1672.—Regarding the Cowle obtained from the Nabob of Golcondah for the Fort and Town of Chinapatnam. 11,000 Pagodas to be paid in full of all demands for the past, and in future Pagodas 1200 per annum rent, "and so to hold the Fort and Town free from any Avildar or Divan's People, or any other imposition for ever."—Fort St. George Consn., April 11, in Notes and Exts., No. i. 25.
1673.—"We landed at about Nine in the Morning, and were civilly treated by the Customer in his Choultry, till the Havildar could be acquainted of my arrival."—Fryer, 123.
[1680.—"Avaldar." See under JUNCAMEER.]
1696.—"... the havildar of St. Thomé and Pulecat."—Wheeler, i. 308.
[1763.—"Three avaldars (avaldares) or receivers."—India Office MSS. Conselho, Ultramarino, vol. i.
[1773.—"One or two Hircars, one Havildah, and a company of sepoys...."—Ives, 67.]
1824.—"Curreem Musseeh was, I believe, a havildar in the Company's army, and his sword and sash were still hung up, with a not unpleasing vanity, over the desk where he now presided as catechist."—Heber, i. 149.
HAVILDAR'S GUARD, s. There is a common way of cooking the fry of fresh-water fish (a little larger than whitebait) as a breakfast dish, by frying them in rows of a dozen or so, spitted on a small skewer. On the Bombay side this dish is known by the whimsical name in question.
HAZREE, s. This word is commonly used in Anglo-Indian households in the Bengal Presidency for 'breakfast.' It is not clear how it got this meaning. [The earlier sense was religious, as below.] It is properly ḥāẓirī, 'muster,' from the Ar. ḥāẓir, 'ready or present.' (See CHOTA-HAZRY.)
[1832.—"The Sheeahs prepare hazree (breakfast) in the name of his holiness Abbas Allee Ullum-burdar, Hosein's step-brother; i.e. they cook polaoo, rotee, curries, &c., and distribute them."—Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, ed. 1863, p. 183.]
HENDRY KENDRY, n.p. Two islands off the coast of the Concan, about 7 m. south of the entrance to Bombay Harbour, and now belonging to Kolāba District. The names, according to Ph. Anderson, are Haneri and Khaneri; in the Admy. chart they are Oonari, and Khundari. They are also variously written (the one) Hundry, Ondera, Hunarey, Henery, and (the other) Kundra, Cundry, Cunarey, Kenery. The real names are given in the Bombay Gazetteer as Underi and Khanderi. Both islands were piratically occupied as late as the beginning of the 19th century. Khanderi passed to us in 1818 as part of the Peshwa's territory; Underi lapsed in 1840. [Sir G. Birdwood (Rep. on Old Records, 83), describing the "Consultations" of 1679, writes: "At page 69, notice of 'Sevagee' fortifying 'Hendry Kendry,' the twin islets, now called Henery (i.e. Vondarī, 'Mouse-like,' Kenery (i.e. Khandarī), i.e. 'Sacred to Khandaroo.'" The former is thus derived from Skt. undaru, unduru, 'a rat'; the latter from Mahr. Khanḍerāv, 'Lord of the Sword,' a form of Siva.]
1673.—"These islands are in number seven; viz. Bombaim, Canorein, Trumbay, Elephanto, the Putachoes, Munchumbay, and Kerenjau, with the Rock of Henry Kenry...."—Fryer, 61.
1681.—"Although we have formerly wrote you that we will have no war for Hendry Kendry, yet all war is so contrary to our constitution, as well as our interest, that we cannot too often inculcate to you our aversion thereunto."—Court of Directors to Surat, quoted in Anderson's Western India, p. 175.
1727.—"... four Leagues south of Bombay, are two small Islands Undra, and Cundra. The first has a Fortress belonging to the Sedee, and the other is fortified by the Sevajee, and is now in the Hands of Connajee Angria."—A. Hamilton, i. 243; [ed. 1744].
c. 1760.—"At the harbor's mouth lie two small fortified rocks, called Henara and Canara.... These were formerly in the hands of Angria, and the Siddees, or Moors, which last have long been dispossest of them."—Grose, i. 58.
HERBED, s. A Parsee priest, not specially engaged in priestly duties. Pers. hirbad, from Pahlavi aêrpat.
1630.—"The Herbood or ordinary Churchman."—Lord's Display, ch. viii.
HICKMAT, s. Ar.—H. ḥikmat; an ingenious device or contrivance. (See under HAKIM.)
1838.—"The house has been roofed in, and my relative has come up from Meerut, to have the slates put on after some peculiar hikmat of his own."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 240.
HIDGELEE, n.p. The tract so called was under native rule a chakla, or district, of Orissa, and under our rule formerly a zilla of Bengal; but now it is a part of the Midnapūr Zilla, of which it constitutes the S.E. portion, viz. the low coast lands on the west side of the Hoogly estuary, and below the junction of the Rūpnārāyan. The name is properly Hijilī; but it has gone through many strange phases in European records.
1553.—"The first of these rivers (from the E. side of the Ghauts) rises from two sources to the east of Chaul, about 15 leagues distant, and in an altitude of 18 to 19 degrees. The river from the most northerly of these sources is called Crusna, and the more southerly Benkora, and when they combine they are called Ganga: and this river discharges into the illustrious stream of the Ganges between the two places called Angeli and Picholda in about 22 degrees."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1586.—"An haven which is called Angeli in the Country of Orixa."—Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 389.
1686.—"Chanock, on the 15th December (1686) ... burned and destroyed all the magazines of salt, and granaries of rice, which he found in the way between Hughley and the island of Ingelee."—Orme (reprint), ii. 12.
1726.—"Hingeli."—Valentijn, v. 158.
1727.—... inhabited by Fishers, as are also Ingellie and Kidgerie (see KEDGEREE), two neighbouring Islands on the West Side of the Mouth of the Ganges."—A. Hamilton, i. 275; [ed. 1744, ii. 2].
1758.—In apprehension of a French Fleet the Select Committee at Fort William recommend: "That the pagoda at Ingelie should be washed black, the great tree at the place cut down, and the buoys removed."—In Long, 153.
1784.—"Ships laying at Kedgeree, Ingellee, or any other parts of the great River."—In Seton-Karr, i. 37.
HILSA, s. Hind. hilsā, Skt. ilīśa, illiśa; a rich and savoury fish of the shad kind (Clupea ilisha, Day), called in books the 'sable-fish' (a name, from the Port. savel, quite obsolete in India) and on the Indus pulla (palla). The large shad which of late has been commonly sold by London fishmongers in the beginning of summer, is very near the hilsa, but not so rich. The hilsa is a sea-fish, ascending the river to spawn, and is taken as high as Delhi on the Jumna, as high as Mandalay on the Irawadi (Day). It is also taken in the Guzerat rivers, though not in the short and shallow streams of the Concan, nor in the Deccan rivers, from which it seems to be excluded by the rocky obstructions. It is the special fish of Sind under the name of palla, and monopolizes the name of fish, just as salmon does on the Scotch rivers (Dr. Macdonald's Acct. of Bombay Fisheries, 1883).
1539.—"... A little Island, called Apofingua (Ape-Fingan) ... inhabited by poor people who live by the fishing of shads (que vive de la pescaria dos saveis)."—Pinto (orig. cap. xviii.), Cogan, p. 22.
1613.—"Na quella costa marittima occidental de Viontana (Ujong-Tana, Malay Peninsula) habitavão Saletes pescadores que não tinhão outro tratto ... salvo de sua pescarya de saveis, donde so aproveitarão das ovas chamado Turabos passados por salmeura."—Eredia de Godinho, 22. [On this Mr. Skeat points out that "Saletes pescadores" must mean "Fishermen of the Straits" (Mal. selat, "straits"); and when he calls them "Turabos" he is trying to reproduce the Malay name of this fish, terubok (pron. trubo).]
1810.—"The hilsah (or sable-fish) seems to be midway between a mackerel and a salmon."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 154-5.
1813.—Forbes calls it the sable or salmon-fish, and says "it a little resembles the European fish (salmon) from which it is named."—Or. Mem. i. 53; [2nd ed. i. 36].
1824.—"The fishery, we were told by these people, was of the 'Hilsa' or 'Sable-fish.'"—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 81.
HIMALÝA, n.p. This is the common pronunciation of the name of the great range
"Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,"
properly Himālăya, 'the Abode of Snow'; also called Himavat, 'the Snowy'; Himagiri and Himaśaila; Himādri, Himakūta, &c., from various forms of which the ancients made Imaus, Emōdus, &c. Pliny had got somewhere the true meaning of the name: "... a montibus Hemodis, quorum promontorium Imaus vocatur nivosum significante ..." (vi. 17). We do not know how far back the use of the modern name is to be found. [The references in early Hindu literature are collected by Atkinson (Himalayan Gazetteer, ii. 273 seqq.).] We do not find it in Baber, who gives Siwālak as the Indian name of the mountains (see SIWALIK). The oldest occurrence we know of is in the Āīn, which gives in the Geographical Tables, under the Third Climate, Koh-i-Himālah (orig. ii. 36); [ed. Jarrett, iii. 69]). This is disguised in Gladwin's version by a wrong reading into Kerdehmaleh (ed. 1800, ii. 367).[143] This form (Himmaleh) is used by Major Rennell, but hardly as if it was yet a familiar term. In Elphinstone's Letters Himāleh or some other spelling of that form is always used (see below). When we get to Bishop Heber we find Himalaya, the established English form.
1822.—"What pleases me most is the contrast between your present enjoyment, and your former sickness and despondency. Depend upon it England will turn out as well as Hemaleh."—Elphinstone to Major Close, in Life, ii. 139; see also i. 336, where it is written Himalleh.
HINDEE, s. This is the Pers. adjective form from Hind, 'India,' and illustration of its use for a native of India will be found under HINDOO. By Europeans it is most commonly used for those dialects of Hindustani speech which are less modified by P. vocables than the usual Hindustani, and which are spoken by the rural population of the N.W. Provinces and its outskirts. The earliest literary work in Hindi is the great poem of Chand Bardai (c. 1200), which records the deeds of Prithirāja, the last Hindu sovereign of Delhi. [On this literature see Dr. G. A. Grierson, The Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustān, in J.A.S.B. Part I., 1888.] The term Hinduwī appears to have been formerly used, in the Madras Presidency, for the Marāṭhī language. (See a note in Sir A. Arbuthnot's ed. of Munro's Minutes, i. 133.)
HINDKĪ, HINDEKĪ, n.p. This modification of the name is applied to people of Indian descent, but converted to Islam, on the Peshawar frontier, and scattered over other parts of Afghanistan. They do the banking business, and hold a large part of the trade in their hands.
[1842.—"The inhabitants of Peshawer are of Indian origin, but speak Pushtoo as well as Hindkee."—Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 74.]
HINDOO, n.p. P. Hindū. A person of Indian religion and race. This is a term derived from the use of the Mahommedan conquerors (see under INDIA). The word in this form is Persian; Hindī is that used in Arabic, e.g.
c. 940.—"An inhabitant of Mansūra in Sind, among the most illustrious and powerful of that city ... had brought up a young Indian or Sindian slave (Hindī aw Sindī)."—Maṣ'ūdī, vi. 264.
In the following quotation from a writer in Persian observe the distinction made between Hindū and Hindī:
c. 1290.—"Whatever live Hindú fell into the King's hands was pounded into bits under the feet of elephants. The Musalmáns, who were Hindís (country born), had their lives spared."—Amīr Khosrū, in Elliot, iii. 539.
1563.—"... moreover if people of Arabia or Persia would ask of the men of this country whether they are Moors or Gentoos, they ask in these words: 'Art thou Mosalman or Indu?'"—Garcia, f. 137b.
1653.—"Les Indous gardent soigneusement dans leurs Pagodes les Reliques de Ram, Schita (Sita), et les autres personnes illustres de l'antiquité."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 191.
Hindu is often used on the Peshawar frontier as synonymous with bunya (see under BANYAN). A soldier (of the tribes) will say: 'I am going to the Hindu,' i.e. to the bunya of the company.
HINDOO KOOSH, n.p. Hindū-Kūsh; a term applied by our geographers to the whole of the Alpine range which separates the basins of the Kabul River and the Helmand from that of the Oxus. It is, as Rennell points out, properly that part of the range immediately north of Kabul, the Caucasus of the historians of Alexander, who crossed and recrossed it somewhere not far from the longitude of that city. The real origin of the name is not known; [the most plausible explanation is perhaps that it is a corruption of Indicus Caucasus]. It is, as far as we know, first used in literature by Ibn Batuta, and the explanation of the name which he gives, however doubtful, is still popular. The name has been by some later writers modified into Hindu Koh (mountain), but this is factitious, and throws no light on the origin of the name.
c. 1334.—"Another motive for our stoppage was the fear of snow; for there is midway on the road a mountain called Hindū-Kūsh, i.e. 'the Hindu-Killer,' because so many of the slaves, male and female, brought from India, die in the passage of this mountain, owing to the severe cold and quantity of snow."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 84.
1504.—"The country of Kâbul is very strong, and of difficult access.... Between Balkh, Kundez, and Badakshân on the one side, and Kâbul on the other, is interposed the mountain of Hindû-kûsh, the passes over which are seven in number."—Baber, p. 139.
1548.—"From this place marched, and entered the mountains called Hindū-Kush."—Mem. of Emp. Humayun, 89.
" "It was therefore determined to invade Badakhshan.... The Emperor, passing over the heel of the Hindū-Kush, encamped at Shergirán."—Tabakāt-i-Akbarī, in Elliot, v. 223.
1753.—"Les montagnes qui donnent naissance à l'Indus, et à plusieurs des rivières qu'il reçoit, se nomment Hendou Kesh, et c'est l'histoire de Timur qui m'instruit de cette denomination. Elle est composée du nom d'Hendou ou Hind, qui désigne l'Inde ... et de kush ou kesh ... que je remarque être propre à diverses montagnes."—D'Anville, p. 16.
1793.—"The term Hindoo-Kho, or Hindoo-Kush, is not applied to the ridge throughout its full extent; but seems confined to that part of it which forms the N.W. boundary of Cabul; and this is the Indian Caucasus of Alexander."—Rennell, Mem. 3rd ed. 150.
1817.—
"... those
Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows
Of Hindoo Koosh, in stormy freedom bred."—Mokanna.
HINDOSTAN, n.p. Pers. Hindūstān. (a) 'The country of the Hindūs,' India. In modern native parlance this word indicates distinctively (b) India north of the Nerbudda, and exclusive of Bengal and Behar. The latter provinces are regarded as pūrb (see POORUB), and all south of the Nerbudda as Dakhan (see DECCAN). But the word is used in older Mahommedan authors just as it is used in English school-books and atlases, viz. as (a) the equivalent of India Proper. Thus Baber says of Hindustān: "On the East, the South, and the West it is bounded by the Ocean" (310).
a.—
1553.—"... and so the Persian nation adjacent to it give it as at present its proper name that of Indostān."—Barros, I. iv. 7.
1563.—"... and common usage in Persia, and Coraçone, and Arabia, and Turkey, calls this country Industam ... for istām is as much as to say 'region,' and indu 'India.'"—Garcia, f. 137b.
1663.—"And thus it came to pass that the Persians called it Indostan."—Faria y Sousa, i. 33.
1665.—"La derniere parti est la plus connüe: c'est celle que l'on appelle Indostan, et dont les bornes naturelles au Couchant et au Levant, sont le Gange et l'Indus."—Thevenot, v. 9.
1672.—"It has been from old time divided into two parts, i.e. the Eastern, which is India beyond the Ganges, and the Western India within the Ganges, now called Indostan."—Baldaeus, 1.
1770.—"By Indostan is properly meant a country lying between two celebrated rivers, the Indus and the Ganges.... A ridge of mountains runs across this long tract from north to south, and dividing it into two equal parts, extends as far as Cape Comorin."—Raynal (tr.), i. 34.
1783.—"In Macassar Indostan is called Neegree Telinga."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 82.
b.—
1803.—"I feared that the dawk direct through Hindostan would have been stopped."—Wellington, ed. 1837, ii. 209.
1824.—"One of my servants called out to them,—'Aha! dandee folk, take care! You are now in Hindostan! The people of this country know well how to fight, and are not afraid.'"—Heber, i. 124. See also pp. 268, 269.
In the following stanza of the good bishop's the application is apparently the same; but the accentuation is excruciating—'Hindóstan,' as if rhyming to 'Boston.'
1824.—
"Then on! then on! where duty leads,
My course be onward still,
O'er broad Hindostan's sultry meads,
Or bleak Almora's hill."—Ibid. 113.
1884.—"It may be as well to state that Mr. H. G. Keene's forthcoming History of Hindustan ... will be limited in its scope to the strict meaning of the word 'Hindustan' = India north of the Deccan."—Academy, April 26, p. 294.
HINDOSTANEE, s. Hindūstānī, properly an adjective, but used substantively in two senses, viz. (a) a native of Hindustān, and (b) (Hindūstānī zabān) 'the language of that country,' but in fact the language of the Mahommedans of Upper India, and eventually of the Mahommedans of the Deccan, developed out of the Hindi dialect of the Doab chiefly, and of the territory round Agra and Delhi, with a mixture of Persian vocables and phrases, and a readiness to adopt other foreign words. It is also called Oordoo, i.e. the language of the Urdū ('Horde') or Camp. This language was for a long time a kind of Mahommedan lingua franca over all India, and still possesses that character over a large part of the country, and among certain classes. Even in Madras, where it least prevails, it is still recognised in native regiments as the language of intercourse between officers and men. Old-fashioned Anglo-Indians used to call it the Moors (q.v.).
a.—
1653.—(applied to a native.) "Indistanni est vn Mahometan noir des Indes, ce nom est composé de Indou, Indien, et stan, habitation."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 543.
b.—
1616.—"After this he (Tom Coryate) got a great mastery in the Indostan, or more vulgar language; there was a woman, a landress, belonging to my Lord Embassador's house, who had such a freedom and liberty of speech, that she would sometimes scould, brawl, and rail from the sun-rising to the sun-set; one day he undertook her in her own language. And by eight of the clock he so silenced her, that she had not one word more to speak."—Terry, Extracts relating to T. C.
1673.—"The Language at Court is Persian, that commonly spoke is Indostan (for which they have no proper Character, the written Language being called Banyan), which is a mixture of Persian and Sclavonian, as are all the dialects of India."—Fryer, 201. This intelligent traveller's reference to Sclavonian is remarkable, and shows a notable perspicacity, which would have delighted the late Lord Strangford, had he noticed the passage.
1677.—In Court's letter of 12th Dec. to Ft. St. Geo. they renew the offer of a reward of £20, for proficiency in the Gentoo or Indostan languages, and sanction a reward of £10 each for proficiency in the Persian language, "and that fit persons to teach the said language be entertained."—Notes and Exts., No. i. 22.
1685.—"... so applyed myself to a Portuguese mariner who spoke Indostan (ye current language of all these Islands) [Maldives]."—Hedges, Diary, March 9; [Hak. Soc. i. 191].
1697.—"Questions addressed to Khodja Movaad, Ambassador from Abyssinia.
* * * * *
4.—"What language he, in his audience made use of?
"The Hindustani language (Hindoestanze taal), which the late Hon. Paulus de Roo, then Secretary of their Excellencies the High Government of Batavia, interpreted."—Valentijn, iv. 327.
[1699.—"He is expert in the Hindorstand or Moores Language."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxvii.]
1726.—"The language here is Hindustans or Moors (so 'tis called there), though he who can't speak any Arabic and Persian passes for an ignoramus."—Valentijn, Chor. i. 37.
1727.—"This Persian ... and I, were discoursing one Day of my Affairs in the Industan Language, which is the established Language spoken in the Mogul's large Dominions."—A. Hamilton, ii. 183; [ed. 1744, ii. 182].
1745.—"Benjamini Schulzii Missionarii Evangelici, Grammatica Hindostanica ... Edidit, et de suscipiendâ barbaricarum linguarum culturâ praefatus est D. Jo. Henr. Callenberg, Halae Saxoniae."—Title from Catalogue of M. Garcin de Tassy's Books, 1879. This is the earliest we have heard of.
1763.—"Two of the Council of Pondicherry went to the camp, one of them was well versed in the Indostan and Persic languages, which are the only tongues used in the Courts of the Mahomedan Princes."—Orme, i. 144 (ed. 1803).
1772.—"Manuscripts have indeed been handed about, ill spelt, with a confused mixture of Persian, Indostans, and Bengals."—Preface to Hadley's Grammar, xi. (See under MOORS.)
1777.—"Alphabetum Brammhanicum seu Indostanum."—Romae.
1778.—"Grammatica Indostana—A mais Vulgar—Que se practica no Imperio do gram Mogol—Offerecida—Aos muitos Reverendos—Padres Missionarios—Do dito Imperio. Em Roma MDCCLXXVIII—Na Estamperia da Sagrada Congregação—de Propaganda Fide."—(Title transcribed.) There is a reprint of this (apparently) of 1865, in the Catalogue of Garcin de Tassy's books.
c. 1830.—"Cet ignoble patois d'Hindoustani, qui ne servira jamais à rien quand je serai retourné en Europe, est difficile."—V. Jacquemont, Correspondance, i. 95.
1844.—"Hd. Quarters, Kurrachee, 12th February, 1844. The Governor unfortunately does not understand Hindoostanee, nor Persian, nor Mahratta, nor any other eastern dialect. He therefore will feel particularly obliged to Collectors, sub-Collectors, and officers writing the proceedings of Courts-Martial, and all Staff Officers, to indite their various papers in English, larded with as small a portion of the to him unknown tongues as they conveniently can, instead of those he generally receives—namely, papers written in Hindostanee larded with occasional words in English.
"Any Indent made for English Dictionaries shall be duly attended to, if such be in the stores at Kurrachee; if not, gentlemen who have forgotten the vulgar tongue are requested to procure the requisite assistance from England."—GG. OO., by Sir Charles Napier, 85.
[Compare the following:
[1617.—(In answer to a letter from the Court not now extant). "Wee have forbidden the severall Factoryes from wrighting words in this languadge and refrayned itt our selues, though in bookes of Coppies wee feare there are many which by wante of tyme for perusall wee cannot rectifie or expresse."—Surat Factors to Court, February 26, 1617. (I.O. Records: O. C., No. 450.)]
1856.—
"... they sound strange
As Hindostanee to an Ind-born man
Accustomed many years to English speech."
E. B. Browning, Aurora Leigh.
HING, s. Asafoetida. Skt. hingu, Hind. hīng, Dakh. hīngu. A repulsively smelling gum-resin which forms a favourite Hindu condiment, and is used also by Europeans in Western and Southern India as an ingredient in certain cakes eaten with curry. (See POPPER-CAKE). This product affords a curious example of the uncertainty which sometimes besets the origin of drugs which are the objects even of a large traffic. Hanbury and Flückiger, whilst describing Falconer's Narthex Asafoetida (Ferula Narthex, Boiss.) and Scorodosma foetidum, Bunge; (F. asafoetida, Boiss.) two umbelliferous plants, both cited as the source of this drug, say that neither has been proved to furnish the asafoetida of commerce. Yet the plant producing it has been described and drawn by Kaempfer, who saw the gum-resin collected in the Persian Province of Lāristān (near the eastern shore of the P. Gulf); and in recent years (1857) Surgeon-Major Bellew has described the collection of the drug near Kandahar. Asafoetida has been identified with the σίλφιον or laserpitium of the ancients. The substance is probably yielded not only by the species mentioned above, but by other allied plants, e.g. Ferula Jaeschkiana, Vatke, of Kashmīr and Turkistan. The hing of the Bombay market is the produce of F. alliacea, Boiss. [See Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 328 seqq.]
c. 645.—"This kingdom of Tsao-kiu-tcha (Tsāukūta?) has about 7000 li of compass,—the compass of the capital called Ho-sí-na (Ghazna) is 30 li.... The soil is favourable to the plant Yo-Kin (Curcuma, or turmeric) and to that called Hing-kiu."—Pèlerins Boudd., iii. 187.
1563.—"A Portuguese in Bisnagar had a horse of great value, but which exhibited a deal of flatulence, and on that account the King would not buy it. The Portuguese cured it by giving it this ymgu mixt with flour: the King then bought it, finding it thoroughly well, and asked him how he had cured it. When the man said it was with ymgu, the King replied: ''Tis nothing then to marvel at, for you have given it to eat the food of the gods' (or, as the poets say, nectar). Whereupon the Portuguese made answer sotto voce and in Portuguese: 'Better call it the food of the devils!'"—Garcia, f. 21b. The Germans do worse than this Portuguese, for they call the drug Teufels dreck, i.e. diaboli non cibus sed stercus!
1586.—"I went from Agra to Satagam (see CHITTAGONG) in Bengale in the companie of one hundred and four score Boates, laden with Salt, Opium, Hinge, Lead, Carpets, and divers other commodities down the River Jemena."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 386.
1611.—"In the Kingdom of Gujarat and Cambaya, the natives put in all their food Ingu, which is Assafetida."—Teixeira, Relaciones, 29.
1631.—"... ut totas aedas foetore replerent, qui insuetis vix tolerandus esset. Quod Javani et Malaii et caeteri Indiarum incolae negabant se quicquam odoratius naribus unquam percepisse. Apud hos Hin his succus nominatur."—Jac. Bontii, lib. iv. p. 41.
1638.—"Le Hingh, que nos droguistes et apoticaires appellent Assa foetida, vient la plus part de Perse, mais celle que la Province d'Vtrad (?) produit dans les Indes est bien meilleur."—Mandelslo, 230.
1673.—"In this Country Assa Foetida is gathered at a place called Descoon; some deliver it to be the Juice of a Cane or Reed inspissated; others, of a Tree wounded: It differs much from the stinking Stuff called Hing, it being of the Province of Carmania; this latter is that the Indians perfume themselves with, mixing it in all their Pulse, and make it up in Wafers to correct the Windiness of their Food."—Fryer, 239.
1689.—"The Natives at Suratt are much taken with Assa Foetida, which they call Hin, and mix a little with the Cakes that they eat."—Ovington, 397.
1712.—"... substantiam obtinet ponderosam, instar rapae solidam candidissimamque, plenam succi pinguis, albissimi, foetidissimi, porraceo odore nares horridé ferientis; qui ex eâ collectus, Persis Indisque Hingh, Europaeis Asa foetida appellatur."—Eng. Kaempfer Amoen. Exotic. 537.
1726.—"Hing or Assa Foetida, otherwise called Devil's-dung (Duivelsdrek)."—Valentijn, iv. 146.
1857.—"Whilst riding in the plain to the N.E. of the city (Candahar) we noticed several assafœtida plants. The assafœtida, called hang or hing by the natives, grows wild in the sandy or gravelly plains that form the western part of Afghanistan. It is never cultivated, but its peculiar gum-resin is collected from the plants on the deserts where they grow. The produce is for the most part exported to Hindustan."—Bellew, Journal of a Pol. Mission, &c., p. 270.
HIRAVA, n.p. Malayāl. Iraya. The name of a very low caste in Malabar. [The Iraya form one section of the Cherumar, and are of slightly higher social standing than the Pulayar (see POLEA). "Their name is derived from the fact that they are allowed to come only as far as the eaves (ira) of their employers' houses." (Logan, Malabar, i. 148.)]
1510.—"La sexta sorte (de' Gentili) se chiamão Hirava, e questi seminano e raccoglieno il riso."—Varthema (ed. 1517, f. 43v).
[HIRRAWEN, s. The Musulman pilgrim dress; a corruption of the Ar. iḥrām. Burton writes: "Al-Iḥrām, literally meaning 'prohibition' or 'making unlawful,' equivalent to our 'mortification,' is applied to the ceremony of the toilette, and also to the dress itself. The vulgar pronounce the word 'herām,' or 'l'ehrām.' It is opposed to ihlāl, 'making lawful,' or 'returning to laical life.' The further from Mecca it is assumed, provided that it be during the three months of Hajj, the greater is the religious merit of the pilgrim; consequently some come from India and Egypt in the dangerous attire" (Pilgrimage, ed. 1893, ii. 138, note).
[1813.—"... the ceremonies and penances mentioned by Pitts, when the hajes, or pilgrims, enter into Hirrawen, a ceremony from which the females are exempted; but the men, taking off all their clothes, cover themselves with two hirrawens or large white wrappers...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 101, 2nd ed.]
HOBSON-JOBSON, s. A native festal excitement; a tamāsha (see TUMASHA); but especially the Moharram ceremonies. This phrase may be taken as a typical one of the most highly assimilated class of Anglo-Indian argot, and we have ventured to borrow from it a concise alternative title for this Glossary. It is peculiar to the British soldier and his surroundings, with whom it probably originated, and with whom it is by no means obsolete, as we once supposed. My friend Major John Trotter tells me that he has repeatedly heard it used by British soldiers in the Punjab; and has heard it also from a regimental Moonshee. It is in fact an Anglo-Saxon version of the wailings of the Mahommedans as they beat their breasts in the procession of the Moharram—"Yā Hasan! Yā Hosain!" It is to be remembered that these observances are in India by no means confined to Shī'as. Except at Lucknow and Murshīdābād, the great majority of Mahommedans in that country are professed Sunnis. Yet here is a statement of the facts from an unexceptionable authority:
"The commonalty of the Mussalmans, and especially the women, have more regard for the memory of Hasan and Husein, than for that of Muhammad and his khalifs. The heresy of making Ta'ziyas (see TAZEEA) on the anniversary of the two latter imáms, is most common throughout India: so much so that opposition to it is ascribed by the ignorant to blasphemy. This example is followed by many of the Hindus, especially the Mahrattas. The Muharram is celebrated throughout the Dekhan and Malwa, with greater enthusiasm than in other parts of India. Grand preparations are made in every town on the occasion, as if for a festival of rejoicing, rather than of observing the rites of mourning, as they ought. The observance of this custom has so strong a hold on the mind of the commonalty of the Mussulmans that they believe Muhammadanism to depend merely on keeping the memory of the imáms in the above manner."—Mīr Shahāmat 'Ali, in J. R. As. Soc. xiii. 369.
We find no literary quotation to exemplify the phrase as it stands. [But see those from the Orient. Sporting Mag. and Nineteenth Century below.] Those which follow show it in the process of evolution:
1618.—"... e particolarmente delle donne che, battendosi il petto e facendo gesti di grandissima compassione replicano spesso con gran dolore quegli ultimi versi di certi loro cantici: Vah Hussein! sciah Hussein!"—P. della Valle, i. 552.
c. 1630.—"Nine dayes they wander up and downe (shaving all that while neither head nor beard, nor seeming joyfull), incessantly calling out Hussan, Huṣsan! in a melancholy note, so long, so fiercely, that many can neither howle longer, nor for a month's space recover their voices."—Sir T. Herbert, 261.
1653.—"... ils dressent dans les rues des Sepulchres de pierres, qu'ils couronnent de Lampes ardentes, et les soirs ils y vont dancer et sauter crians Hussan, Houssain, Houssain, Hassan...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 144.
c. 1665.—"... ainsi j'eus tout le loisir dont j'eus besoin pour y voir celebrer la Fête de Hussein Fils d'Aly.... Les Mores de Golconde le celebrent avec encore beaucoup plus de folies qu'en Perse ... d'autres font des dances en rond, tenant des épées nües la pointe en haut, qu'ils touchent les unes contre les autres, en criant de toute leur force Hussein."—Thevenot, v. 320.
1673.—"About this time the Moors solemnize the Exequies of Hosseen Gosseen, a time of ten days Mourning for two Unfortunate Champions of theirs."—Fryer, p. 108.
" "On the Days of their Feasts and Jubilees, Gladiators were approved and licensed; but feeling afterwards the Evils that attended that Liberty, which was chiefly used in their Hossy Gossy, any private Grudge being then openly revenged: it never was forbid, but it passed into an Edict by the following King, that it should be lawfull to Kill any found with Naked Swords in that Solemnity."—Ibid. 357.
[1710.—"And they sing around them Saucem Saucem."—Oriente Conquistado, vol. ii.; Conquista, i. Div. 2, sec. 59.]
1720.—"Under these promising circumstances the time came round for the Mussulman feast called Hossein Jossen ... better known as the Mohurrum."—In Wheeler, ii. 347.
1726.—"In their month Moharram they have a season of mourning for the two brothers Hassan and Hossein.... They name this mourning-time in Arabic Ashur, or the 10 days; but the Hollanders call it Jaksom Baksom."—Valentijn, Choro. 107.
1763.—"It was the 14th of November, and the festival which commemorates the murder of the brothers Hassein and Jassein happened to fall out at this time."—Orme, i. 193.
[1773.—"The Moors likewise are not without their feasts and processions ... particularly of their Hassan Hassan...."—Ives, 28.
[1829.—"Them paper boxes are purty looking consarns, but then the folks makes sich a noise, firing and troompeting and shouting Hobson Jobson, Hobson Jobson."—Oriental Sporting Mag., reprint 1873, i. 129.
[1830.—"The ceremony of Husen Hasen ... here passes by almost without notice."—Raffles, Hist. Java, 2nd ed. ii. 4.]
1832.—"... they kindle fires in these pits every evening during the festival; and the ignorant, old as well as young, amuse themselves in fencing across them with sticks or swords; or only in running and playing round them, calling out, Ya Allee! Ya Allee! ... Shah Hussun! Shah Hussun! ... Shah Hosein! Shah Hosein! ... Doolha! Doolha! (bridegroom! ...); Haee dost! Haee dost! (alas, friend! ...); Ruheeo! Ruheeo! (Stay! Stay!). Every two of these words are repeated probably a hundred times over as loud as they can bawl out."—Jaffur Shureef, Qanoon-e-Islam, tr. by Herklots, p. 173.
1883.—"... a long procession ... followed and preceded by the volunteer mourners and breast-beaters shouting their cry of Hous-s-e-i-n H-as-san Houss-e-i-n H-a-s-san, and a simultaneous blow is struck vigorously by hundreds of heavy hands on the bare breasts at the last syllable of each name."—Wills' Modern Persia, 282.
[1902.—"The Hobson-Jobson." By Miss A. Goodrich-Freer, in The Nineteenth Century and After, April 1902.]
HODGETT, s. This is used among the English in Turkey and Egypt for a title-deed of land. It is Arabic ḥujjat, 'evidence.' Hojat, perhaps a corruption of the same word, is used in Western India for an account current between landlord and tenant. [Molesworth, Mahr. Dict., gives "Hujjat, Ar., a Government acknowledgment or receipt."]
[1871.—"... the Ḳaḍee attends, and writes a document (ḥogget-el-baḥr) to attest the fact of the river's having risen to the height sufficient for the opening of the Canal...."—Lane, Mod. Egypt., 5th ed. ii. 233.]
[HOG-BEAR, s. Another name for the sloth-bear, Melursus ursinus (Blanford, Mammalia, 201). The word does not appear in the N.E.D.
[1895.—"Between the tree-stems he heard a hog-bear digging hard in the moist warm earth."—R. Kipling, The Jungle Book, 171.]
HOG-DEER, s. The Anglo-Indian popular name of the Axis porcinus, Jerd.; [Cervus porcinus (Blanford, Mammalia, 549)], the Pārā of Hindustan. The name is nearly the same as that which Cosmas (c. 545) applies to an animal (Χοιρέλαφος) which he draws (see under BABI-ROUSSA), but the two have no other relation. The Hog-deer is abundant in the grassy openings of forests throughout the Gangetic valley and further east. "It runs with its head low, and in a somewhat ungainly manner; hence its popular appellation."—Jerdon, Mammals, 263.