c. 1300.—"Παὶδὸς γὰρ εὐδαιμονοῦντος, καὶ τὸν πάτερα δεῖ συνευδαιμονεῖν· κατὰ τὴν ὑμνουμένην ἀντιπελάργωσιν. Ἐσθῆτα πηνοϋφη πεπομφῶς ἣν καμχᾶν ἡ Περσῶν φησι γλῶττα, δράσων εὖ ἴσθι, οὐ δίπλακα μὲν οὐδὲ μαρμαρέην οἵαν Ἑλένη ἐξύφαινεν, ἀλλ' ἠερειδῆ καὶ ποικίλην."—Letter of Theodorus the Hyrtacenian to Lucites, Protonotary and Protovestiary of the Trapezuntians. In Notices et Extraits, vi. 38.
1330.—"Their clothes are of Tartary cloth, and camocas, and other rich stuffs ofttimes adorned with gold and silver and precious stones."—Book of the Estate of the Great Kaan, in Cathay, 246.
c. 1340.—"You may reckon also that in Cathay you get three or three and a half pieces of damasked silk (cammocca) for a sommo."—Pegolotti, ibid. 295.
1342.—"The King of China had sent to the Sultan 100 slaves of both sexes for 500 pieces of kamkhā, of which 100 were made in the City of Zaitūn...."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 1.
c. 1375.—"Thei setten this Ydole upon a Chare with gret reverence, wel arrayed with Clothes of Gold, of riche Clothes of Tartarye, of Camacaa, and other precious Clothes."—Sir John Maundevill, ed. 1866, p. 175.
c. 1400.—"In kyrtle of Cammaka kynge am I cladde."—Coventry Mystery, 163.
1404.—"... é quando se del quisieron partir los Embajadores, fizo vestir al dicho Ruy Gonzalez una ropa de camocan, e dióle un sombrero, e dixole, que aquello tomase en señal del amor que el Tamurbec tenia al Señor Rey."—Clavijo, § lxxxviii.
1411.—"We have sent an ambassador who carries you from us kīmkhā."—Letter from Emp. of Chian to Shah Rukh, in Not. et Ext. xiv. 214.
1474.—"And the King gave a signe to him that wayted, com̃aunding him to give to the dauncer a peece of Camocato. And he taking this peece threwe it about the heade of the dauncer, and of the men and women: and useing certain wordes in praiseng the King, threwe it before the mynstrells."—Josafa Barbaro, Travels in Persia, E.T. Hak. Soc. p. 62.
1688.—"Καμουχᾶς, Χαμουχᾶς, Pannus sericus, sive ex bombyce confectus, et more Damasceno contextus, Italis Damasco, nostris olim Camocas, de quâ voce diximus in Gloss. Mediæ Latinit. hodie etiamnum Mocade." This is followed by several quotations from Medieval Greek MSS.—Du Cange, Gloss. Med. et Inf. Graecitatis, s.v.
1712.—In the Spectator under this year see an advertisement of an "Isabella-coloured Kincob gown flowered with green and gold."—Cited in Malcolm's Anecdotes of Manners, &c., 1808, p. 429.
1733.—"Dieser mal waren von Seiten des Bräutigams ein Stück rother Kamka ... und eine rothe Pferdehaut; von Seiten der Braut aber ein Stück violet Kamka."—u. s. w.—Gmelin, Reise durch Siberien, i. 137-138.
1781.—"My holiday suit, consisting of a flowered Velvet Coat of the Carpet Pattern, with two rows of broad Gold Lace, a rich Kingcob Waistcoat, and Crimson Velvet Breeches with Gold Garters, is now a butt to the shafts of Macaroni ridicule."—Letter from An Old Country Captain, in India Gazette, Feb. 24.
1786.—"... but not until the nabob's mother aforesaid had engaged to pay for the said change of prison, a sum of £10,000 ... and that she would ransack the zenanah ... for Kincobs, muslins, cloths, &c. &c. &c...."—Articles of Charge against Hastings, in Burke's Works, 1852, vii. 23.
1809.—"Twenty trays of shawls, kheenkaubs ... were tendered to me."—Ld. Valentia, i. 117.
[1813.—Forbes writes keemcob, keemcab, Or. Mem. 2nd i. 311; ii. 418.]
1829.—"Tired of this service we took possession of the town of Muttra, driving them out. Here we had glorious plunder—shawls, silks, satins, khemkaubs, money, &c."—Mem. of John Shipp, i. 124.
KING-CROW, s. A glossy black bird, otherwise called Drongo shrike, about as large as a small pigeon, with a long forked tail, Dicrurus macrocercus, Vieillot, found all over India. "It perches generally on some bare branch, whence it can have a good look-out, or the top of a house, or post, or telegraph-wire, frequently also on low bushes, hedges, walks, or ant-hills" (Jerdon).
1883.—"... the King-crow ... leaves the whole bird and beast tribe far behind in originality and force of character.... He does not come into the house, the telegraph wire suits him better. Perched on it he can see what is going on ... drops, beak foremost, on the back of the kite ... spies a bee-eater capturing a goodly moth, and after a hot chase, forces it to deliver up its booty."—The Tribes on My Frontier, 143.
KIOSQUE, s. From the Turki and Pers. kūshk or kushk, 'a pavilion, a villa,' &c. The word is not Anglo-Indian, nor is it a word, we think, at all common in modern native use.
c. 1350.—"When he was returned from his expedition, and drawing near to the capital, he ordered his son to build him a palace, or as those people call it a kushk, by the side of a river which runs at that place, which is called Afghanpūr."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 212.
1623.—"There is (in the garden) running water which issues from the entrance of a great kiosck, or covered place, where one may stay to take the air, which is built at the end of the garden over a great pond which adjoins the outside of the garden, so that, like the one at Surat, it serves also for the public use of the city."—P. della Valle, i. 535; [Hak. Soc. i. 68].
KIRBEE, KURBEE, s. Hind. karbī, kirbī, Skt. kaḍamba, 'the stalk of a pot-herb.' The stalks of juār (see JOWAUR), used as food for cattle.
[1809.—"We also fell in with large ricks of kurbee, the dried stalks of Bajiru and Jooar, two inferior kinds of grain; an excellent fodder for the camels."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, ed. 1892, p. 41.
[1823.—"Ordinary price of the straw (kirba) at harvest-time Rs. 1½ per hundred sheaves...."—Trans. Lit. Soc. Bombay, iii. 243.]
KISHM, n.p. The largest of the islands in the Persian Gulf, called by the Portuguese Queixome and the like, and sometimes by our old travellers, Kishmish. It is now more popularly called Jazīrat-al-ṭawīla, in Pers. Jaz. darāz, 'the Long Island' (like the Lewes), and the name of Kishm is confined to the chief town, at the eastern extremity, where still remains the old Portuguese fort taken in 1622, before which William Baffin the Navigator fell. But the oldest name is the still not quite extinct Brokht, which closely preserves the Greek Oaracta.
B.C. 325.—"And setting sail (from Harmozeia), in a run of 300 stadia they passed a desert and bushy island, and moored beside another island which was large and inhabited. The small desert island was named Organa (no doubt Gerun, afterwards the site of N. Hormuz—see ORMUS); and the one at which they anchored Ὀάρακτα, planted with vines and date-palms, and with plenty of corn."—Arrian, Voyage of Nearchus, ch. xxxvii.
1538.—"... so I hasted with him in the company of divers merchants for to go from Babylon (orig. Babylonia) to Caixem, whence he carried me to Ormuz...."—F. M. Pinto, chap. vi. (Cogan, p. 9).
1553.—"Finally, like a timorous and despairing man ... he determined to leave the city (Ormuz) deserted, and to pass over to the Isle of Queixome. That island is close to the mainland of Persia, and is within sight of Ormuz at 3 leagues distance."—Barros, III. vii. 4.
1554.—"Then we departed to the Isle of Kais or Old Hormuz, and then to the island of Brakhta, and some others of the Green Sea, i.e. in the Sea of Hormuz, without being able to get any intelligence."—Sidi 'Ali, 67.
[1600.—"Queixiome." See under RESHIRE.
[1623.—"They say likewise that Ormuz and Keschiome are extremely well fortified by the Moors."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 188; in i. 2, Kesom.
[1652.—"Keckmishe." See under CONGO BUNDER.]
1673.—"The next morning we had brought Loft on the left hand of the Island of Kismash, leaving a woody Island uninhabited between Kismash and the Main."—Fryer, 320.
1682.—"The Island Queixome, or Queixume, or Quizome, otherwise called by travellers and geographers Kechmiche, and by the natives Brokt...."—Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 103.
1817.—
"... Vases filled with Kishmee's golden wine
And the red weepings of the Shiraz vine."—Moore, Mokanna.
1821.—"We are to keep a small force at Kishmi, to make descents and destroy boats and other means of maritime war, whenever any symptoms of piracy reappear."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 121.
See also BASSADORE.
KISHMISH, s. Pers. Small stoneless raisins originally imported from Persia. Perhaps so called from the island Kishm. Its vines are mentioned by Arrian, and by T. Moore! (See under KISHM.) [For the manufacture of Kishmish in Afghanistan, see Watt, Econ. Dict. VI. pt. iv. 284.]
[c. 1665.—"Usbec being the country which principally supplies Delhi with these fruits.... Kichmiches, or raisins, apparently without stones...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 118.]
1673.—"We refreshed ourselves an entire Day at Gerom, where a small White Grape, without any Stone, was an excellent Cordial ... they are called Kismas Grapes, and the Wine is known by the same Name farther than where they grow."—Fryer, 242.
1711.—"I could never meet with any of the Kishmishes before they were turned. These are Raisins, a size less than our Malagas, of the same Colour, and without Stones."—Lockyer, 233.
1883.—"Kishmish, a delicious grape, of white elongated shape, also small and very sweet, both eaten and used for wine-making. When dried this is the Sultana raisin...."—Wills, Modern Persia, 171.
KISSMISS, s. Native servant's word for Christmas. But that festival is usually called Baṛā din, 'the great day.' (See BURRA DIN.)
KIST, s. Ar. ḳist. The yearly land revenue in India is paid by instalments which fall due at different periods in different parts of the country; each such instalment is called a ḳist, or quota. [The settlement of these instalments is ḳist-bandī.]
[1767.—"This method of comprising the whole estimate into so narrow a compass ... will convey to you a more distinct idea ... than if we transmitted a monthly account of the deficiency of each person's Kistbundee."—Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 56.]
1809.—"Force was always requisite to make him pay his Kists or tribute."—Ld. Valentia, i. 347.
1810.—"The heavy Kists or collections of Bengal are from August to September."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 498.
1817.—"'So desperate a malady,' said the President, 'requires a remedy that shall reach its source. And I have no hesitation in stating my opinion that there is no mode of eradicating the disease, but by removing the original cause; and placing these districts, which are pledged for the security of the Kists, beyond the reach of his Highness's management.'"—Mill, vi. 55.
KITMUTGAR, s. Hind. khidmatgār, from Ar.—P. khidmat, 'service,' therefore 'one rendering service.' The Anglo-Indian use is peculiar to the Bengal Presidency, where the word is habitually applied to a Musulman servant, whose duties are connected with serving meals and waiting at table under the Consumah, if there be one. Kismutgar is a vulgarism, now perhaps obsolete. The word is spelt by Hadley in his Grammar (see under MOORS) khuzmutgâr. In the word khidmat, as in khil'at (see KILLUT), the terminal t in uninflected Arabic has long been dropt, though retained in the form in which these words have got into foreign tongues.
1759.—The wages of a Khedmutgar appear as 3 Rupees a month.—In Long, p. 182.
1765.—"... they were taken into the service of Soujah Dowlah as immediate attendants on his person; Hodjee (see HADJEE) in capacity of his first Kistmutgar (or valet)."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 60.
1782.—"I therefore beg to caution strangers against those race of vagabonds who ply about them under the denomination of Consumahs and Kismutdars."—Letter in India Gazette, Sept. 28.
1784.—"The Bearer ... perceiving a quantity of blood ... called to the Hookaburdar and a Kistmutgar."—In Seton-Karr, i. 13.
1810.—"The Khedmutgar, or as he is often termed, the Kismutgar, is with very few exceptions, a Mussulman; his business is to ... wait at table."—Williamson, V. M. i. 212.
c. 1810.—"The Kitmutgaur, who had attended us from Calcutta, had done his work, and made his harvests, though in no very large way, of the 'Tazee Willaut' or white people."—Mrs. Sherwood, Autobiog. 283. The phrase in italics stands for tāzī Wilāyatī (see BILAYUT), "fresh or green Europeans"—Griffins (q.v.).
1813.—"We ... saw nothing remarkable on the way but a Khidmutgar of Chimnagie Appa, who was rolling from Poona to Punderpoor, in performance of a vow which he made for a child. He had been a month at it, and had become so expert that he went on smoothly and without pausing, and kept rolling evenly along the middle of the road, over stones and everything. He travelled at the rate of two coss a day."—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 257-8.
1878.—"We had each our own ... Kitmutgar or table servant. It is the custom in India for each person to have his own table servant, and when dining out to take him with him to wait behind his chair."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 32.
[1889.—"Here's the Khit coming for the late change."—R. Kipling, The Gadsbys, 24.]
KITTYSOL, KITSOL, s. This word survived till lately in the Indian Tariff, but it is otherwise long obsolete. It was formerly in common use for 'an umbrella,' and especially for the kind, made of bamboo and paper, imported from China, such as the English fashion of to-day has adopted to screen fire-places in summer. The word is Portuguese, quita-sol, 'bar-sun.' Also tirasole occurs in Scot's Discourse of Java, quoted below from Purchas. See also Hulsius, Coll. of Voyages, in German, 1602, i. 27. [Mr. Skeat points out that in Howison's Malay Dict. (1801) we have, s.v. Payong: "A kittasol, sombrera," which is nearer to the Port. original than any of the examples given since 1611. This may be due to the strong Portuguese influence at Malacca.]
1588.—"The present was fortie peeces of silke ... a litter chaire and guilt, and two quitasoles of silke."—Parkes's Mendoza, ii. 105.
1605.—"... Before the shewes came, the King was brought out vpon a man's shoulders, bestriding his necke, and the man holding his legs before him, and had many rich tyrasoles carried ouer and round about him."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 181.
1611.—"Of Kittasoles of State for to shaddow him, there bee twentie" (in the Treasury of Akbar).—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 215.
[1614.—"Quitta solls (or sombreros)."—Foster, Letters, ii. 207.]
1615.—"The China Capt., Andrea Dittis, retorned from Langasaque and brought me a present from his brother, viz., 1 faire Kitesoll...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 28.
1648.—"... above his head was borne two Kippe-soles, or Sun-skreens, made of Paper."—Van Twist, 51.
1673.—"Little but rich Kitsolls (which are the names of several Countries for Umbrelloes)."—Fryer, 160.
1687.—"They (the Aldermen of Madras) may be allowed to have Kettysols over them."—Letter of Court of Directors, in Wheeler, i. 200.
1690.—"nomen ... vulgo effertur Peritsol ... aliquando paulo aliter scribitur ... et utrumque rectius pronuntiandum est Paresol vel potius Parasol cujus significatio Appellativa est, i. q. Quittesol seu une Ombrelle, quâ in calidioribus regionibus utuntur homines ad caput a sole tuendum."—Hyde's Preface to Travels of Abraham Peritsol, p. vii., in Syntag. Dissertt. i.
" "No Man in India, no not the Mogul's Son, is permitted the Priviledge of wearing a Kittisal or Umbrella.... The use of the Umbrella is sacred to the Prince, appropriated only to his use."—Ovington, 315.
1755.—"He carries a Roundell, or Quit de Soleil over your head."—Ives, 50.
1759.—In Expenses of Nawab's entertainment at Calcutta, we find: "A China Kitysol ... Rs. 3½."—Long, 194.
1761.—A chart of Chittagong, by Barth. Plaisted, marks on S. side of Chittagong R., an umbrella-like tree, called "Kittysoll Tree."
[1785.—"To finish the whole, a Kittesaw (a kind of umbrella) is suspended not infrequently over the lady's head."—Diary, in Busteed, Echoes, 3rd ed. 112.]
1792.—"In those days the Ketesal, which is now sported by our very Cooks and Boatswains, was prohibited, as I have heard, d'you see, to any one below the rank of field officer."—Letter, in Madras Courier, May 3.
1813.—In the table of exports from Macao, we find:—
| "Kittisolls, large, | 2,000 to 3,000, | |
| do. | small, | 8,000 to 10,000," |
| Milburn, ii. 464. | ||
1875.—"Umbrellas, Chinese, of paper, or Kettysolls."—Indian Tariff.
In another table of the same year "Chinese paper Kettisols, valuation Rs. 30 for a box of 110, duty 5 per cent." (See CHATTA, ROUNDEL, UMBRELLA.)
KITTYSOL-BOY, s. A servant who carried an umbrella over his master. See Milburn, ii. 62. (See examples under ROUNDEL.)
KLING, n.p. This is the name (Kălīng) applied in the Malay countries, including our Straits Settlements, to the people of Continental India who trade thither, or are settled in those regions, and to the descendants of those settlers. [Mr. Skeat remarks: "The standard Malay form is not Kāling, which is the Sumatran form, but Kĕling (K'ling or Kling). The Malay use of the word is, as a rule, restricted to Tamils, but it is very rarely used in a wider sense."]
The name is a form of Kalinga, a very ancient name for the region known as the "Northern Circars," (q.v.), i.e. the Telugu coast of the Bay of Bengal, or, to express it otherwise in general terms, for that coast which extends from the Kistna to the Mahānadī. "The Kalingas" also appear frequently, after the Pauranic fashion, as an ethnic name in the old Sanskrit lists of races. Kalinga appears in the earliest of Indian inscriptions, viz. in the edicts of Aśoka, and specifically in that famous edict (XIII.) remaining in fragments at Girnār and Kapurdi-giri, and more completely at Khālsī, which preserves the link, almost unique from the Indian side, connecting the histories of India and of the Greeks, by recording the names of Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alexander.
Kalinga is a kingdom constantly mentioned in the Buddhist and historical legends of Ceylon; and we find commemoration of the kingdom of Kalinga and of the capital city of Kalinganagara (e.g. in Ind. Antiq. iii. 152, x. 243). It was from a daughter of a King of Kalinga that sprang, according to the Mahawanso, the famous Wijayo, the civilizer of Ceylon and the founder of its ancient royal race.
Kalingapatam, a port of the Ganjam district, still preserves the ancient name of Kalinga, though its identity with the Kalinganagara of the inscriptions is not to be assumed. The name in later, but still ancient, inscriptions appears occasionally as Tri-Kalinga, "the Three Kalingas"; and this probably, in a Telugu version Mūḍu-Kalinga, having that meaning, is the original of the Modogalinga of Pliny in one of the passages quoted from him. (The possible connection which obviously suggests itself of this name Trikalinga with the names Tilinga and Tilingāna, applied, at least since the Middle Ages, to the same region, will be noticed under TELINGA).
The coast of Kalinga appears to be that part of the continent whence commerce with the Archipelago at an early date, and emigration thither, was most rife; and the name appears to have been in great measure adopted in the Archipelago as the designation of India in general, or of the whole of the Peninsular part of it. Throughout the book of Malay historical legends called the Sijara Malayu the word Kaling or Kling is used for India in general, but more particularly for the southern parts (see Journ. Ind. Archip. v. 133). And the statement of Forrest (Voyage to Mergui Archip. 1792, p. 82) that Macassar "Indostan" was called "Neegree Telinga" (i.e. Nagara Telinga) illustrates the same thing and also the substantial identity of the names Telinga, Kalinga.
The name Kling, applied to settlers of Indian origin, makes its appearance in the Portuguese narratives immediately after the conquest of Malacca (1511). At the present day most, if not all of the Klings of Singapore come, not from the "Northern Circars," but from Tanjore, a purely Tamil district. And thus it is that so good an authority as Roorda van Eijsinga translates Kalīng by 'Coromandel people.' They are either Hindūs or Labbais (see LUBBYE). The latter class in British India never take domestic service with Europeans, whilst they seem to succeed well in that capacity in Singapore. "In 1876," writes Dr. Burnell, "the head-servant at Bekker's great hotel there was a very good specimen of the Nagūr Labbais; and to my surprise he recollected me as the head assistant-collector of Tanjore, which I had been some ten years before." The Hindu Klings appear to be chiefly drivers of hackney carriages and keepers of eating-houses. There is a Śiva temple in Singapore, which is served by Pandārāms (q.v.). The only Brahmans there in 1876 were certain convicts. It may be noticed that Calingas is the name of a heathen tribe of (alleged) Malay origin in the east of N. Luzon (Philippine Islands).
B.C. c. 250.—"Great is Kaliñga conquered by the King Piyadasi, beloved of the Devas. There have been hundreds of thousands of creatures carried off.... On learning it the King ... has immediately after the acquisition of Kaliñga, turned to religion, he has occupied himself with religion, he has conceived a zeal for religion, he applies himself to the spread of religion...."—Edict XIII. of Piyadasi (i.e. Aśoka), after M. Senart, in Ind. Antiq. x. 271. [And see V. A. Smith, Asoka, 129 seq.]
A.D. 60-70.—"... multarumque gentium cognomen Bragmanae, quorum Macco (or Macto) Calingae ... gentes Calingae mari proximi, et supra Mandaei, Malli quorum Mons Mallus, finisque tractus ejus Ganges ... novissima gente Gangaridum Calingarum. Regia Pertalis vocatur ... Insula in Gange est magnae amplitudinis gentem continens unam, nomine Modogalingam.
"Ab ostio Gangis ad promontorium Calingon et oppidum Dandaguda DCXXV. mil. passuum."—Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 18, 19, 20.
"In Calingis ejusdem Indiae gente quinquennes concipere feminas, octavum vitae annum non excedere."—Ibid. vii. 2.
c. 460.—"In the land of Wango, in the capital of Wango, there was formerly a certain Wango King. The daughter of the King of Kalinga was the principal queen of that monarch.
"That sovereign had a daughter (named Suppadewi) by his queen. Fortune-tellers predicted that she would connect herself with the king of animals (the lion), &c."—Mahawanso, ch. vi. (Turnour, p. 43).
c. 550.—In the "Bṛhat-Saṅhitâ" of Varāhamihira, as translated by Prof. Kern in the J. R. As. Soc., Kalinga appears as the name of a country in iv. 82, 86, 231, and "the Kalingas" as an ethnic name in iv. 461, 468, v. 65, 239.
c. 640.—"After having travelled from 1400 to 1500 li, he (Hwen Thsang) arrived at the Kingdom of Kielingkia (Kaliñga). Continuous forests and jungles extend for many hundreds of li. The kingdom produces wild elephants of a black colour, which are much valued in the neighbouring realms.[150] In ancient times the kingdom of Kalinga possessed a dense population, insomuch that in the streets shoulders rubbed, and the naves of waggon-wheels jostled; if the passengers but lifted their sleeves an awning of immense extent was formed...."—Pèlerins Bouddh. iii. 92-93.
c. 1045.—"Bhíshma said to the prince: 'There formerly came, on a visit to me, a Brahman, from the Kalinga country....'"—Vishnu Purāna, in H. H. Wilson's Works, viii. 75.
(Trikalinga).
A.D. c. 150.—"... Τρίγλυπτον, το καὶ Τρίλιγγον, Βασιλείον· ἐν ταύτῃ ἀλεκτρυόνες λέγονται εἴναι πωγωνίαι, καὶ κόρακες καὶ ψιττακοὶ λευκοὶ."—Ptolemy, vi. 2, 23.
(A.D. —?).—Copper Grant of which a summary is given, in which the ancestors of the Donors are Vijáya Krishna and Siva Gupta Deva, monarch of the Three Kalingas.—Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1872, p. 171.
A.D. 876.—"... a god amongst principal and inferior kings—the chief of the devotees of Siva—Lord of Trikalinga—lord of the three principalities of the Gajapati (see COSPETIR), Aswapati, and Narapati...."—Copper Grant from near Jabalpur, in J.A.S.B., viii. Pt. i. p. 484.
c. 12th century.—"... The devout worshipper of Maheçvara, most venerable, great ruler of rulers, and Sovereign Lord, the glory of the Lunar race, and King of the Three Kalingas, Çri Mahábhava Gupta Deva...."—Copper Grant from Sambulpur, in J.A.S.B. xlvi. Pt. i. p. 177.
"... the fourth of the Agasti family, student of the Kánva section of the Yajur Veda, emigrant from Tríkalinga ... by name Koṇḍadeva, son of Rámaçarmá."—Ibid.
(Kling).
1511.—"... And beyond all these arguments which the merchants laid before Afonso Dalboquerque, he himself had certain information that the principal reason why this Javanese (este Iao) practised these doings was because he could not bear that the Quilins and Chitims (see CHETTY) who were Hindoos (Gentios) should be out of his jurisdiction."—Alboquerque, Commentaries, Hak. Soc. iii. 146.
" "For in Malaca, as there was a continual traffic of people of many nations, each nation maintained apart its own customs and administration of justice, so that there was in the city one Bendará (q.v.) of the natives, of Moors and heathen severally; a Bendará of the foreigners; a Bendará of the foreign merchants of each class severally; to wit, of the Chins, of the Leqeos (Loo-choo people), of the people of Siam, of Pegu, of the Quelins, of the merchants from within Cape Comorin, of the merchants of India (i.e. of the Western Coast), of the merchants of Bengala...."—Correa, ii. 253.
[1533.—"Quelys." See under TUAN.]
1552.—"E repartidos os nossos em quadrilhas roubarão a cidade, et com quãto se não buleo com as casas dos Quelins, nem dos Pegus, nem dos Jaos ..."—Castanheda, iii. 208; see also ii. 355.
De Bry terms these people Quillines (iii. 98, &c.)
1601.—"5. His Majesty shall repopulate the burnt suburb (of Malacca) called Campo Clin ..."—Agreement between the King of Johore and the Dutch, in Valentijn v. 332. [In Malay Kampong K'ling or Kling, 'Kling village.']
1602.—"About their loynes they weare a kind of Callico-cloth, which is made at Clyn in manner of a silke girdle."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 165.
1604.—"If it were not for the Sabindar (see SHABUNDER), the Admirall, and one or two more which are Clyn-men borne, there were no living for a Christian among them...."—Ibid. i. 175.
1605.—"The fifteenth of Iune here arrived Nockhoda (Nacoda) Tingall, a Cling-man from Banda...."—Capt. Saris, in Purchas, i. 385.
1610.—"His Majesty should order that all the Portuguese and Quelins merchants of San Thomé, who buy goods in Malacca and export them to India, San Thomé, and Bengala should pay the export duties, as the Javanese (os Jaos) who bring them in pay the import duties."—Livro das Monções, 318.
1613.—See remarks under Cheling, and, in the quotation from Godinho de Eredia, "Campon Chelim" and "Chelis of Coromandel."
1868.—"The Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and ... are petty merchants and shopkeepers."—Wallace, Malay Archip., ed. 1880, p. 20.
" "The foreign residents in Singapore mainly consist of two rival races ... viz. Klings from the Coromandel Coast of India, and Chinese.... The Klings are universally the hack-carriage (gharry) drivers, and private grooms (syces), and they also monopolize the washing of clothes.... But besides this class there are Klings who amass money as tradesmen and merchants, and become rich."—Collingwood, Rambles of a Naturalist, 268-9.
KOBANG, s. The name (lit. 'greater division') of a Japanese gold coin, of the same form and class as the obang (q.v.). The coin was issued occasionally from 1580 to 1860, and its most usual weight was 222 grs. troy. The shape was oblong, of an average length of 2½ inches and width of 1½.
[1599.—"Cowpan." See under TAEL.]
1616.—"Aug. 22.—About 10 a clock we departed from Shrongo, and paid our host for the howse a bar of Coban gould, vallued at 5 tais 4 mas...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 165.
" Sept. 17.—"I received two bars Coban gould with two ichibos (see ITZEBOO) of 4 to a coban, all gould, of Mr. Eaton to be acco. for as I should have occasion to use them."—Ibid. 176.
1705.—"Outre ces roupies il y a encore des pièces d'or qu'on appelle coupans, qui valent dix-neuf roupies.... Ces pièces s'appellant coupans parce-qu'elles sont longues, et si plates qu'on en pourroit couper, et c'est par allusion à notre langue qu'on les appellent ainsi."—Luillier, 256-7.
1727.—"My friend took my advice and complimented the Doctor with five Japon Cupangs, or fifty Dutch Dollars."—A. Hamilton, ii. 86; [ed. 1744, ii. 85].
1726.—"1 gold Koebang (which is no more seen now) used to make 10 ryx dollars, 1 Itzebo making 2½ ryx dollars."—Valentijn, iv. 356.
1768-71.—"The coins current at Batavia are the following:—The milled Dutch gold ducat, which is worth 6 gilders and 12 stivers; the Japan gold coupangs, of which the old go for 24 gilders, and the new for 14 gilders and 8 stivers."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 307.
[1813.—"Copang." See under MACE.]
1880.—"Never give a Kobang to a cat."—Jap. Proverb, in Miss Bird, i. 367.
KOËL, s. This is the common name in northern India of Eudynamys orientalis, L. (Fam. of Cuckoos), also called kokilā and koklā. The name koīl is taken from its cry during the breeding season, "ku-il, ku-il, increasing in vigour and intensity as it goes on. The male bird has also another note, which Blyth syllables as Ho-whee-ho, or Ho-a-o, or Ho-y-o. When it takes flight it has yet another somewhat melodious and rich liquid call; all thoroughly cuculine." (Jerdon.)
c. 1526.—"Another is the Koel, which in length may be equal to the crow, but is much thinner. It has a kind of song, and is the nightingale of Hindustan. It is respected by the natives of Hindustan as much as the nightingale is by us. It inhabits gardens where the trees are close planted."—Baber, p. 323.
c. 1590.—"The Koyil resembles the myneh (see MYNA), but is blacker, and has red eyes and a long tail. It is fabled to be enamoured of the rose, in the same manner as the nightingale."—Ayeen, ed. Gladwin, ii. 381; [ed. Jarrett, iii. 121].
c. 1790.—"Le plaisir que cause la fraîcheur dont on jouit sous cette belle verdure est augmenté encore par le gazouillement des oiseaux et les cris clairs et perçans du Koewil...."—Haafner, ii. 9.
1810.—"The Kokeela and a few other birds of song."—Maria Graham, 22.
1883.—"This same crow-pheasant has a second or third cousin called the Koel, which deposits its eggs in the nest of the crow, and has its young brought up by that discreditable foster-parent. Now this bird supposes that it has a musical voice, and devotes the best part of the night to vocal exercise, after the manner of the nightingale. You may call it the Indian nightingale if you like. There is a difference however in its song ... when it gets to the very top of its pitch, its voice cracks and there is an end of it, or rather there is not, for the persevering musician begins again.... Does not the Maratha novelist, dwelling on the delights of a spring morning in an Indian village, tell how the air was filled with the dulcet melody of the Koel, the green parrot, and the peacock?"—Tribes on My Frontier, 156.
KOHINOR, n.p. Pers. Koh-i-nūr, 'Mountain of Light'; the name of one of the most famous diamonds in the world. It was an item in the Deccan booty of Alāuddīn Khiljī (dd. 1316), and was surrendered to Baber (or more precisely to his son Humāyūn) on the capture of Agra (1526). It remained in the possession of the Moghul dynasty till Nādir extorted it at Delhi from the conquered Mahommed Shāh (1739). After Nādir's death it came into the hands of Ahmed Shāh, the founder of the Afghān monarchy. Shāh Shujā', Ahmed's grandson, had in turn to give it up to Ranjīt Singh when a fugitive in his dominions. On the annexation of the Punjab in 1849 it passed to the English, and is now among the Crown jewels of England. Before it reached that position it ran through strange risks, as may be read in a most diverting story told by Bosworth Smith in his Life of Lord Lawrence (i. 327-8). In 1850-51, before being shown at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, it went through a process of cutting which, for reasons unintelligible to ordinary mortals, reduced its weight from 1861⁄16 carats to 1061⁄16. [See an interesting note in Ball's Tavernier, ii. 431 seqq.]
1526.—"In the battle in which Ibrâhim was defeated, Bikermâjit (Raja of Gwalior) was sent to hell. Bikermâjit's family ... were at this moment in Agra. When Hûmâiûn arrived ... (he) did not permit them to be plundered. Of their own free will they presented to Hûmâiûn a peshkesh (see PESHCUSH), consisting of a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among these was one famous diamond which had been acquired by Sultân Alâeddîn. It is so valuable that a judge of diamonds valued it at half the daily expense of the whole world. It is about eight mishkals...."—Baber, p. 308.
1676.—(With an engraving of the stone.) "This diamond belongs to the Great Mogul ... and it weighs 319 Ratis (see RUTTEE) and a half, which make 279 and nine 16ths of our Carats; when it was rough it weigh'd 907 Ratis, which make 793 carats."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 148; [ed. Ball, ii. 123].
[1842.—"In one of the bracelets was the Cohi Noor, known to be one of the largest diamonds in the world."—Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 68.]
1856.—
"He (Akbar) bears no weapon, save his dagger, hid
Up to the ivory haft in muslin swathes;
No ornament but that one famous gem,
Mountain of Light! bound with a silken thread
Upon his nervous wrist; more used, I ween,
To feel the rough strap of his buckler there."
The Banyan Tree.
See also (1876) Browning, Epilogue to Pacchiarotto, &c.
KOOKRY, s. Hind. kukrī, [which originally means 'a twisted skein of thread,' from kūknā, 'to wind'; and then anything curved]. The peculiar weapon of the Goorkhas, a bill, admirably designed and poised for hewing a branch or a foe. [See engravings in Egerton, Handbook of Indian Arms, pl. ix.]
1793.—"It is in felling small trees or shrubs, and lopping the branches of others for this purpose that the dagger or knife worn by every Nepaulian, and called khookheri, is chiefly employed."—Kirkpatrick's Nepaul, 118.
[c. 1826.—"I hear my friend means to offer me a Cuckery."—Ld. Combermere, in Life, ii. 179.
[1828.—"We have seen some men supplied with Cookeries, and the curved knife of the Ghorka."—Skinner, Excursions, ii. 129.]
1866.—"A dense jungle of bamboo, through which we had to cut a way, taking it by turns to lead, and hew a path through the tough stems with my 'kukri,' which here proved of great service."—Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, p. 269.
KOOMKY, s. (See COOMKY.)
KOONBEE, KUNBEE, KOOLUMBEE, n.p. The name of the prevalent cultivating class in Guzerat and the Konkan, the Kurmī of N. India. Skt. kuṭumba. The Kunbī is the pure Sudra, [but the N. India branch are beginning to assert a more respectable origin]. In the Deccan the title distinguished the cultivator from him who wore arms and preferred to be called a Mahratta (Drummond).