heirs, they request the protection of the flag ... to the family of a man who has served the Company for upwards of 30 years with care and fidelity."—Ft. Wm. Cons., Nov. 29. In Long, 283.
1766.—"There then resided at his Court a Gentoo named Allum Chund, who had been many years Dewan to Soujah Khan, by whom he was much revered for his great age, wisdom, and faithful services."—Holwell, Hist. Events, i. 74.
1771.—"By our general address you will be informed that we have to be dissatisfied with the administration of Mahomet Reza Cawn, and will perceive the expediency of our divesting him of the rank and influence he holds as Naib Duan of the Kingdom of Bengal."—Court of Directors to W. Hastings, in Gleig, i. 121.
1783.—"The Committee, with the best intentions, best abilities, and steadiest of application, must after all be a tool in the hands of their Duan."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 74.
1834.—"His (Raja of Ulwar's) Dewanjee, Balmochun, who chanced to be in the neighbourhood, with 6 Risalas of horse ... was further ordered to go out and meet me."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 132.
[1861.—See quotation under AMEEN.]
In the following quotations the identity of dīwān and douane or dogana is shown more or less clearly.
A.D. 1178.—"The Moslem were ordered to disembark their goods (at Alexandria), and what remained of their stock of provisions; and on the shore were officers who took them in charge, and carried all that was landed to the Dīwān. They were called forward one by one; the property of each was brought out, and the Dīwān was straitened with the crowd. The search fell on every article, small or great; one thing got mixt up with another, and hands were thrust into the midst of the packages to discover if anything were concealed in them. Then, after this, an oath was administered to the owners that they had nothing more than had been found. Amid all this, in the confusion of hands and the greatness of the crowd many things went amissing. At length the passengers were dismissed after a scene of humiliation and great ignominy, for which we pray God to grant an ample recompense. But this, past doubt, is one of the things kept hidden from the great Sultan Salāh-ud-dīn, whose well-known justice and benevolence are such that, if he knew it, he would certainly abolish the practice" [viz. as regards Mecca pilgrims].[107]—Ibn Jubair, orig. in Wright's ed., p. 36.
c. 1340.—"Doana in all the cities of the Saracens, in Sicily, in Naples, and throughout the Kingdom of Apulia ... Dazio at Venice; Gabella throughout Tuscany; ... Costuma throughout the Island of England.... All these names mean duties which have to be paid for goods and wares and other things, imported to, or exported from, or passed through the countries and places detailed."—Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, see Cathay, &c., ii. 285-6.
c. 1348.—"They then order the skipper to state in detail all the goods that the vessel contains.... Then everybody lands, and the keepers of the custom-house (al-dīwān) sit and pass in review whatever one has."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 265.
The following medieval passage in one of our note-books remains a fragment without date or source:
(?).—"Multi quoque Saracenorum, qui vel in apothecis suis mercibus vendendis praeerunt, vel in Duanis fiscales...."
1440.—The Handbook of Giovanni da Uzzano, published along with Pegolotti by Pagnini (1765-66) has for custom-house Dovana, which corroborates the identity of Dogana with Dīwān.
A Council Hall:
1367.—"Hussyn, fearing for his life, came down and hid himself under the tower, but his enemies ... surrounded the mosque, and having found him, brought him to the (Dyvan-Khane) Council Chamber."—Mem. of Timūr, tr. by Stewart, p. 130.
1554.—"Utcunque sit, cum mane in Divanum (is concilii vt alias dixi locus est) imprudens omnium venisset...."—Busbequii Epistolae, ii. p. 138.
A place, fitted with mattresses, &c., to sit in:
1676.—"On the side that looks towards the River, there is a Divan, or a kind of out-jutting Balcony, where the King sits."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 49; [ed. Ball, i. 108].
[1785.—"It seems to have been intended for a Duan Konna, or eating room."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 393.]
A Collection of Poems:
1783.—"One (writer) died a few years ago at Benares, of the name of Souda, who composed a Dewan in Moors."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 105.
DEWAUNY, DEWANNY, &c., s. Properly, dīwānī; popularly, dewānī. The office of dīwān (Dewaun); and especially the right of receiving as dīwān the revenue of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, conferred upon the E. I. Company by the Great Mogul Shāh 'Ālam in 1765. Also used sometimes for the territory which was the subject of that grant.
1765.—(Lord Clive) "visited the Vezir, and having exchanged with him some sumptuous entertainments and curious and magnificent presents, he explained the project he had in his mind, and asked that the Company should be invested with the Divanship (no doubt in orig. Dīwānī) of the three provinces...."—Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 384.
1783.—(The opium monopoly) "is stated to have begun at Patna so early as the year 1761, but it received no considerable degree of strength until the year 1765; when the acquisition of the Duanne opened a wide field for all projects of this nature."—Report of a Committee on Affairs of India, in Burke's Life and Works, vi. 447.
DEWAUNY, DEWANNY, adj. Civil, as distinguished from Criminal; e.g. Dīwānī 'Adālat as opposite to Faujdāri Adālat. (See ADAWLUT). The use of Diwāni for civil as opposed to criminal is probably modern and Indian. For Kaempfer in his account of the Persian administration at the end of the 17th century, has: "Diwaen begì, id est, Supremus criminalis Judicii Dominus ... de latrociniis et homicidiis non modo in hâc Regiâ metropoli, verùm etiam in toto Regno disponendi facultatem habet."—Amoenit. Exot. 80.
DHALL, DOLL, s. Hind. dāl, a kind of pulse much used in India, both by natives as a kind of porridge, and by Europeans as an ingredient in kedgeree (q.v.), or to mix with rice as a breakfast dish. It is best represented in England by what are called 'split pease.' The proper dāl, which Wilson derives from the Skt. root dal, 'to divide' (and which thus corresponds in meaning also to 'split pease'), is, according to the same authority, Phaseolus aureus: but, be that as it may, the dāls most commonly in use are varieties of the shrubby plant Cajanus Indicus, Spreng., called in Hind. arhar, rahar, &c. It is not known where this is indigenous; [De Candolle thinks it probably a native of tropical Africa, introduced perhaps 3,000 years ago into India;] it is cultivated throughout India. The term is also applied occasionally to other pulses, such as mūng, urd, &c. (See MOONG, OORD.) It should also be noted that in its original sense dāl is not the name of a particular pea, but the generic name of pulses prepared for use by being broken in a hand-mill; though the peas named are those commonly used in Upper India in this way.
1673.—"At their coming up out of the Water they bestow the largess of Rice or Doll (an Indian Bean)."—Fryer, 101.
1690.—"Kitcheree ... made of Dol, that is, a small round Pea, and Rice boiled together, and is very strengthening, tho' not very savoury."—Ovington, 310.
1727.—"They have several species of Legumen, but those of Doll are most in use, for some Doll and Rice being mingled together and boiled, make Kitcheree."—A. Hamilton, i. 162; [ed. 1744].
1776.—"If a person hath bought the seeds of ... doll ... or such kinds of Grain, without Inspection, and in ten Days discovers any Defect in that Grain, he may return such Grain."—Halhed, Code, 178.
1778.—"... the essential articles of a Sepoy's diet, rice, doll (a species of pea), ghee (an indifferent kind of butter), &c., were not to be purchased."—Acc. of the Gallant Defence made at Mangalore.
1809.—"... dol, split country peas."—Maria Graham, 25.
[1813.—"Tuar (cytisus cajan, Lin.) ... is called Dohll...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 35.]
DHAWK, s. Hind. dhāk; also called palās. A small bushy tree, Butea frondosa (N. O. Leguminosae), which forms large tracts of jungle in the Punjab, and in many dry parts of India. Its deep orange flowers give a brilliant aspect to the jungle in the early part of the hot weather, and have suggested the occasional name of 'Flame of the Forest.' They are used for dyeing basanto, basantī, a fleeting yellow; and in preparing Holī (see HOOLY) powder. The second of the two Hindī words for this tree gave a name to the famous village of Plassy (Palāśī), and also to ancient Magadha or Behār as Palāśa or Parāśa, whence Parāśiya, a man of that region, which, if Gen. Cunningham's suggestion be accepted, was the name represented by the Prasii of Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian, and the Pharrasii of Curtius (Anc. Geog. of India, p. 454). [The derivation of the word from Skt. Prāchyās 'Inhabitants of the east country,' is supported by McCrindle, Ancient India, 365 seq. So the dhāk tree possibly gave its name to Dacca].
1761.—"The pioneers, agreeably to orders, dug a ditch according to custom, and placed along the brink of it an abattis of dhák trees, or whatever else they could find."—Saiyid Ghulām 'Ali, in Elliot, viii. 400.
DHOBY, DOBIE, s. A washerman; H. dhobī, [from dhonā, Skt. dhāv, 'to wash.'] In colloquial Anglo-Indian use all over India. A common H. proverb runs: Dhobī kā kuttā kā sā, na ghar kā na ghāṭ kā, i.e. "Like a Dhoby's dog belonging neither to the house nor to the river side." [Dhoby's itch is a troublesome cutaneous disease supposed to be communicated by clothes from the wash, and Dhoby's earth is a whitish-grey sandy efflorescence, found in many places, from which by boiling and the addition of quicklime an alkali of considerable strength is obtained.
[c. 1804.—"Dobes." See under DIRZEE].
DHOOLY, DOOLIE, s. A covered litter; Hind. ḍolī. It consists of a cot or frame, suspended by the four corners from a bamboo pole, and is carried by two or four men (see figure in Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, pl. vii. fig. 4). Ḍoli is from ḍolnā, 'to swing.' The word is also applied to the meat- (or milk-) safe, which is usually slung to a tree, or to a hook in the verandah. As it is lighter and cheaper than a palankin it costs less both to buy or hire and to carry, and is used by the poorer classes. It also forms the usual ambulance of the Indian army. Hence the familiar story of the orator in Parliament who, in celebrating a battle in India, spoke of the "ferocious Doolies rushing down from the mountain and carrying off the wounded"; a story which, to our regret, we have not been able to verify. [According to one account the words were used by Burke: "After a sanguinary engagement, the said Warren Hastings had actually ordered ferocious Doolys to seize upon the wounded" (2nd ser. Notes & Queries, iv. 367).
[But Burke knew too much of India to make this mistake. In the Calcutta Review (Dec. 1846, p. 286, footnote) Herbert Edwardes, writing on the first Sikh War, says: "It is not long since a member of the British Legislature, recounting the incidents of one of our Indian fights, informed his countrymen that 'the ferocious Dūlī' rushed from the hills and carried off the wounded soldiers."] Dūla occurs in Ibn Batuta, but the translators render 'palankin,' and do not notice the word.
c. 1343.—"The principal vehicle of the people (of Malabar) is a dūla, carried on the shoulders of slaves and hired men. Those who do not ride in a dūla, whoever they may be, go on foot."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 73.
c. 1590.—"The Kahárs or Pálkí-bearers. They form a class of foot servants peculiar to India. With their pálkís ... and dúlís, they walk so evenly that the man inside is not inconvenienced by any jolting."—Āīn, i. 254; [and see the account of the sukhāsan, ibid. ii. 122].
1609.—"He turned Moore, and bereaved his elder Brother of this holde by this stratageme. He invited him and his women to a Banket, which his Brother requiting with like inuitation of him and his, in steed of women he sends choice Souldiers well appointed, and close couered, two and two in a Dowle."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 435.
1662.—"The Rájah and the Phúkans travel in singhásans, and chiefs and rich people in dúlís, made in a most ridiculous way."—Mir Jumlah's Invasion of Asam, tr. by Blochmann, in J. As. Soc. Ben., xli., pt. I. 80.
1702.—"... un Douli, c'est une voiture moins honorable que le palanquin."—Lettres Edif. xi. 143.
c. 1760.—"Doolies are much of the same material as the andolas [see ANDOR]; but made of the meanest materials."—Grose, i. 155.
c. 1768.—"... leaving all his wounded ... on the field of battle, telling them to be of good cheer, for that he would send Doolies for them from Astara...."—H. of Hydur Naik, 226.
1774.—"If by a dooley, chairs, or any other contrivance they can be secured from the fatigues and hazards of the way, the expense is to be no objection."—Letter of W. Hastings, in Markham's Tibet, 18.
1785.—"You must despatch Doolies to Dhârwâr to bring back the wounded men."—Letters of Tippoo, 133.
1789.—"... doolies, or sick beds, which are a mean representation of a palanquin: the number attached to a corps is in the proportion of one to every ten men, with four bearers to each."—Munro, Narrative, 184.
1845.—"Head Qrs., Kurrachee, 27 Decr., 1845.
"The Governor desires that it may be made known to the Doolee-wallas and Camel-men, that no increase of wages shall be given to them. They are very highly paid. If any man deserts, the Governor will have him pursued by the police, and if caught he shall be hanged."—G. O. by Sir Charles Napier, 113.
1872.—"At last ... a woman arrived from Dargánagar with a dúlí and two bearers, for carrying Máláti."—Govinda Samanta, ii. 7.
1880.—"The consequence of holding that this would be a Trust enforceable in a Court of Law would be so monstrous that persons would be probably startled ... if it be a Trust, then every one of those persons in England or in India—from persons of the highest rank down to the lowest dhoolie-bearer, might file a bill for the administration of the Trust."—Ld. Justice James, Judgment on the Kirwee and Banda Prize Appeal, 13th April.
1883.—"I have great pleasure here in bearing my testimony to the courage and devotion of the Indian dhooly-bearers. I ... never knew them shrink from the dangers of the battle-field, or neglect or forsake a wounded European. I have several times seen one of these bearers killed and many of them disabled while carrying a wounded soldier out of action."—Surgeon-General Munro, C.B., Reminiscences of Mil. Service with the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, p. 193.
DHOON, s. Hind. dūn. A word in N. India specially applied to the flat valleys, parallel to the base of the Himālaya, and lying between the rise of that mountain mass and the low tertiary ranges known as the sub-Himālayan or Siwālik Hills (q.v.), or rather between the interior and exterior of these ranges. The best known of these valleys is the Dūn of Dehra, below Mussooree, often known as "the Dhoon"; a form of expression which we see by the second quotation to be old.
1526.—"In the language of Hindustân they call a Jûlga (or dale) Dûn. The finest running water in Hindustân is that in this Dûn."—Baber, 299.
1654-55.—"Khalilu-lla Khan ... having reached the Dún, which is a strip of country lying outside of Srínagar, 20 kos long and 5 broad, one extremity of its length being bounded by the river Jumna, and the other by the Ganges."—Sháh-Jahán-Náma, in Elliot, vii. 106.
1814.—"Me voici in the far-famed Dhoon, the Tempe of Asia.... The fort stands on the summit of an almost inaccessible mountain ... it will be a tough job to take it; but by the 1st proximo I think I shall have it, auspice Deo."—In Asiatic Journal, ii. 151; ext. of letter from Sir Rollo Gillespie before Kalanga, dated 29th Oct. He fell next day.
1879.—"The Sub-Himalayan Hills ... as a general rule ... consist of two ranges, separated by a broad flat valley, for which the name 'dūn' (Doon) has been adopted.... When the outer of these ranges is wanting, as is the case below Naini Tal and Darjiling, the whole geographical feature might escape notice, the inner range being confounded with the spurs of the mountains."—Manual of the Geology of India, 521.
DHOTY, s. Hind. dhotī. The loin-cloth worn by all the respectable Hindu castes of Upper India, wrapt round the body, the end being then passed between the legs and tucked in at the waist, so that a festoon of calico hangs down to either knee. [It is mentioned, not by name, by Arrian (Indika, 16) as "an under garment of cotton which reaches below the knee, half way to the ankle"; and the Orissa dhotī of 1200 years ago, as shown on the monuments, does not differ from the mode of the present time, save that men of rank wore a jewelled girdle with a pendant in front. (Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. 187).] The word duttee in old trade lists of cotton goods is possibly the same; [but at the present time a coarse cotton cloth woven by Dhers in Surat is known as Doti.]
[1609.—"Here is also a strong sort of cloth called Dhootie."—Danvers, Letters, i. 29.
[1614.—"20 corge of strong Dutties, such as may be fit for making and mending sails."—Forster, Letters, ii. 219.
[1615.—"200 peeces Dutts."—Cocks's Diary, i. 83.]
1622.—"Price of calicoes, duttees fixed."
* * * * *
"List of goods sold, including diamonds, pepper, bastas, (read baftas), duttees, and silks from Persia."—Court Minutes, &c., in Sainsbury, iii. 24.
1810.—"... a dotee or waist-cloth."—Williamson, V. M. i. 247.
1872.—"The human figure which was moving with rapid strides had no other clothing than a dhuti wrapped round the waist, and descending to the knee-joints."—Govinda Samanta, i. 8.
DHOW, DOW, s. The last seems the more correct, though not perhaps the more common. The term is common in Western India, and on various shores of the Arabian sea, and is used on the E. African coast for craft in general (see Burton, in J.R.G.S. xxix. 239); but in the mouths of Englishmen on the western seas of India it is applied specially to the old-fashioned vessel of Arab build, with a long grab stem, i.e. rising at a long slope from the water, and about as long as the keel, usually with one mast and lateen-rig. There are the lines of a dow, and a technical description, by Mr. Edie, in J. R. As. Soc., vol. i. p. 11. The slaving dow is described and illustrated in Capt. Colomb's Slave-catching in the Indian Ocean; see also Capt. W. F. Owen's Narrative (1833), p. 385, [i. 384 seq.]. Most people suppose the word to be Arabic, and it is in (Johnson's) Richardson (dāo) as an Arabic word. But no Arabic scholar whom we have consulted admits it to be genuine Arabic. Can it possibly have been taken from Pers. dav, 'running'? [The N.E.D. remarks that if Tava (in Ath. Nikitin, below) be the same, it would tend to localise the word at Ormus in the Persian Gulf.] Capt. Burton identifies it with the word zabra applied in the Roteiro of Vasco's Voyage (p. 37) to a native vessel at Mombasa. But zabra or zavra was apparently a Basque name for a kind of craft in Biscay (see s.v. Bluteau, and the Dicc. de la Lingua Castel., vol. vi. 1739). Dāo or Dāva is indeed in Molesworth's Mahr. Dict. as a word in that language, but this gives no assurance of origin. Anglo-Indians on the west coast usually employ dhow and buggalow interchangeably. The word is used on Lake V. Nyanza.
c. 1470.—"I shipped my horses in a Tava, and sailed across the Indian Sea in ten days to Moshkat."—Ath. Nikitin, p. 8, in India in XVth Cent.
" "So I imbarked in a tava, and settled to pay for my passage to Hormuz two pieces of gold."—Ibid. 30.
1785.—"A Dow, the property of Rutn Jee and Jeewun Doss, merchants of Muscat, having in these days been dismasted in a storm, came into Byte Koal (see BATCUL), a seaport belonging to the Sircar...."—Tippoo's Letters, 181.
1786.—"We want 10 shipwrights acquainted with the construction of Dows. Get them together and despatch them hither."—Tippoo to his Agent at Muskat, ibid. 234.
1810.—"Close to Calcutta, it is the busiest scene we can imagine; crowded with ships and boats of every form,—here a fine English East Indiaman, there a grab or a dow from Arabia."—Maria Graham, 142.
1814.—"The different names given to these ships (at Jedda), as Say, Seume, Merkeb, Sambouk [see SAMBOOK], Dow, denote their size; the latter only, being the largest, perform the voyage to India."—Burckhardt, Tr. in Arabia, 1829, 4to, p. 22.
1837.—"Two young princes ... nephews of the King of Hinzuan or Joanna ... came in their own dhow on a visit to the Government."—Smith, Life of Dr. J. Wilson, 253.
1844.—"I left the hospitable village of Takaungu in a small boat, called a 'Daw' by the Suahilis ... the smallest sea-going vessel."—Krapf, p. 117.
1865.—"The goods from Zanzibar (to the Seychelles) were shipped in a dhow, which ran across in the month of May; and this was, I believe, the first native craft that had ever made the passage."—Pelly, in J.R.G.S. xxxv. 234.
1873.—"If a pear be sharpened at the thin end, and then cut in half longitudinally, two models will have been made, resembling in all essential respects the ordinary slave dhow."—Colomb, 35.
" "Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters and on the Eastern Coast of Africa ... by Capt. G. L. Sulivan, R.N.," 1873.
1880.—"The third division are the Mozambiques or African slaves, who have been brought into the country from time immemorial by the Arab slave-trading dhows."—Sibree's Great African Island, 182.
1883.—"Dhau is a large vessel which is falling into disuse.... Their origin is in the Red Sea. The word is used vaguely, and is applied to baghlas (see BUGGALOW)."—Bombay Gazetteer, xiii. 717 seq.
DHURMSALLA, s. H. and Mahr. dharm-śālā, 'pious edifice'; a rest-house for wayfarers, corresponding to the S. Indian Choultry or Chuttrum (q.v.).
1826.—"We alighted at a durhmsallah where several horsemen were assembled."—Pandurang Hari, 254; [ed. 1873, ii. 66].
DHURNA, TO SIT, v. In H. dharnā denā or baiṭhnā, Skt. dhṛi, 'to hold.' A mode of extorting payment or compliance with a demand, effected by the complainant or creditor sitting at the debtor's door, and there remaining without tasting food till his demand shall be complied with, or (sometimes) by threatening to do himself some mortal violence if it be not complied with. Traces of this custom in some form are found in many parts of the world, and Sir H. Maine (see below) has quoted a remarkable example from the Irish Brehon Laws. There was a curious variety of the practice, in arrest for debt, current in S. India, which is described by Marco Polo and many later travellers (see M. P., 2nd ed., ii. 327, 335, [and for N. India, Crooke, Pop. Rel. and Folklore, ii. 42, seq.]). The practice of dharnā is made an offence under the Indian Penal Code. There is a systematic kind of dharnā practised by classes of beggars, e.g. in the Punjab by a class called Tasmīwālās, or 'strap-riggers,' who twist a leather strap round the neck, and throw themselves on the ground before a shop, until alms are given; [Dorīwālās, who threaten to hang themselves; Dandīwālās, who rattle sticks, and stand cursing till they get alms; Urimārs, who simply stand before a shop all day, and Gurzmārs and Chharimārs, who cut themselves with knives and spiked clubs] (see Ind. Antiq. i. 162, [Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, ed. 1863, p. 193 seq.]). It appears from Elphinstone (below) that the custom sometimes received the Ar. Pers. name of takāẓa, 'dunning' or 'importunity.'