1539.—"To this misery was there adjoyned the great affliction, which the Flies and Gnats (por parte dos atabões e mosquitos), that coming out of the neighbouring Woods, bit and stung us in such sort, as not one of us but was gore blood."—Pinto (orig. cap. xxiii.), in Cogan, p. 29.
1582.—"We were oftentimes greatly annoyed with a kind of flie, which in the Indian tongue is called Tiquari, and the Spanish call them Muskitos."—Miles Phillips, in Hakl. iii. 564.
1584.—"The 29 Day we set Saile from Saint Iohns, being many of vs stung before upon Shoare with the Muskitos; but the same night we tooke a Spanish Frigat."—Sir Richard Greenevile's Voyage, in Hakl. iii. 308.
1616 and 1673.—See both Terry and Fryer under Chints.
1662.—"At night there is a kind of insect that plagues one mightily; they are called Muscieten,—it is a kind that by their noise and sting cause much irritation."—Saar, 68-69.
1673.—"The greatest Pest is the Mosquito, which not only wheals, but domineers by its continual Hums."—Fryer, 189.
1690.—(The Governor) "carries along with him a Peon or Servant to Fan him, and drive away the busie Flies, and troublesome Musketoes. This is done with the Hair of a Horse's Tail."—Ovington, 227-8.
1740.—"... all the day we were pestered with great numbers of muscatos, which are not much unlike the gnats in England, but more venomous...."—Anson's Voyage, 9th ed., 1756, p. 46.
1764.—
"Mosquitos, sandflies, seek the sheltered roof,
And with full rage the stranger guest assail,
Nor spare the sportive child."
—Grainger, bk. i.
1883.—"Among rank weeds in deserted Bombay gardens, too, there is a large, speckled, unmusical mosquito, raging and importunate and thirsty, which will give a new idea in pain to any one that visits its haunts."—Tribes on My Frontier, 27.
MOTURPHA, s. Hind. from Ar. muḥtarafa, but according to C. P. B. mu'tarifa; [rather Ar. muḥtarifa, muḥtarif, 'an artizan']. A name technically applied to a number of miscellaneous taxes in Madras and Bombay, such as were called sayer (q.v.), in Bengal.
[1813.—"Mohterefa. An artificer. Taxes, personal and professional, on artificers, merchants and others; also on houses, implements of agriculture, looms, &c., a branch of the sayer."—Gloss. 5th Report, s.v.
1826.—"... for example, the tax on merchants, manufacturers, &c. (called mohturfa)...."—Grant Duff, H. of the Mahrattas, 3rd ed. 356.]
MOULMEIN, n.p. This is said to be originally a Talaing name Mut-mwoa-lem, syllables which mean (or may be made to mean) 'one-eye-destroyed'; and to account for which a cock-and-bull legend is given (probably invented for the purpose): "Tradition says that the city was founded ... by a king with three eyes, having an extra eye in his forehead, but that by the machinations of a woman, the eye in his forehead was destroyed...." (Mason's Burmah, 2nd ed. p. 18). The Burmese corrupted the name into Mau-la-yaing, whence the foreign (probably Malay) form Maulmain. The place so called is on the opposite side of the estuary of the Salwin R. from Martaban (q.v.), and has entirely superseded that once famous port. Moulmein, a mere site, was chosen as the headquarters of the Tenasserim provinces, when those became British in 1826 after the first Burmese War. It has lost political importance since the annexation of Pegu, 26 years later, but is a thriving city which numbered in 1881, 53,107 inhabitants; [in 1891, 55,785].
MOUNT DELY, n.p. (See DELLY, MOUNT.)
MOUSE-DEER, s. The beautiful little creature, Meminna indica (Gray), [Tragulus meminna, the Indian Chevrotain (Blanford, Mammalia, 555),] found in various parts of India, and weighing under 6 lbs., is so called. But the name is also applied to several pigmy species of the genus Tragulus, found in the Malay regions, [where, according to Mr. Skeat, it takes in popular tradition the place of Brer Rabbit, outwitting even the tiger, elephant, and crocodile.] All belong to the family of Musk-deer.
MUCHÁN, s. Hind. machān, Dekh. manchān, Skt. maṅcha. An elevated platform; such as the floor of huts among the Indo-Chinese races; or a stage or scaffolding erected to watch a tiger, to guard a field, or what not.
c. 1662.—"As the soil of the country is very damp, the people do not live on the ground-floor, but on the machán, which is the name for a raised floor."—Shihábuddín Tálish, by Blochmann, in J. A. S. B. xli. Pt. i. 84.
[1882.—"In a shady green mechan in some fine tree, watching at the cool of evening...."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 3rd ed. 284.]
MUCHWA, s. Mahr. machwā, Hind. machuā, machwā. A kind of boat or barge in use about Bombay.
MUCKNA, s. Hind. makhnā, [which comes from Skt. matkuna, 'a bug, a flea, a beardless man, an elephant without tusks']. A male elephant without tusks or with only rudimentary tusks. These latter are familiar in Bengal, and still more so in Ceylon, where according to Sir S. Baker, "not more than one in 300 has tusks; they are merely provided with short grubbers, projecting generally about 3 inches from the upper jaw, and about 2 inches in diameter." (The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon, 11.) Sanderson (13 Years among the Wild Beasts of India, [3rd ed. 66]) says: "On the Continent of India mucknas, or elephants born without tusks, are decidedly rare ... Mucknas breed in the herds, and the peculiarity is not hereditary or transmitted." This author also states that out of 51 male elephants captured by him in Mysore and Bengal only 5 were mucknas. But the definition of a makhnā in Bengal is that which we have given, including those animals which possess only feminine or rudimentary tusks, the 'short grubbers' of Baker; and these latter can hardly be called rare among domesticated elephants. This may be partially due to a preference in purchasers.[174] The same author derives the term from mukh, 'face'; but the reason is obscure. Shakespear and Platts give the word as also applied to 'a cock without spurs.'
c. 1780.—"An elephant born with the left tooth only is reckoned sacred; with black spots in the mouth unlucky, and not saleable; the mukna or elephant born without teeth is thought the best."—Hon. R. Lindsay in Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 194.
MUCOA, MUKUVA, n.p. Malayal. and Tamil, mukkuvan (sing.), 'a diver,' and mukkuvar (pl.). [Logan (Malabar, ii. Gloss. s.v.) derives it from Drav. mukkuha, 'to dive'; the Madras Gloss. gives Tam. muzhugu, with the same meaning.] A name applied to the fishermen of the western coast of the Peninsula near C. Comorin. [But Mr. Pringle (Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iii. 187) points out that formerly as now, the word was of much more general application. Orme in a passage quoted below employs it of boatmen at Karikal. The use of the word extended as far N. as Madras, and on the W. coast; it was not confined to the extreme S.] It was among these, and among the corresponding class of Paravars on the east coast, that F. Xavier's most noted labours in India occurred.
1510.—"The fourth class are called Mechua, and these are fishers."—Varthema, 142.
1525.—"And Dom João had secret speech with a married Christian whose wife and children were inside the fort, and a valiant man, with whom he arranged to give him 200 pardaos (and that he gave him on the spot) to set fire to houses that stood round the fort.... So this Christian, called Duarte Fernandes ... put on a lot of old rags and tags, and powdered himself with ashes after the fashion of jogues (see JOGEE) ... also defiling his hair with a mixture of oil and ashes, and disguising himself like a regular jogue, whilst he tied under his rags a parcel of gunpowder and pieces of slow-match, and so commending himself to God, in which all joined, slipped out of the fort by night, and as the day broke, he came to certain huts of macuas, which are fishermen, and began to beg alms in the usual palaver of the jogues, i.e. prayers for their long life and health, and the conquest of enemies, and easy deliveries for their womenkind, and prosperity for their children, and other grand things."—Correa, ii. 871.
1552.—Barros has mucuaria, 'a fisherman's village.'
1600.—"Those who gave the best reception to the Gospel were the Macóas; and, as they had no church in which to assemble, they did so in the fields and on the shores, and with such fervour that the Father found himself at times with 5000 or 6000 souls about him."—Lucena, Vida do P. F. Xavier, 117.
[c. 1610.—"These mariners are called Moucois."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 314.]
1615.—"Edixit ut Macuae omnes, id est vilissima plebecula et piscatu vivens, Christiana sacra susciperent."—Jarric, i. 390.
1626.—"The Muchoa or Mechoe are Fishers ... the men Theeues, the women Harlots, with whom they please...."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 553.
1677.—Resolved "to raise the rates of hire of the Mesullas (see MUSSOOLA) boatmen called Macquars."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Jan 12, in Notes and Exts. No. i. 54.
[1684.—"The Maquas or Boatmen ye Ordinary Astralogers (sic) for weather did ... prognosticate great Rains...."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iii. 131.]
1727.—"They may marry into lower Tribes ... and so may the Muckwas, or Fishers, who, I think, are a higher tribe than the Poulias (see POLEA)."—A. Hamilton, i. 310, [ed. 1744, i. 312].
[1738.—"Gastos com Nairos, Tibas, Maquas."—Agreement, in Logan, Malabar, ii. 36.]
1745.—"The Macoas, a kind of Malabars, who have specially this business, and, as we might say, the exclusive privilege in all that concerns sea-faring."—Norbert, i. 227-8.
1746.—"194 Macquars attending the sea-side at night ... (P.) 8 : 8 : 40."—Account of Extraordinary Expenses, at Ft. St. David (India Office MS. Records).
1760.—"Fifteen massoolas (see MUSSOOLA) accompanied the ships; they took in 170 of the troops, besides the Macoas, who are the black fellows that row them."—Orme, ed. 1803, iii. 617.
[1813.—"The Muckwas or Macuars of Tellicherry are an industrious, useful set of people."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 202.]
MUDDÁR, s. Hind. madār, Skt. mandāra; Calotropis procera, R. Brown, N.O. Asclepiadaceae. One of the most common and widely diffused plants in uncultivated plains throughout India. In Sind the bark fibre is used for halters, &c., and experiment has shown it to be an excellent material worth £40 a ton in England, if it could be supplied at that rate; but the cost of collection has stood in the way of its utilisation. The seeds are imbedded in a silky floss, used to stuff pillows. This also has been the subject of experiment for textile use, but as yet without practical success. The plant abounds with an acrid milky juice which the Rājputs are said to employ for infanticide. (Punjab Plants.) The plant is called Ak in Sind and throughout N. India.
MUDDLE, s. (?) This word is only known to us from the clever—perhaps too clever—little book quoted below. The word does not seem to be known, and was probably a misapprehension of budlee. [Even Mr. Brandt and Mrs. Wyatt are unable to explain this word. The former does not remember hearing it. Both doubt its connection with budlee. Mrs. Wyatt suggests with hesitation Tamil muder, "boiled rice," mudei-palli, "the cook-house."]
1836-7.—"Besides all these acknowledged and ostensible attendants, each servant has a kind of muddle or double of his own, who does all the work that can be put off upon him without being found out by his master or mistress."—Letters from Madras, 38.
" "They always come accompanied by their Vakeels, a kind of Secretaries, or interpreters, or flappers,—their muddles in short; everybody here has a muddle, high or low."—Letters from Madras, 86.
a. Ar. Muftī, an expounder of the Mahommedan Law, the utterer of the fatwā (see FUTWAH). Properly the Muftī is above the Kāẓī who carries out the judgment. In the 18th century, and including Regulation IX. of 1793, which gave the Company's Courts in Bengal the reorganization which substantially endured till 1862, we have frequent mention of both Cauzies and Mufties as authorized expounders of the Mahommedan Law; but, though Kāẓīs were nominally maintained in the Provincial Courts down to their abolition (1829-31), practically the duty of those known as Kāẓīs became limited to quite different objects and the designation of the Law-officer who gave the futwā in our District Courts was Maulavī. The title Muftī has been long obsolete within the limits of British administration, and one might safely say that it is practically unknown to any surviving member of the Indian Civil Service, and never was heard in India as a living title by any Englishman now surviving. (See CAZEE, LAW-OFFICER, MOOLVEE).
b. A slang phrase in the army, for 'plain clothes.' No doubt it is taken in some way from a, but the transition is a little obscure. [It was perhaps originally applied to the attire of dressing-gown, smoking-cap, and slippers, which was like the Oriental dress of the Muftī who was familiar in Europe from his appearance in Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Compare the French en Pekin.]
a.—
1653.—"Pendant la tempeste vne femme Industani mourut sur notre bord; vn Moufti Persan de la Secte des Schaï (see SHEEAH) assista à cette derniere extrémité, luy donnant esperance d'vne meilleure vie que celle-cy, et d'vn Paradis, où l'on auroit tout ce que l'on peut desirer ... et la fit changer de Secte...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 281.
1674.—"Resolve to make a present to the Governors of Changulaput and Pallaveram, old friends of the Company, and now about to go to Golcondah, for the marriage of the former with the daughter of the King's Mufti or Churchman."—Fort St. Geo. Consn., March 26. In Notes and Exts., No. i. 30.
1767.—"3d. You will not let the Cauzy or Mufty receive anything from the tenants unlawfully."—Collectors' Instructions, in Long, 511.
1777.—"The Cazi and Muftis now deliver in the following report, on the right of inheritance claimed by the widow and nephew of Shabaz Beg Khan...."—Report on the Patna Cause, quoted in Stephen's Nuncomar and Impey, ii. 167.
1793.—"§ XXXVI. The Cauzies and Muftis of the provincial Courts of Appeal, shall also be cauzies and mufties of the courts of circuit in the several divisions, and shall not be removable, except on proof to the satisfaction of the Governor-General in Council that they are incapable, or have been guilty of misconduct...."—Reg. IX. of 1793.
[c. 1855.—
"Think'st thou I fear the dark vizier,
Or the mufti's vengeful arm?"
Bon Gaultier, The Cadi's Daughter.]
MUGG, n.p. Beng. Magh. It is impossible to deviate without deterioration from Wilson's definition of this obscure name: "A name commonly applied to the natives of Arakan, particularly those bordering on Bengal, or residing near the sea; the people of Chittagong." It is beside the question of its origin or proper application, to say, as Wilson goes on to say, on the authority of Lieut. (now Sir Arthur) Phayre, that the Arakanese disclaim the title, and restrict it to a class held in contempt, viz. the descendants of Arakanese settlers on the frontier of Bengal by Bengali mothers. The proper names of foreign nations in any language do not require the sanction of the nation to whom they are applied, and are often not recognised by the latter. German is not the German name for the Germans, nor Welsh the Welsh name for the Welsh, nor Hindu (originally) a Hindu word, nor China a Chinese word. The origin of the present word is very obscure. Sir A. Phayre kindly furnishes us with this note: "There is good reason to conclude that the name is derived from Maga, the name of the ruling race for many centuries in Magadha (modern Behar). The kings of Arakan were no doubt originally of this race. For though this is not distinctly expressed in the histories of Arakan, there are several legends of Kings from Benares reigning in that country, and one regarding a Brahman who marries a native princess, and whose descendants reign for a long period. I say this, although Buchanan appears to reject the theory (see Montg. Martin, ii. 18 seqq.)" The passage is quoted below.
On the other hand the Mahommedan writers sometimes confound Buddhists with fire-worshippers, and it seems possible that the word may have been Pers. magh = 'magus.' [See Risley, Tribes and Castes, ii. 28 seq.] The Chittagong Muggs long furnished the best class of native cooks in Calcutta; hence the meaning of the last quotation below.
1585.—"The Mogen, which be of the kingdom of Recon (see ARAKAN) and Rame, be stronger than the King of Tipara; so that Chatigam or Porto Grande (q.v.) is often under the King of Recon."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 389.
c. 1590.—(In a country adjoining Pegu) "there are mines of ruby and diamond and gold and silver and copper and petroleum and sulphur and (the lord of that country) has war with the tribe of Magh about the mines; also with the tribe of Tipara there are battles."—Āīn (orig.) i. 388; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 120].
c. 1604.—"Defeat of the Magh Rájá.—This short-sighted Rájá ... became elated with the extent of his treasures and the number of his elephants.... He then openly rebelled, and assembling an army at Sunárgánw laid seige to a fort in that vicinity ... Rájá Mán Singh ... despatched a force.... These soon brought the Magh Rájá and all his forces to action ... regardless of the number of his boats and the strength of his artillery."—Ináyatullah, in Elliot, vi. 109.
1638.—"Submission of Manek Ráí, the Mag Rájá of Chittagong."—Abdul-Hamíd Lahori, in do. vii. 66.
c. 1665.—"These many years there have always been in the Kingdom of Rakan or Moy (read Mog) some Portuguese, and with them a great number of their Christian Slaves, and other Franguis.... That was the refuge of the Run-aways from Goa, Ceilan, Cochin, Malague (see MALACCA), and all these other places which the Portugueses formerly held in the Indies."—Bernier, E.T. p. 53; [ed. Constable, 109].
1676.—"In all Bengala this King (of Arakan) is known by no other name but the King of Mogue."—Tavernier, E.T. i. 8.
1752.—"... that as the time of the Mugs draws nigh, they request us to order the pinnace to be with them by the end of next month."—In Long, p. 87.
c. 1810.—"In a paper written by Dr. Leyden, that gentleman supposes ... that Magadha is the country of the people whom we call Muggs.... The term Mugg, these people assured me, is never used by either themselves or by the Hindus, except when speaking the jargon commonly called Hindustani by Europeans...."—F. Buchanan, in Eastern India, ii. 18.
1811.—"Mugs, a dirty and disgusting people, but strong and skilful. They are somewhat of the Malayan race."—Solvyns, iii.
1866.—"That vegetable curry was excellent. Of course your cook is a Mug?"—The Dawk Bungalow, 389.
MUGGUR, s. Hind. and Mahr. magar and makar, from Skt. makara 'a sea-monster' (see MACAREO). The destructive broad-snouted crocodile of the Ganges and other Indian rivers, formerly called Crocodilus biporcatus, now apparently subdivided into several sorts or varieties.
1611.—"Alagaters or Crocodiles there called Murgur match...."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 436. The word is here intended for magar-mats or machh, 'crocodile-fish.'
[1876.—See under NUZZER.]
1878.—"The muggur is a gross pleb, and his features stamp him as low-born. His manners are coarse."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 82-3.
1879.—"En route I killed two crocodiles; they are usually called alligators, but that is a misnomer. It is the mugger ... these muggers kill a good many people, and have a playful way of getting under a boat, and knocking off the steersman with their tails, and then swallowing him afterwards."—Pollok, Sport, &c., i. 168.
1881.—"Alligator leather attains by use a beautiful gloss, and is very durable ... and it is possible that our rivers contain a sufficient number of the two varieties of crocodile, the muggar and the garial (see GAVIAL) for the tanners and leather-dressers of Cawnpore to experiment upon."—Pioneer Mail, April 26.
MUGGRABEE, n.p. Ar. maghrabī, 'western.' This word, applied to western Arabs, or Moors proper, is, as might be expected, not now common in India. It is the term that appears in the Hayraddin Mograbbin of Quentin Durward. From gharb, the root of this word, the Spaniards have the province of Algarve, and both Spanish and Portuguese have garbin, a west wind. [The magician in the tale of Alaeddin is a Maghrabī, and to this day in Languedoc and Gascony Maugraby is used as a term of cursing. (Burton, Ar. Nights, x. 35, 379). Muggerbee is used for a coin (see GUBBER).]
1563.—"The proper tongue in which Avicena wrote is that which is used in Syria and Mesopotamia and in Persia and in Tartary (from which latter Avicena came) and this tongue they call Araby; and that of our Moors they call Magaraby, as much as to say Moorish of the West...."—Garcia, f. 19v.
MULL, s. A contraction of Mulligatawny, and applied as a distinctive sobriquet to members of the Service belonging to the Madras Presidency, as Bengal people are called Qui-his, and Bombay people Ducks or Benighted.
[1837.—"The Mulls have been excited also by another occurrence ... affecting rather the trading than fashionable world."—Asiatic Journal, December, p. 251.]
[1852.—"... residents of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras are, in Eastern parlance, designated 'Qui Hies,' 'Ducks,' and 'Mulls.'"—Notes and Queries, 1st ser. v. 165.]
1860.—"It ys ane darke Londe, and ther dwellen ye Cimmerians whereof speketh Homerus Poeta in his Odysseia, and to thys Daye thei clepen Tenebrosi or 'ye Benyghted ffolke.' Bot thei clepen hemselvys Mullys from Mulligatawnee whch ys ane of theyr goddys from wch thei ben ysprong."—Ext. from a lately discovered MS. of Sir John Maundeville.
MULLIGATAWNY, s. The name of this well-known soup is simply a corruption of the Tamil milagu-tannīr, 'pepper-water'; showing the correctness of the popular belief which ascribes the origin of this excellent article to Madras, whence—and not merely from the complexion acquired there—the sobriquet of the preceding article.
1784.—
"In vain our hard fate we repine;
In vain on our fortune we rail;
On Mullaghee-tawny we dine,
Or Congee, in Bangalore Jail."
Song by a Gentleman of the Navy
(one of Hyder's Prisoners), in
Seton-Karr, i. 18.
[1823.—"... in a brasen pot was mulugu tanni, a hot vegetable soup, made chiefly from pepper and capsicums."—Hoole, Missions in Madras, 2nd ed. 249.]
MULMULL, s. Hind. malmal; Muslin.
[c. 1590.—"Malmal, per piece ... 4 R."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 94.]
1683.—"Ye said Ellis told your Petitioner that he would not take 500 Pieces of your Petitioner's mulmulls unless your Petitioner gave him 200 Rups. which your Petitioner being poor could not do."—Petition of Rogoodee, Weaver of Hugly, in Hedges, Diary, March 26; [Hak. Soc. i. 73].
1705.—"Malle-molles et autre diverses sortes de toiles ... stinquerques et les belles mousselines."—Luillier, 78.
MUNCHEEL, MANJEEL, s. This word is proper to the S.W. coast; Malayal. manjīl, mañchal, from Skt. maṅcha. It is the name of a kind of hammock-litter used on that coast as a substitute for palankin or dooly. It is substantially the same as the dandy of the Himālaya, but more elaborate. Correa describes but does not name it.
1561.—"... He came to the factory in a litter which men carried on their shoulders. These are made with thick canes, bent upwards and arched, and from them are suspended some clothes half a fathom in width, and a fathom and a half in length; and at the extremities pieces of wood to sustain the cloth hanging from the pole; and upon this cloth a mattress of the same size as the cloth ... the whole very splendid, and as rich as the gentlemen ... may desire."—Correa, Three Voyages, &c., p. 199.
1811.—"The Inquisition is about a quarter of a mile distant from the convent, and we proceeded thither in manjeels."—Buchanan, Christian Researches, 2nd ed., 171.
1819.—"Muncheel, a kind of litter resembling a sea-cot or hammock, hung to a long pole, with a moveable cover over the whole, to keep off the sun or rain. Six men will run with one from one end of the Malabar coast to the other, while twelve are necessary for the lightest palanquin."—Welsh, ii. 142.
1844.—"Muncheels, with poles complete.... Poles, Muncheel-, Spare."—Jameson's Bombay Code, Ordnance Nomenclature.
1862.—"We ... started ... in Munsheels or hammocks, slung to bamboos, with a shade over them, and carried by six men, who kept up unearthly yells the whole time."—Markham, Peru and India, 353.
c. 1886.—"When I landed at Diu, an officer met me with a Muncheel for my use, viz. a hammock slung to a pole, and protected by an awning."—M.-Gen. R. H. Keatinge.
A form of this word is used at Réunion, where a kind of palankin is called "le manchy." It gives a title to one of Leconte de Lisle's Poems:
c. 1858.—
"Sous un nuage frais de claire mousseline
Tous les dimanches au matin,
Tu venais à la ville en manchy de rotin,
Par les rampes de la colline."
Le Manchy.
The word has also been introduced by the Portuguese into Africa in the forms maxilla, and machilla.
1810.—"... tangas, que elles chamão maxilas."—Annaes Maritimas, iii. 434.
1880.—"The Portuguese (in Quilliman) seldom even think of walking the length of their own street, and ... go from house to house in a sort of palanquin, called here a machilla (pronounced masheela). This usually consists of a pole placed upon the shoulders of the natives, from which is suspended a long plank of wood, and upon that is fixed an old-fashioned-looking chair, or sometimes two. Then there is an awning over the top, hung all round with curtains. Each machilla requires about 6 to 8 bearers, who are all dressed alike in a kind of livery."—A Journey in E. Africa, by M. A. Pringle, p. 89.
MUNGOOSE, s. This is the popular Anglo-Indian name of the Indian ichneumons, represented in the South by Mangusta Mungos (Elliot), or Herpestes griseus (Geoffroy) of naturalists, and in Bengal by Herpestes malaccensis. [Blanford (Mammalia, 119 seqq.) recognises eight species, the "Common Indian Mungoose" being described as Herpestes mungo.] The word is Telugu, mangīsu, or mungīsa. In Upper India the animal is called newal, neolā, or nyaul. Jerdon gives mangūs however as a Deccani and Mahr. word; [Platts gives it as dialectic, and very doubtfully derives it from Skt. makshu, 'moving quickly.' In Ar. it is bint-'arūs, 'daughter of the bridegroom,' in Egypt kitt or katt Farāūn, 'Pharaoh's cat' (Burton, Ar. Nights, ii. 369)].
1673.—"... a Mongoose is akin to a Ferret...."—Fryer, 116.
1681.—"The knowledge of these antidotal herbs they have learned from the Mounggutia, a kind of Ferret."—Knox, 115.
1685.—"They have what they call a Mangus, creatures something different from ferrets; these hold snakes in great antipathy, and if they once discover them never give up till they have killed them."—Ribeyro, f. 56v.
Bluteau gives the following as a quotation from a History of Ceylon, tr. from Portuguese into French, published at Paris in 1701, p. 153. It is in fact the gist of an anecdote in Ribeyro.
"There are persons who cherish this animal and have it to sleep with them, although it is ill-tempered, for they prefer to be bitten by a mangus to being killed by a snake."
1774.—"He (the Dharma Raja of Bhootan) has got a little lap-dog and a Mungoos, which he is very fond of."—Bogle's Diary, in Markham's Tibet, 27.
1790.—"His (Mr. Glan's) experiments have also established a very curious fact, that the ichneumon, or mungoose, which is very common in this country, and kills snakes without danger to itself, does not use antidotes ... but that the poison of snakes is, to this animal, innocent."—Letter in Colebrooke's Life, p. 40.
1829.—"Il Mongùse animale simile ad una donnola."—Papi, in de Gubernatis, St. dei Viagg. Ital., p. 279.
MUNJEET, s. Hind. majīṭh, Skt. maṅjishṭha; a dye-plant (Rubia cordifolia, L., N.O. Cinchonaceae); 'Bengal Madder.'
MUNNEEPORE, n.p. Properly Manipūr; a quasi-independent State lying between the British district of Cachar on the extreme east of Bengal, and the upper part of the late kingdom of Burma, and in fact including a part of the watershed between the tributaries of the Brahmaputra and those of the Irawadi. The people are of genuinely Indo-Chinese and Mongoloid aspect, and the State, small and secluded as it is, has had its turn in temporary conquest and domination, like almost all the States of Indo-China from the borders of Assam to the mouth of the Mekong. Like the other Indo-Chinese States, too, Manipūr has its royal chronicle, but little seems to have been gathered from it. The Rājas and people have, for a period which seems uncertain, professed Hindu religion. A disastrous invasion of Manipūr by Alompra, founder of the present Burmese dynasty, in 1755, led a few years afterwards to negotiations with the Bengal Government, and the conclusion of a treaty, in consequence of which a body of British sepoys was actually despatched in 1763, but eventually returned without reaching Manipūr. After this, intercourse practically ceased till the period of our first Burmese War (1824-25), when the country was overrun by the Burmese, who also entered Cachar; and British troops, joined with a Manipūrī force, expelled them. Since then a British officer has always been resident at Manipūr, and at one time (c. 1838-41) a great deal of labour was expended on opening a road between Cachar and Manipūr. [The murder of Mr. Quinton, Chief-Commissioner of Assam, and other British officers at Manipūr, in the close of 1890, led to the infliction of severe punishment on the leaders of the outbreak. The Mahārāja, whose abdication led to this tragedy, died in Calcutta in the following year, and the State is now under British management during the minority of his successor.]
This State has been called by a variety of names. Thus, in Rennell's Memoir and maps of India it bears the name of Meckley. In Symes's Narrative, and in maps of that period, it is Cassay; names, both of which have long disappeared from modern maps. Meckley represents the name (Makli?) by which the country was known in Assam; Mogli (apparently a form of the same) was the name in Cachar; Ka-sé or Ka-thé (according to the Ava pronunciation) is the name by which it is known to the Shans or Burmese.
1755.—"I have carried my Arms to the confines of China ... on the other quarter I have reduced to my subjection the major part of the Kingdom of Cassay; whose Heir I have taken captive, see there he sits behind you...."—Speech of Alompra to Capt. Baker at Momchabue. Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 152.
1759.—"Cassay, which ... lies to the N. Westward of Ava, is a Country, so far as I can learn, hitherto unheard of in Europe...."—Letter, dd. 22 June 1759, in ibid. 116.
[1762.—"... the President sent the Board a letter which he had received from Mr. Verelst at Chittagong, containing an invitation which had been made to him and his Council by the Rajah of Meckley to assist him in obtaining redress ... from the Burmas...."—Letter, in Wheeler, Early Records, 291.]
1763.—"Meckley is a Hilly Country, and is bounded on the North, South, and West by large tracts of Cookie Mountains, which prevent any intercourse with the countries beyond them; and on the East[175] by the Burampoota (see BURRAMPOOTER); beyond the Hills, to the North by Asam and Poong; to the West Cashar; to the South and East the Burmah Country, which lies between Meckley and China.... The Burampoota is said to divide, somewhere to the north of Poong, into two large branches, one of which passes through Asam, and down by the way of Dacca, the other through Poong into the Burma Country."—Acct. of Meckley, by Nerher Doss Gosseen, in Dalrymple's Or. Rep., ii. 477-478.
" "... there is about seven days plain country between Moneypoor and Burampoota, after crossing which, about seven days, Jungle and Hills, to the inhabited border of the Burmah country."—Ibid. 481.
1793.—"... The first ridge of mountains towards Thibet and Bootan, forms the limit of the survey to the north; to which I may now add, that the surveys extend no farther eastward, than the frontiers of Assam and Meckley.... The space between Bengal and China, is occupied by the province of Meckley and other districts, subject to the King of Burmah, or Ava...."—Rennell's Memoir, 295.
1799.—(Referring to 1757). "Elated with success Alompra returned to Monchaboo, now the seat of imperial government. After some months ... he took up arms against the Cassayers.... Having landed his troops, he was preparing to advance to Munnepoora, the capital of Cassay, when information arrived that the Peguers had revolted...."—Symes, Narrative, 41-42.
" "All the troopers in the King's service are natives of Cassay, who are much better horsemen than the Birmans."—Ibid. 318.
1819.—"Beyond the point of Negraglia (see NEGRAIS), as far as Azen (see ASSAM), and even further, there is a small chain of mountains that divides Aracan and Cassé from the Burmese...."—Sangermano, p. 33.
1827.—"The extensive area of the Burman territory is inhabited by many distinct nations or tribes, of whom I have heard not less than eighteen enumerated. The most considerable of these are the proper Burmans, the Peguans or Talains, the Shans or people of Lao, the Cassay, or more correctly Kathé...."—Crawfurd's Journal, 372.
1855.—"The weaving of these silks ... gives employment to a large body of the population in the suburbs and villages round the capital, especially to the Munnipoorians, or Kathé, as they are called by the Burmese.
"These people, the descendants of unfortunates who were carried off in droves from their country by the Burmans in the time of King Mentaragyi and his predecessors, form a very great proportion ... of the metropolitan population, and they are largely diffused in nearly all the districts of Central Burma.... Whatever work is in hand for the King or for any of the chief men near the capital, these people supply the labouring hands; if boats have to be manned they furnish the rowers; and whilst engaged on such tasks any remuneration they may receive is very scanty and uncertain."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 153-154.
MUNSUBDAR. Hind. from Pers. manṣabdār, 'the holder of office or dignity' (Ar. manṣab). The term was used to indicate quasi-feudal dependents of the Mogul Government who had territory assigned to them, on condition of their supplying a certain number of horse, 500, 1000 or more. In many cases the title was but nominal, and often it was assumed without warrant. [Mr. Irvine discusses the question at length and represents manṣab by "the word 'rank,' as its object was to settle precedence and fix gradation of pay; it did not necessarily imply the exercise of any particular office, and meant nothing beyond the fact that the holder was in the employ of the State, and bound in return to yield certain services when called upon." (J.R.A.S., July 1896, pp. 510 seqq.)]
[1617.—"... slew one of them and twelve Maancipdares."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 417; in ii. 461, "Mancipdaries."
[1623.—"... certain Officers of the Militia, whom they call Mansubdàr."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 97.]
c. 1665.—"Mansebdars are Cavaliers of Manseb, which is particular and honourable Pay; not so great indeed as that of the Omrahs ... they being esteemed as little Omrahs, and of the rank of those, that are advanced to that dignity."—Bernier, E.T. p. 67; [ed. Constable, 215].
1673.—"Munsubdars or petty omrahs."—Fryer, 195.
1758.—"... a munsubdar or commander of 6000 horse."—Orme, ed. 1803, ii. 278.
MUNTRA, s. Skt. mantra, 'a text of the Vedas; a magical formula.'