1878.—"The Governor-General's carriage ... may be jostled by the hired 'palki-gharry,' with its two wretched ponies, rope harness, nearly naked driver, and wheels whose sinuous motions impress one with the idea that they must come off at the next revolution."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 38.
This description applies rather to the cranchee (q.v.) than to the palkee-garry, which is (or used to be) seldom so sordidly equipt. [Mr. Kipling's account of the Calcutta palki gari (Beast and Man, 192) is equally uncomplimentary.]
PALMYRA, s. The fan-palm (Borassus flabelliformis), which is very commonly cultivated in S. India and Ceylon (as it is also indeed in the Ganges valley from Farrukhābād down to the head of the Delta), and hence was called by the Portuguese par excellence, palmeira or 'the palm-tree.' Sir J. Hooker writes: "I believe this palm is nowhere wild in India; and have always suspected that it, like the tamarind, was introduced from Africa." [So Watt, Econ. Dict. i. 504.] It is an important tree in the economy of S. India, Ceylon, and parts of the Archipelago as producing jaggery (q.v.) or 'palm-sugar'; whilst the wood affords rafters and laths, and the leaf gives a material for thatch, mats, umbrellas, fans, and a substitute for paper. Its minor uses are many: indeed it is supposed to supply nearly all the wants of man, and a Tamil proverb ascribes to it 801 uses (see Ferguson's Palmyra-Palm of Ceylon, and Tennent's Ceylon, i. 111, ii. 519 seqq.; also see BRAB).
1563.—"... A ilha de Ceilão ... ha muitas palmeiras."—Garcia, ff. 65v-66.
1673.—"Their Buildings suit with the Country and State of the inhabitants, being mostly contrived for Conveniency: the Poorer are made of Boughs and ollas of the Palmeroes."—Fryer, 199.
1718.—"... Leaves of a Tree called Palmeira."—Prop. of the Gospel in the East, iii. 85.
1756.—"The interval was planted with rows of palmira, and coco-nut trees."—Orme, ii. 90, ed. 1803.
1860.—"Here, too, the beautiful palmyra palm, which abounds over the north of the Island, begins to appear."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 54.
PALMYRA POINT, n.p. Otherwise called Pt. Pedro, [a corruption of the Port. Punta das Pedras, 'the rocky cape,' a name descriptive of the natural features of the coast (Tennent, ii. 535)]. This is the N.E. point of Ceylon, the high palmyra trees on which are conspicuous.
PALMYRAS, POINT, n.p. This is a headland on the Orissa coast, quite low, but from its prominence at the most projecting part of the combined Mahānadī and Brāhmaṇī delta an important landmark, especially in former days, for ships bound from the south for the mouth of the Hoogly, all the more for the dangerous shoal off it. A point of the Mahānadī delta, 24 miles to the south-west, is called False Point, from its liability to be mistaken for P. Palmyras.
1553.—"... o Cabo Segógora, a que os nossos chamam das Palmeiras por humas que alli estam, as quaes os navigantes notam por lhes dar conhecimento da terra. E deste cabo ... fazemos fim do Reyno Orixá."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1598.—"... 2 miles (Dutch) before you come to the point of Palmerias, you shall see certaine blacke houels standing vppon a land that is higher than all the land thereabouts, and from thence to the Point it beginneth againe to be low ground and ... you shall see some small (but not ouer white) sandie Downes ... you shall finde being right against the point de Palmerias ... that vpon the point there is neyther tree nor bush, and although it hath the name of the Point of Palm-trees, it hath notwithstanding right forth, but one Palme tree."—Linschoten, 3d Book, ch. 12.
[c. 1665.—"Even the Portuguese of Ogouli (see HOOGLY), in Bengale, purchased without scruple these wretched captives, and the horrid traffic was transacted in the vicinity of the island of Galles, near Cape das Palmas."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 176.]
1823.—"It is a large delta, formed by the mouths of the Maha-Nuddee and other rivers, the northernmost of which insulates Cape Palmiras."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 88.
[PAMBRE, s. An article of dress which seems to have been used for various purposes, as a scarf, and perhaps as a turban. Mr. Yusuf Ali (Monograph on Silk Fabrics, 81) classes it among 'fabrics which are simply wrapped over the head and shoulders by men and women'; and he adds: "The Pamri is used by women and children, generally amongst Hindus." His specimens are some 3 yards long by 1 broad, and are made of pure silk or silk and cotton, with an ornamental border. The word does not appear in the Hind. dictionaries, but Molesworth has Mahr. pāmarī, 'a sort of silk cloth.'
[1616.—"He covered my head with his Pambre."—Foster, Letters, iv. 344.]
For some of the following quotations and notes I am indebted to Mr. W. Foster.
[1617.—"Antelopes and ramshelles,[203] which bear the finest wool in the world, with which they make very delicate mantles, called Pawmmerys."—Joseph Salbank to the E. India Co., Agra, Nov. 22, 1617; India Office Records, O. C., No. 568.
[1627.—"L'on y [Kashmír] travaille aussi plusieurs Vomeris [misprint for Pomeris, which he elsewhere mentions as a stuff from Kashmir and Lahore], qui sont des pieces d'estoffes longues de trois aulnes, et largers de deux, faite de laine de moutons, qui croit au derriere de ces bestes, et qui est aussi fine que de la soye: on tient ces estoffes exposées au froid pendant l'hyver: elles ont un beau lustre, semblables aux tabis de nos cartiers."—François Pelsart, in Thevenot's Rélations de divers Voyages, vol. i. pt. 2.
[1634.—A letter in the India Office of Dec. 29 mentions that the Governor of Surat presented to the two chief Factors a horse and "a coat and pamorine" apiece.
[ " O. C., No. 1543A (I. O. Records) mentions the presentation to the President of Surat of a "coat and pamorine."
[1673.—"A couple of pamerins, which are fine mantles."—Fryer's New Account, p. 79; also see 177; in 112 ramerin.
[1766.—"... a lungee (see LOONGHEE) or clout, barely to cover their nakedness, and a pamree or loose mantle to throw over their shoulders, or to lye on upon the ground."—Grose, 2nd ed. ii. 81.]
PANCHĀÑGAM, s. Skt. = 'quinque-partite.' A native almanac in S. India is called so, because it contains information on five subjects, viz. Solar Days, Lunar Days, Asterisms, Yogas, and karaṇas (certain astrological divisions of the days of a month). Panchanga is used also, at least by Buchanan below, for the Brahman who keeps and interprets the almanac for the villagers. [This should be Skt. pañchāngī.]
1612.—"Every year they make new almanacs for the eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon, and they have a perpetual one which serves to pronounce their auguries, and this they call Panchagão."—Couto, V. vi. 4.
1651.—"The Bramins, in order to know the good and bad days, have made certain writings after the fashion of our Almanacks, and these they call Panjangam."—Rogerius, 55. This author gives a specimen (pp. 63-69).
1800.—"No one without consulting the Panchanga, or almanac-keeper, knows when he is to perform the ceremonies of religion."—Buchanan's Mysore, &c., i. 234.
PANDAL, PENDAUL, s. A shed. Tamil pandal, [Skt. bandh, 'to bind'].
1651.—"... it is the custom in this country when there is a Bride in the house to set up before the door certain stakes somewhat taller than a man, and these are covered with lighter sticks on which foliage is put to make a shade.... This arrangement is called a Pandael in the country speech."—Rogerius, 12.
1717.—"Water-Bandels, which are little sheds for the Conveniency of drinking Water."—Phillips's Account, 19.
1745.—"Je suivis la procession d'un peu loin, et arrivé aux sepultures, j'y vis un pandel ou tente dressée, sur la fosse du defunt; elle était ornée de branches de figuier, de toiles peintes, &c. L'intérieur était garnie de petites lampes allumées."—Norbert, Mémoires, iii. 32.
1781.—"Les gens riches font construir devant leur porte un autre pendal."—Sonnerat, ed. 1782, i. 134.
1800.—"I told the farmer that, as I meant to make him pay his full rent, I could not take his fowl and milk without paying for them; and that I would not enter his pundull, because he had not paid the labourers who made it."—Letter of Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 283.
1814.—"There I beheld, assembled in the same pandaul, or reposing under the friendly banian-tree, the Gosannee (see GOSAIN) in a state of nudity, the Yogee (see JOGEE) with a lark or paroquet his sole companion for a thousand miles."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 465; [2nd ed. ii. 72. In ii. 109 he writes Pendall].
1815.—"Pandauls were erected opposite the two principal fords on the river, where under my medical superintendence skilful natives provided with eau-de-luce and other remedies were constantly stationed."—Dr. M‘Kenzie, in Asiatic Researches, xiii. 329.
PANDÁRAM, s. A Hindu ascetic mendicant of the (so-called) Śūdra, or even of a lower caste. A priest of the lower Hindu castes of S. India and Ceylon. Tamil, paṇḍāram. C. P. Brown says the Paṇḍāram is properly a Vaishnava, but other authors apply the name to Śaiva priests. [The Madras Gloss. derives the word from Skt. pāṇḍu-ranga, 'white-coloured.' Messrs. Cox and Stuart (Man. of N. Arcot. i. 199) derive it from Skt. bhāṇḍagāra, 'a temple-treasury,' wherein were employed those who had renounced the world. "The Pandārams seem to receive numerous recruits from the Śaivite Śúdra castes, who choose to make a profession of piety and wander about begging. They are, in reality, very lax in their modes of life, often drinking liquor and eating animal food furnished by any respectable Śúdra. They often serve in Śiva temples, where they make up garlands of flowers to decorate the lingam, and blow brass trumpets when offerings are made or processions take place" (ibid.).]
1711.—"... But the destruction of 50 or 60,000 pagodas worth of grain ... and killing the Pandarrum; these are things which make his demands really carry too much justice with them."—Letter in Wheeler, ii. 163.
1717.—"... Bramans, Pantarongal, and other holy men."—Phillips's Account, 18. The word is here in the Tamil plural.
1718.—"Abundance of Bramanes, Pantares, and Poets ... flocked together."—Propn. of the Gospel, ii. 18.
1745.—"On voit ici quelquefois les Pandarams ou Penitens qui ont été en pélérinage à Bengale; quand ils retournent ils apportent ici avec grand soin de l'eau du Gange dans des pots ou vases bien formés."—Norbert, Mém. iii. 28.
c. 1760.—"The Pandarams, the Mahometan priests, and the Bramins thomselves yield to the force of truth."—Grose, i. 252.
1781.—"Les Pandarons ne sont pas moins révérés que les Saniasis. Ils sont de la secte de Chiven, se barbouillent toute la figure, la poitrine, et les bras avec des cendres de bouze de vache," &c.—Sonnerat, 8vo. ed., ii. 113-114.
1798.—"The other figure is of a Pandaram or Senassey, of the class of pilgrims to the various pagodas."—Pennant's View of Hindostan, preface.
1800.—"In Chera the Pújáris (see POOJAREE) or priests in these temples are all Pandarums, who are the Súdras dedicated to the service of Siva's temples...."—Buchanan's Mysore, &c., ii. 338.
1809.—"The chief of the pagoda (Rameswaram), or Pandaram, waiting on the beach."—Ld. Valentia, i. 338.
1860.—"In the island of Nainativoe, to the south-west of Jafna, there was till recently a little temple, dedicated to the goddess Naga Tambiran, in which consecrated serpents were tenderly reared by the Pandarams, and daily fed at the expense of the worshippers."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 373.
PANDARĀNI, n.p. The name of a port of Malabar of great reputation in the Middle Ages, a name which has gone through many curious corruptions. Its position is clear enough from Varthema's statement that an uninhabited island stood opposite at three leagues distance, which must be the "Sacrifice Rock" of our charts. [The Madras Gloss. identifies it with Collam.] The name appears upon no modern map, but it still attaches to a miserable fishing village on the site, in the form Pantalānī (approx. lat. 11° 26′), a little way north of Koilandi. It is seen below in Ibn Batuta's notice that Pandarāni afforded an exceptional shelter to shipping during the S.W. monsoon. This is referred to in an interesting letter to one of the present writers from his friend Col. (now Lt.-Gen.) R. H. Sankey, C.B., R.E., dated Madras, 13th Feby., 1881: "One very extraordinary feature on the coast is the occurrence of mud-banks in from 1 to 6 fathoms of water, which have the effect of breaking both surf and swell to such an extent that ships can run into the patches of water so sheltered at the very height of the monsoon, when the elements are raging, and not only find a perfectly still sea, but are able to land their cargoes.... Possibly the snugness of some of the harbours frequented by the Chinese junks, such as Pandarani, may have been mostly due to banks of this kind? By the way, I suspect your 'Pandarani' was nothing but the roadstead of Coulete (Coulandi or Quelande of our Atlas). The Master Attendant who accompanied me, appears to have a good opinion of it as an anchorage, and as well sheltered." [See Logan, Malabar, i. 72.]
c. 1150.—"Fandarina is a town built at the mouth of a river which comes from Manibár (see MALABAR), where vessels from India and Sind cast anchor. The inhabitants are rich, the markets well supplied, and trade flourishing."—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. 90.
1296.—"In the year (1296) it was prohibited to merchants who traded in fine or costly products with Maparh (Ma'bar or Coromandel), Peï-nan (?) and Fantalaina, three foreign kingdoms, to export any one of them more than the value of 50,000 ting in paper money."—Chinese Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, quoted by Pauthier, Marc Pol, 532.
c. 1300.—"Of the cities on the shore the first is Sindábúr, then Faknúr, then the country of Manjarúr, then the country of Hílí, then the country of (Fandaraina[204])."—Rashíduddín, in Elliot, i. 68.
c. 1321.—"And the forest in which the pepper groweth extendeth for a good 18 days' journey, and in that forest there be two cities, the one whereof is called Flandrina, and the other Cyngilin" (see SHINKALI).—Friar Odoric, in Cathay, &c., 75.
c. 1343.—"From Boddfattan we proceeded to Fandaraina, a great and fine town with gardens and bazars. The Musulmans there occupy three quarters, each having its mosque.... It is at this town that the ships of China pass the winter" (i.e. the S.W. monsoon).—Ibn Batuta, iv. 88. (Compare Roteiro below.)
c. 1442.—"The humble author of this narrative having received his order of dismissal departed from Calicut by sea, after having passed the port of Bendinaneh (read Bandarānah, and see MANGALORE, a) situated on the coast of Melabar, (he) reached the port of Mangalor...."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in XVth Cent., 20.
1498.—"... hum lugar que se chama Pandarany ... por que alii estava bom porto, e que alii nos amarassemos ... e que era costume que os navios que vinham a esta terra pousasem alii por estarem seguros...."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 53.
1503.—"Da poi feceno vela et in vn porto de dicto Re chiamato Fundarane amazorno molta gẽte cõ artelaria et deliberorno andare verso il regno de Cuchin...."—Letter of King Emanuel, p. 5.
c. 1506.—"Questo capitanio si trovò nave 17 de mercadanti Mori in uno porto se chima Panidarami, e combattè con queste le quali se messeno in terra; per modo che questo capitanio mandò tutti li soi copani ben armadi con un baril de polvere per cadaun copano, e mise fuoco dentro dette navi de Mori; e tutte quelle brasolle, con tutte quelle spezierie che erano carghe per la Mecha, e s'intende ch'erano molto ricche...."—Leonardo Ca' Masser, 20-21.
1510.—"Here we remained two days, and then departed, and went to a place which is called Pandarani, distant from this one day's journey, and which is subject to the King of Calicut. This place is a wretched affair, and has no port."—Varthema, 153.
1516.—"Further on, south south-east, is another Moorish place which is called Pandarani, in which also there are many ships."—Barbosa, 152.
In Rowlandson's Translation of the Tohfat-ul-Majāhidīn (Or. Transl. Fund, 1833), the name is habitually misread Fundreeah for Fundaraina.
1536.—"Martim Afonso ... ran along the coast in search of the paraos, the galleys and caravels keeping the sea, and the foists hugging the shore. And one morning they came suddenly on Cunhalemarcar with 25 paraos, which the others had sent to collect rice; and on catching sight of them as they came along the coast towards the Isles of Pandarane, Diogo de Reynoso, who was in advance of our foists, he and his brother ... and Diogo Corvo ... set off to engage the Moors, who were numerous and well armed. And Cunhale, when he knew it was Martim Afonso, laid all pressure on his oars to double the Point of Tiracole...."—Correa, iii. 775.
PANDY, s. The most current colloquial name for the Sepoy mutineer during 1857-58. The surname Pāṇḍē [Skt. Paṇḍita] was a very common one among the high-caste Sepoys of the Bengal army, being the title of a Jōt [got, gotra] or subdivisional branch of the Brahmins of the Upper Provinces, which furnished many men to the ranks. "The first two men hung" (for mutiny) "at Barrackpore were Pandies by caste, hence all sepoys were Pandies, and ever will be so called" (Bourchier, as below). "In the Bengal army before the Mutiny, there was a person employed in the quarter-guard to strike the gong, who was known as the gunta Pandy" (M.-G. Keatinge). Ghanṭā, 'a gong or bell.'
1857.—"As long as I feel the entire confidence I do, that we shall triumph over this iniquitous combination, I cannot feel gloom. I leave this feeling to the Pandies, who have sacrificed honour and existence to the ghost of a delusion."—H. Greathed, Letters during the Siege of Delhi, 99.
" "We had not long to wait before the line of guns, howitzers, and mortar carts, chiefly drawn by elephants, soon hove in sight.... Poor Pandy, what a pounding was in store for you!..."—Bourchier, Eight Months' Campaign against the Bengal Sepoy Army, 47.
PANGARA, PANGAIA, s. From the quotations, a kind of boat used on the E. coast of Africa. [Pyrard de Laval (i. 53, Hak. Soc.) speaks of a "kind of raft called a panguaye," on which Mr. Gray comments: "As Rivara points out, Pyrard mistakes the use of the word panguaye, or, as the Portuguese write it, pangaio, which was a small sailing canoe.... Rivara says the word is still used in Portuguese India and Africa for a two-masted barge with lateen sails. It is mentioned in Lancaster's Voyages (Hak. Soc. pp. 5, 6, and 26), where it is described as being like a barge with one mat sail of coco-nut leaves. 'The barge is sowed together with the rindes of trees and pinned with wooden pinnes.' See also Alb. Comm. Hak. Soc. iii. p. 60, note; and Dr. Burnell's note to Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. p. 32, where it appears that the word is used as early as 1505, in Dom Manoel's letter."]
[1513.—Pandejada and Panguagada are used for a sort of boat near Malacca in D'Andrade's Letter to Alboquerque of 22 Feby.; and we have "a Pandejada laden with supplies and arms" in India Office MS., Corpo Chronologico, vol. i.]
1591.—"... divers Pangaras or boates, which are pinned with wooden pinnes, and sowed together with Palmito cordes."—Barker, in Hakluyt, ii. 588.
1598.—"In this fortresse of Sofala the Captaine of Mossambique hath a Factor, and twice or thrice every yere he sendeth certaine boats called Pangaios, which saile along the shore to fetch gold, and bring it to Mossambique. These Pangaios are made of light planks, and sowed together with cords, without any nailes."—Linschoten, ch. 4; [Hak. Soc. i. 32].
1616.—"Each of these bars, of Quilimane, Cumama, and Luabo, allows of the entrance of vessels of 100 tons, viz., galeots and pangaios, loaded with cloth and provisions; and when they enter the river they discharge cargo into other light and very long boats called almadias...."—Bocarro, Decada, 534.
[1766.—"Their larger boats, called panguays, are raised some feet from the sides with reeds and branches of trees, well bound together with small-cord, and afterwards made water-proof, with a kind of bitumen, or resinous substance."—Grose, 2nd ed. ii. 13.]
PANGOLIN, s. This book-name for the Manis is Malay Pangūlang, 'the creature that rolls itself up.' [Scott says: "The Malay word is peng-goling, transcribed also peng-guling; Katingan pengiling. It means 'roller,' or, more literally, 'roll up.' The word is formed from goling, 'roll, wrap,' with the denominative prefix pe-, which takes before g the form peng." Mr. Skeat remarks that the modern Malay form is teng-giling or senggiling, but the latter seems to be used, not for the Manis, but for a kind of centipede which rolls itself up. "The word pangolin, to judge by its form, should be derived from guling, which means to 'roll over and over.' The word pangguling or pengguling in the required sense of Manis, does not exist in standard Malay. The word was either derived from some out-of-the-way dialect, or was due to some misunderstanding on the part of the Europeans who first adopted it." Its use in English begins with Pennant (Synopsis of Quadrupeds, 1771, p. 329). Adam Burt gives a dissection of the animal in Asiat. Res. ii. 353 seqq.] It is the Manis pentedactyla of Linn.; called in Hind. bajrkīt (i.e. Skt. vajra-kiṭa 'adamant reptile'). We have sometimes thought that the Manis might have been the creature which was shown as a gold-digging ant (see Busbeck below); was not this also the creature that Bertrandon de la Brocquière met with in the desert of Gaza? When pursued, "it began to cry like a cat at the approach of a dog. Pierre de la Vaudrei struck it on the back with the point of his sword, but it did no harm, from being covered with scales like a sturgeon." A.D. 1432. (T. Wright's Early Travels in Palestine, p. 290) (Bohn). It is remarkable to find the statement that these ants were found in the possession of the King of Persia recurring in Herodotus and in Busbeck, with an interval of nearly 2000 years! We see that the suggestion of the Manis being the gold-digging ant has been anticipated by Mr. Blakesley in his Herodotus. ["It is now understood that the gold-digging ants were neither, as ancients supposed, an extraordinary kind of real ants, nor, as many learned men have since supposed, large animals mistaken for ants, but Tibetan miners who, like their descendants of the present day, preferred working their mines in winter when the frozen soil stands well and is not likely to trouble them by falling in. The Sanskrit word pipilika denotes both an ant and a particular kind of gold" (McCrindle, Ancient India, its Invasion by Alexander the Great, p. 341 seq.]
c. B.C. 445.—"Here in this desert, there live amid the sand great ants, in size somewhat less than dogs, but bigger than foxes. The Persian King has a number of them, which have been caught by the hunters in the land whereof we are speaking...."—Herod. iii. 102 (Rawlinson's tr.).
1562.—Among presents to the G. Turk from the King of Persia: "in his inusitati generis animantes, qualem memini dictum fuisse allatam formicam Indicam mediocris canis magnitudine, mordacem admodum et saevam."—Busbequii Opera, Elzev., 1633, p. 343.
PANICALE, s. This is mentioned by Bluteau (vi. 223) as an Indian disease, a swelling of the feet. Câle is here probably the Tamil kāl, 'leg.' [Ānaikkāl is the Tamil name for what is commonly called Cochin Leg.]
PANIKAR, PANYCA, &c., s. Malayāl. paṇikan, 'a fencing-master, a teacher' [Mal. paṇi, 'work,' karan, 'doer']; but at present it more usually means 'an astrologer.'
1518.—"And there are very skilful men who teach this art (fencing), and they are called Panicars."—Barbosa, 128.
1553.—"And when (the Naire) comes to the age of 7 years he is obliged to go to the fencing-school, the master of which (whom they call Panical) they regard as a father, on account of the instruction he gives them."—Barros, I. ix. 3.
1554.—"To the panical (in the Factory at Cochin) 300 reis a month, which are for the year 3600 reis."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 24.
1556.—"... aho Rei arma caualleiro ho Panica q̃ ho ensinou."—D. de Goes, Chron. 51.
1583.—"The maisters which teach them, be graduats in the weapons which they teach, and they bee called in their language Panycaes."—Castañeda (by N. L.), f. 36v.
1599.—"L'Archidiacre pour assurer sa personne fit appeller quelques-uns des principaux Maitres d'Armes de sa Nation. On appelle ces Gens-là Panicals.... Ils sont extremement redoutez."—La Croze, 101.
1604.—"The deceased Panical had engaged in his pay many Nayres, with obligation to die for him."—Guerrero, Relacion, 90.
1606.—"Paniquais is the name by which the same Malauares call their masters of fence."—Gouvea, f. 28.
1644.—"To the cost of a Penical and 4 Nayres who serve the factory in the conveyance of the pepper on rafts for the year 12,960 res."—Bocarro, MS. 316.
PANTHAY, PANTHÉ, s. This is the name applied of late years in Burma, and in intelligence coming from the side of Burma, to the Mahommedans of Yunnan, who established a brief independence at Talifu, between 1867 and 1873. The origin of the name is exceedingly obscure. It is not, as Mr. Baber assures us, used or known in Yunnan itself (i.e. by the Chinese). It must be remarked that the usual Burmese name for a Mahommedan is Pathí, and one would have been inclined to suppose Panthé to be a form of the same; as indeed we see that Gen. Fytche has stated it to be (Burma, Past and Present, ii. 297-8). But Sir Arthur Phayre, a high authority, in a note with which he has favoured us, observes: "Panthé, I believe, comes from a Chinese word signifying 'native or indigenous.' It is quite a modern name in Burma, and is applied exclusively to the Chinese Mahommedans who come with caravans from Yunnan. I am not aware that they can be distinguished from other Chinese caravan traders, except that they do not bring hams for sale as the others do. In dress and appearance, as well as in drinking samshu (see SAMSHOO) and gambling, they are like the others. The word Pa-thi again is the old Burmese word for 'Mahommedan.' It is applied to all Mahommedans other than the Chinese Panthé. It is in no way connected with the latter word, but is, I believe, a corruption of Pārsī or Fārsī, i.e. Persian." He adds:—"The Burmese call their own indigenous Mahommedans 'Pathi-Kulà,' and Hindus 'Hindu-Kulà,' when they wish to distinguish between the two" (see KULA). The last suggestion is highly probable, and greatly to be preferred to that of M. Jacquet, who supposed that the word might be taken from Pasei in Sumatra, which was during part of the later Middle Ages a kind of metropolis of Islam, in the Eastern Seas.[205]
We may mention two possible origins for Panthé, as indicating lines for enquiry:—
a. The title Pathí (or Passí, for the former is only the Burmese lisping utterance) is very old. In the remarkable Chinese Account of Camboja, dating from the year 1296, which has been translated by Abel-Rémusat, there is a notice of a sect in Camboja called Pa-sse. The author identifies them in a passing way, with the Tao-sse, but that is a term which Fah-hian also in India uses in a vague way, apparently quite inapplicable to the Chinese sect properly so called. These Pa-sse, the Chinese writer says, "wear a red or white cloth on their heads, like the head-dress of Tartar women, but not so high. They have edifices or towers, monasteries, and temples, but not to be compared for magnitude with those of the Buddhists.... In their temples there are no images ... they are allowed to cover their towers and their buildings with tiles. The Pa-sse never eat with a stranger to their sect, and do not allow themselves to be seen eating; they drink no wine," &c. (Rémusat, Nouv. Mél. As., i. 112). We cannot be quite sure that this applies to Mahommedans, but it is on the whole probable that the name is the same as the Pathi of the Burmese, and has the same application. Now the people from whom the Burmese were likely to adopt a name for the Yunnan Mahommedans are the Shans, belonging to the great Siamese race, who occupy the intermediate country. The question occurs:—Is Panthé a Shan term for Mahommedan? If so, is it not probably only a dialectic variation of the Passe of Camboja, the Pathí of Burma, but entering Burma from a new quarter, and with its identity thus disguised? (Cushing, in his Shan Dict. gives Pasī for Mahommedan. We do not find Panthé). There would be many analogies to such a course of things.
["The name Panthay is a purely Burmese word, and has been adopted by us from them. The Shan word Pang-hse is identical, and gives us no help to the origin of the term. Among themselves and to the Chinese they are known as Hui-hui or Hui-tzu (Mahomedans)."—J. G. Scott, Gazetteer Upper Burma, I. i. 606.]
b. We find it stated in Lieut. Garnier's narrative of his great expedition to Yunnan that there is a hybrid Chinese race occupying part of the plain of Tali-fu, who are called Pen-ti (see Garnier, Voy. d'Expl. i. 518). This name again, it has been suggested, may possibly have to do with Panthé. But we find that Pen-ti ('root-soil') is a generic expression used in various parts of S. China for 'aborigines'; it could hardly then have been applied to the Mahommedans.
PANWELL, n.p. This town on the mainland opposite Bombay was in pre-railway times a usual landing-place on the way to Poona, and the English form of the name must have struck many besides ourselves. [Hamilton (Descr. ii. 151) says it stands on the river Pan, whence perhaps the name]. We do not know the correct form; but this one has substantially come down to us from the Portuguese: e.g.
1644.—"This Island of Caranja is quite near, almost frontier-place, to six cities of the Moors of the Kingdom of the Melique, viz. Carnallî, Drugo, Pene, Sabayo, Abitta, and Panoel."—Bocarro, MS. f. 227.
1804.—"P.S. Tell Mrs. Waring that notwithstanding the debate at dinner, and her recommendation, we propose to go to Bombay, by Panwell, and in the balloon!"—Wellington, from "Candolla," March 8.
PAPAYA, PAPAW, s. This word seems to be from America like the insipid, not to say nasty, fruit which it denotes (Carica papaya, L.). A quotation below indicates that it came by way of the Philippines and Malacca. [The Malay name, according to Mr. Skeat, is betik, which comes from the same Ar. form as pateca, though papaya and kapaya have been introduced by Europeans.] Though of little esteem, and though the tree's peculiar quality of rendering fresh meat tender which is familiar in the W. Indies, is little known or taken advantage of, the tree is found in gardens and compounds all over India, as far north as Delhi. In the N.W. Provinces it is called by the native gardeners aranḍ-kharbūza, 'castor-oil-tree-melon,' no doubt from the superficial resemblance of its foliage to that of the Palma Christi. According to Moodeen Sheriff it has a Perso-Arabic name 'anbah-i-Hindī; in Canarese it is called P'arangi-haṇṇu or -mara ('Frank or Portuguese fruit, tree'). The name papaya according to Oviedo as quoted by Littré ("Oviedo, t. l. p. 333, Madrid, 1851,"—we cannot find it in Ramusio) was that used in Cuba, whilst the Carib name was ababai.[206] [Mr. J. Platt, referring to his article in 9th Ser. Notes & Queries, iv. 515, writes: "Malay papaya, like the Accra term kpakpa, is a European loan word. The evidence for Carib origin is, firstly, Oviedo's Historia, 1535 (in the ed. of 1851, vol. i. 323): 'Del arbol que en esta isla Española llaman papaya, y en la tierra firme los llaman los Españoles los higos del mastuerço, y en la provincia de Nicaragua llaman a tal arbol olocoton.' Secondly, Breton, Dictionnaire Caraibe, has: 'Ababai, papayer.' Gilij, Saggio, 1782, iii. 146 (quoted in N. & Q., u.s.), says the Otamic word is pappai."] Strange liberties are taken with the spelling. Mr. Robinson (below) calls it popeya; Sir L. Pelly (J.R.G.S. xxxv. 232), poppoi (ὦ πόποι!). Papaya is applied in the Philippines to Europeans who, by long residence, have fallen into native ways and ideas.
c. 1550.—"There is also a sort of fruit resembling figs, called by the natives Papaie ... peculiar to this kingdom" (Peru).—Girol. Benzoni, 242.
1598.—"There is also a fruite that came out of the Spanish Indies, brought from beyond ye Philipinas or Lusons to Malacca, and frõ thence to India, it is called Papaios, and is very like a Mellon ... and will not grow, but alwaies two together, that is male and female ... and when they are diuided and set apart one from the other, then they yield no fruite at all.... This fruite at the first for the strangeness thereof was much esteemed, but now they account not of it."—Linschoten, 97; [Hak. Soc. ii. 35].
c. 1630.—"... Pappaes, Cocoes, and Plantains, all sweet and delicious...."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 350.
c. 1635.—
"The Palma Christi and the fair Papaw
Now but a seed (preventing Nature's Law)
In half the circle of the hasty year,
Project a shade, and lovely fruits do wear."
Waller, Battle of the Summer Islands.
1658.—"Utraque Pinoguaçu (mas. et fœmina), Mamoeira Lusitanis dicta, vulgò Papay, cujus fructum Mamam vocant a figura, quia mammae instar pendet in arbore ... carne lutea instar melonum, sed sapore ignobiliori...."—Gul. Pisonis ... de Indiae utriusque Re Naturali et Medicâ, Libri xiv. 159-160.
1673.—"Here the flourishing Papaw (in Taste like our Melons, and as big, but growing on a Tree leaf'd like our Fig-tree...."—Fryer, 19.
1705.—"Il y a aussi des ananas, des Papées...."—Luillier, 33.
1764.—
"Thy temples shaded by the tremulous palm,
Or quick papaw, whose top is necklaced round
With numerous rows of particoloured fruit."
Grainger, Sugar Cane, iv.
[1773.—"Paw Paw. This tree rises to 20 feet, sometimes single, at other times it is divided into several bodies."—Ives, 480.]
1878.—"... the rank popeyas clustering beneath their coronal of stately leaves."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 50.
PAPUA, n.p. This name, which is now applied generically to the chief race of the island of New Guinea and resembling tribes, and sometimes (improperly) to the great island itself, is a Malay word papuwah, or sometimes puwah-puwah, meaning 'frizzle-haired,' and was applied by the Malays to the people in question.
1528.—"And as the wind fell at night the vessel was carried in among the islands, where there are strong currents, and got into the Sea of the Strait of Magalhães,[207] where he encountered a great storm, so that but for God's mercy they had all been lost, and so they were driven on till they made the land of the Papuas, and then the east winds began to blow so that they could not sail to the Moluccas till May 1527. And with their stay in these lands much people got ill and many died, so that they came to Molucca much shattered."—Correa, iii. 173-174.
1553.—(Referring to the same history.) "Thence he went off to make the islands of a certain people called Papuas, whom many on account of this visit of Don Jorge (de Menezes) call the Islands of Don Jorge, which lie east of the Moluccas some 200 leagues...."—Barros, IV. i. 6.
PARABYKE, s. Burmese pārabeik; the name given to a species of writing book which is commonly used in Burma. It consists of paper made from the bark of a spec. of daphne, which is agglutinated into a kind of pasteboard and blackened with a paste of charcoal. It is then folded, screen-fashion, into a note-book and written on with a steatite pencil. The same mode of writing has long been used in Canara; and from La Loubère we see that it is or was used also in Siam. The Canara books are called kaḍatam, and are described by Col. Wilks under the name of cudduttum, carruttum, or currut (Hist. Sketches, Pref. I. xii.). They appear exactly to resemble the Burmese para-beik, except that the substance blackened is cotton cloth instead of paper. "The writing is similar to that on a slate, and may be in like manner rubbed out and renewed. It is performed by a pencil of the balapum [Can. balapa] or lapis ollaris; and this mode of writing was not only in ancient use for records and public documents, but is still universally employed in Mysoor by merchants and shopkeepers, I have even seen a bond, regularly witnessed, entered in the cudduttum of a merchant, produced and received in evidence.
"This is the word kirret, translated 'palm-leaf' (of course conjecturally) in Mr. Crisp's translation of Tippoo's regulations. The Sultan prohibited its use in recording the public accounts; but altho' liable to be expunged, and affording facility to permanent entries, it is a much more durable material and record than the best writing on the best paper.... It is probable that this is the linen or cotton cloth described by Arrian, from Nearchus, on which the Indians wrote." (Strabo, XV. i. 67.)
1688.—"The Siamese make Paper of old Cotton rags, and likewise of the bark of a Tree named Ton coi ... but these Papers have a great deal less Equality, Body and Whiteness than ours. The Siameses cease not to write thereon with China Ink. Yet most frequently they black them, which renders them smoother, and gives them a greater body; and then they write thereon with a kind of Crayon, which is made only of a clayish earth dry'd in the Sun. Their Books are not bound, and consist only in a very long Leaf ... which they fold in and out like a Fan, and the way which the Lines are wrote, is according to the length of the folds...."—De la Loubère, Siam, E.T. p. 12.
1855.—"Booths for similar goods are arrayed against the corner of the palace palisades, and at the very gate of the Palace is the principal mart for the stationers who deal in the para-beiks (or black books) and steatite pencils, which form the only ordinary writing materials of the Burmese in their transactions."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 139.
PARANGHEE, s. An obstinate chronic disease endemic in Ceylon. It has a superficial resemblance to syphilis; the whole body being covered with ulcers, while the sufferer rapidly declines in strength. It seems to arise from insufficient diet, and to be analogous to the pellagra which causes havoc among the peasants of S. Europe. The word is apparently firinghee, 'European,' or (in S. India) 'Portuguese'; and this would point perhaps to association with syphilis.
PARBUTTY, s. This is a name in parts of the Madras Presidency for a subordinate village officer, a writer under the patel, sometimes the village-crier, &c., also in some places a superintendent or manager. It is a corruption of Telug. and Canarese pārapatti, pārupatti, Mahr. and Konkani, pārpatya, from Skt. pravṛitti, 'employment.' The term frequently occurs in old Port. documents in such forms as perpotim, &c. We presume that the Great Duke (audax omnia perpeti!) has used it in the Anglicised form at the head of this article; for though we cannot find it in his Despatches, Gurwood's Explanation of Indian Terms gives "Parbutty, writer to the Patell." [See below.]