1789.—"... A species of the common cur, called a pariar-dog."—Munro, Narr. p. 36.
1810.—"The nuisance may be kept circling for days, until forcibly removed, or until the pariah dogs swim in, and draw the carcase to the shore."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 261.
1824.—"The other beggar was a Pariah dog, who sneaked down in much bodily fear to our bivouac."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 79.
1875.—"Le Musulman qui va prier à la mosquée, maudit les parias honnis."—Rev. des Deux Mondes, April, 539.
[1883.—"Paraya Dogs are found in every street."—T. V. Row, Man. of Tanjore Dist. 104.]
PARIAH-KITE, s. The commonest Indian kite, Milvus Govinda, Sykes, notable for its great numbers, and its impudence. "They are excessively bold and fearless, often snatching morsels off a dish en route from kitchen to hall, and even, according to Adams, seizing a fragment from a man's very mouth" (Jerdon). Compare quotation under BRAHMINY KITE.
[1880.—"I had often supposed that the scavenger or Pariah Kites (Milvus govinda), which though generally to be seen about the tents, are not common in the jungles, must follow the camp for long distances, and to-day I had evidence that such was the case...."—Ball, Jungle Life, 655.]
PARSEE, n.p. This name, which distinguishes the descendants of those emigrants of the old Persian stock, who left their native country, and, retaining their Zoroastrian religion, settled in India to avoid Mahommedan persecution, is only the old form of the word for a Persian, viz., Pārsī, which Arabic influences have in more modern times converted into Fārsī. The Portuguese have used both Parseo and Perseo. From the latter some of our old travellers have taken the form Persee; from the former doubtless we got Parsee. It is a curious example of the way in which different accidental mouldings of the same word come to denote entirely different ideas, that Persian, in this form, in Western India, means a Zoroastrian fire-worshipper, whilst Pathi (see PANTHAY), a Burmese corruption of the same word, in Burma means a Mahommedan.
c. 1328.—"There be also other pagan-folk in this India who worship fire; they bury not their dead, neither do they burn them, but cast them into the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there expose them totally uncovered to the fowls of heaven. These believe in two First Principles, to wit, of Evil and of Good, of Darkness and of Light."—Friar Jordanus, 21.
1552.—"In any case he dismissed them with favour and hospitality, showing himself glad of the coming of such personages, and granting them protection for their ships as being (Parseos) Persians of the Kingdom of Ormuz."—Barros, I. viii. 9.
" "... especially after these were induced by the Persian and Guzerati Moors (Mouros, Parseos e Guzarates) to be converted from heathen (Gentios) to the sect of Mahamed."—Ibid. II. vi. i.
[1563.—"There are other herb-sellers (mercadores de boticas) called Coaris, and in the Kingdom of Cambay they call them Esparcis, and we Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not, only Hindus who came from Persia and have their own writing."—Garcia, p. 213.]
1616.—"There is one sect among the Gentiles, which neither burne nor interre their dead (they are called Parcees) who incircle pieces of ground with high stone walls, remote from houses or Road-wayes, and therein lay their Carcasses, wrapped in Sheetes, thus having no other Tombes but the gorges of rauenous Fowles."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1479.
1630.—"Whilst my observation was bestowed on such inquiry, I observed in the town of Surrat, the place where I resided, another Sect called the Persees...."—Lord, Two Forraigne Sects.
1638.—"Outre les Benjans il y a encore vne autre sorte de Payens dans le royaume de Gusuratte, qu'ils appellent Parsis. Ce sont des Perses de Fars, et de Chorasan."—Mandelslo (Paris, 1659), 213.
1648.—"They (the Persians of India, i.e. Parsees) are in general a fast-gripping and avaricious nation (not unlike the Benyans and the Chinese), and very fraudulent in buying and selling."—Van Twist, 48.
1653.—"Les Ottomans appellent gueuure vne secte de Payens, que nous connaissons sous le nom d'adorateurs du feu, les Persans sous celuy d'Atechperés, et les Indous sous celuy de Parsi, terme dont ils se nomment eux-mesmes."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 200.
1672.—"Non tutti ancora de' Gentili sono d'vna medesima fede. Alcuni descendono dalli Persiani, li quali si conoscono dal colore, ed adorano il fuoco.... In Suratte ne trouai molti...."—P. F. Vincenzo Maria, Viaggio, 234.
1673.—"On this side of the Water are people of another Offspring than those we have yet mentioned, these be called Parseys ... these are somewhat white, and I think nastier than the Gentues...."—Fryer, 117.
" "The Parsies, as they are called, are of the old Stock of the Persians, worship the Sun and Adore the Elements; are known only about Surat."—Ibid. p. 197.
1689.—"... the Persies are a Sect very considerable in India...."—Ovington, 370.
1726.—"... to say a word of a certain other sort of Heathen who have spread in the City of Suratte and in its whole territory, and who also maintain themselves in Agra, and in various places of Persia, especially in the Province of Kerman, at Yezd, and in Ispahan. They are commonly called by the Indians Persees or Parsis, but by the Persians Gaurs or Gebbers, and also Atech Peres or adorers of Fire."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte) 153.
1727.—"The Parsees are numerous about Surat and the adjacent Countries. They are a remnant of the ancient Persians."—A. Hamilton, ch. xiv; [ed. 1744, i. 159].
1877.—"... en se levant, le Parsi, après s'être lavé les mains et la figure avec l'urine du taureau, met sa ceinture en disant: Souverain soit Ormuzd, abattu soit Ahrimān."—Darmesteter, Ormuzd et Ahriman, p. 2.
PARVOE, PURVO, s. The popular name of the writer-caste in Western India, Prabhū or Parbhū, 'lord or chief' (Skt. prabhu), being an honorific title assumed by the caste of Kāyath or Kāyastha, one of the mixt castes which commonly furnished writers. A Bombay term only.
1548.—"And to the Parvu of the Tenadar Mor 1800 reis a year, being 3 pardaos a month...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 211.
[1567.—See Paibus under CASIS.
[1676-7.—"... the same guards the Purvos yt look after ye Customes for the same charge can receive ye passage boats rent...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, Home Series, i. 125.
[1773.—"Conucopola (see CONICOPOLY).... At Bombay he is stiled Purvo, and is of the Gentoo religion."—Ives, 49 seq.]
1809.—"The Bramins of this village speak and write English; the young men are mostly parvoes, or writers."—Maria Graham, 11.
1813.—"These writers at Bombay are generally called Purvoes; a faithful diligent class."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 156-157; [2nd ed. i. 100].
1833.—"Every native of India on the Bombay Establishment, who can write English, and is employed in any office, whether he be a Brahman, Goldsmith, Parwary, Portuguese, or of English descent, is styled a Purvoe, from several persons of a caste of Hindoos termed Prubhoe having been among the first employed as English writers at Bombay."—Mackintosh on the Tribe of Ramoosies, p. 77.
PASADOR, s. A marlin-spike. Sea-Hind., from Port. passador.—Roebuck.
PASEI, PACEM, n.p. The name of a Malay State near the N.E. point of Sumatra, at one time predominant in those regions, and reckoned, with Malacca and Majapahit (the capital of the Empire of Java), the three greatest cities of the Archipelago. It is apparently the Basma of Marco Polo, who visited the coast before Islam had gained a footing.
c. 1292.—"When you quit the kingdom of Ferlec you enter upon that of Basma. This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a language of their own; but they are just like beasts, without laws or religion."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 9.
1511.—"Next day we departed with the plunder of the captured vessel, which also we had with us; we took our course forward until we reached another port in the same island Trapobana (Sumatra), which was called Pazze; and anchoring in the said port we found at anchor there several junks and ships from divers parts."—Empoli, p. 53.
1553.—"In the same manner he (Diogo Lopes) was received in the kingdom of Pacem ... and as the King of Pedir had given him a cargo of pepper ... he did not think well to go further ... in case ... they should give news of his coming at Malaca, those two ports of Pedir and Pacem being much frequented by a multitude of ships that go there for cargoes."—Barros, II. iv. 31.
1726.—"Next to this and close to the East-point of Sumatra is the once especially famous city Pasi (or Pacem), which in old times, next to Magapahit and Malakka, was one of the three greatest cities of the East ... but now is only a poor open village with not more than 4 or 500 families, dwelling in poor bamboo cottages."—Valentijn, (v.) Sumatra, 10.
1727.—"And at Pissang, about 10 Leagues to the Westward of Diamond Point, there is a fine deep River, but not frequented, because of the treachery and bloody disposition of the Natives."—A. Hamilton, ii. 125; [ed. 1744].
PĀT, s. A can or pot. Sea-Hind. from English.—Roebuck.
PATACA, PATACOON, s. Ital. patacco; Provenc. patac; Port. pataca and patação; also used in Malayālam. A term, formerly much diffused, for a dollar or piece of eight. Littré connects it with an old French word patard, a kind of coin, "du reste, origine inconnue." But he appears to have overlooked the explanation indicated by Volney (Voyage en Egypte, &c., ch. ix. note) that the name abūṭāḳa (or corruptly bāṭāḳa, see also Dozy & Eng. s.v.) was given by the Arabs to certain coins of this kind with a scutcheon on the reverse, the term meaning 'father of the window, or niche'; the scutcheon being taken for such an object. Similarly, the pillar-dollars are called in modern Egypt abū medfa', 'father of a cannon'; and the Maria Theresa dollar abū ṭēra, 'father of the bird.' But on the Red Sea, where only the coinage of one particular year (or the modern imitation thereof, still struck at Trieste from the old die), is accepted, it is abū nuḳāṭ, 'father of dots,' from certain little points which mark the right issue.
[1528.—"Each of the men engaged in the attack on Purakkat received no less than 800 gold Pattaks (ducats) as his share."—Logan, Malabar, i. 329.
[1550.—"And afterwards while Viceroy Dom Affonso Noronha ordered silver coins to be made, which were patecoons (patecoes)."—Arch. Port. Orient., Fasc. ii. No. 54 of 1569.]
PATCH, s. "Thin pieces of cloth at Madras" (Indian Vocabulary, 1788). Wilson gives patch as a vulgar abbreviation for Telug. pach'chadamu, 'a particular kind of cotton cloth, generally 24 cubits long and 2 broad; two cloths joined together.'
[1667.—"Pray if can procuer a good Pallenkeen bambo and 2 patch of ye finest with what colours you thinke hansome for my own wear, chockoloes and susaes (see SOOSIE)."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxii.]
PATCHARÉE, PATCHERRY, PARCHERRY, s. In the Bengal Presidency, before the general construction of 'married quarters' by Government, patcharée was the name applied in European corps to the cottages which used to form the quarters of married soldiers. The origin of the word is obscure, and it has been suggested that it was a corruption of Hind. pichch'hārī, 'the rear,' because these cottages were in rear of the barracks. But we think it most likely that the word was brought, with many other terms peculiar to the British soldier in India, from Madras, and is identical with a term in use there, parcherry or patcherry, which represents the Tam. parash'shēri, paraiççeri, 'a Pariah village,' or rather the quarter or outskirts of a town or village where the Pariahs reside. Mr. Whitworth (s.v. Patcherry) says that "in some native regiments the term denotes the married sepoys' quarters, possibly because Pariah sepoys had their families with them, while the higher castes left them at home." He does not say whether Bombay or Madras sepoys are in question. But in any case what he states confirms the origin ascribed to the Bengal Presidency term Patcharée.
1747.—"Patcheree Point, mending Platforms and Gunports ... (Pgs.) 4 : 21 : 48."—Accounts from Ft. St. David, under Feb. 21. MS. Records, in India Office.
1781.—"Leurs maisons (c.-à-d. des Parias) sont des cahutes où un homme peut à peine entrer, et elles forment de petits villages qu'on appelle Paretcheris."—Sonnerat, ed. 1782, i. 98.
1878.—"During the greater portion of the year extra working gangs of scavengers were kept for the sole purpose of going from Parcherry to Parcherry and cleaning them."—Report of Madras Municipality, p. 24.
c. 1880.—"Experience obtained in Madras some years ago with reconstructed parcherries, and their effect on health, might be imitated possibly with advantage in Calcutta."—Report by Army Sanitary Commission.
PATCHOULI, PATCH-LEAF, also PUTCH and PUTCHA-LEAF, s. In Beng. pachapāt; Deccani Hind. pacholī. The latter are trade names of the dried leaves of a labiate plant allied to mint (Pogostemon patchouly, Pelletier). It is supposed to be a cultivated variety of Pogostemon Heyneanus, Bentham, a native of the Deccan. It is grown in native gardens throughout India, Ceylon, and the Malay Islands, and the dried flowering spikes and leaves of the plant, which are used, are sold in every bazar in Hindustan. The pacha-pāt is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, as hair-scent by women, and especially for stuffing mattresses and laying among clothes as we use lavender. In a fluid form patchouli was introduced into England in 1844, and soon became very fashionable as a perfume.
The origin of the word is a difficulty. The name is alleged in Drury, and in Forbes Watson's Nomenclature to be Bengāli. Littré says the word patchouli is patchey-elley, 'feuille de patchey'; in what language we know not; perhaps it is from Tamil pachcha, 'green,' and êlâ, êlam, an aromatic perfume for the hair. [The Madras Gloss. gives Tamil paççilai, paççai, 'green,' ilai, 'leaf.']
1673.—"Note, that if the following Goods from Acheen hold out the following Rates, the Factor employed is no further responsible.
* * * * *
Patch Leaf, 1 Bahar Maunds 7 20 sear."—Fryer, 209.
PATECA, s. This word is used by the Portuguese in India for a water-melon (Citrullus vulgaris, Schrader; Cucurbita Citrullus, L.). It is from the Ar. al-baṭṭikh or al-biṭṭīkh. F. Johnson gives this 'a melon, musk-melon. A pumpkin; a cucurbitaceous plant.' We presume that this is not merely the too common dictionary looseness, for the chaos of cucurbitaceous nomenclature, both vulgar and scientific, is universal (see A. De Candolle, Origine des Plantes cultivées). In Lane's Modern Egyptians (ed. 1837, i. 200) the word butteekh is rendered explicitly 'water-melon.' We have also in Spanish albadeca, which is given by Dozy and Eng. as 'espèce de melon'; and we have French pastèque, which we believe always means a water-melon. De Candolle seems to have no doubt that the water-melon was cultivated in ancient Egypt, and believes it to have been introduced into the Graeco-Roman world about the beginning of our era; whilst Hehn carries it to Persia from India, 'whether at the time of the Arabian or of the Mongol domination, (and then) to Greece, through the medium of the Turks, and to Russia, through that of the Tartar States of Astrakan and Kazan.'
The name pateca, looking to the existence of the same word in Spanish, we should have supposed to have been Portuguese long before the Portuguese establishment in India; yet the whole of what is said by Garcia de Orta is inconsistent with this. In his Colloquio XXXVI. the gist of the dialogue is that his visitor from Europe, Ruano, tells how he had seen what seemed a most beautiful melon, and how Garcia's housekeeper recommended it, but on trying it, it tasted only of mud instead of melon! Garcia then tells him that at Diu, and in the Bālaghāt, &c., he would find excellent melons with the flavour of the melons of Portugal but "those others which the Portuguese here in India call patecas are quite another thing—huge round or oval fruits, with black seeds—not sweet (doce) like the Portugal melons, but bland (suave), most juicy and cooling, excellent in bilious fevers, and congestions of the liver and kidneys, &c." Both name and thing are represented as novelties to Ruano. Garcia tells him also that the Arabs and Persians call it batiec indi, i.e. melon of India (F. Johnson gives 'biṭṭīkh-i-hindī, the citrul'; whilst in Persian hinduwāna is also a word for water-melon) but that the real Indian country name was (calangari Mahr. kālingaṛ, [perhaps that known in the N.W.P. as kalindā, 'a water-melon']). Ruano then refers to the budiecas of Castille of which he had heard, and queries if these were not the same as these Indian patecas, but Garcia says they are quite different. All this is curious as implying that the water-melon was strange to the Portuguese at that time (1563; see Colloquios, f. 141v. seqq.).
[A friend who has Burnell's copy of Garcia De Orta tells me that he finds a note in the writing of the former on bateca: "i.e. the Arabic term. As this is used all over India, water-melons must have been imported by the Mahommedans." I believe it to be a mistake that the word is in use all over India. I do not think the word is ever used in Upper India, nor is it (in that sense) in either Shakespear or Fallon. [Platts gives: A. biṭṭīkh, s.m. The melon (kharbūza); the water-melon, Cucurbita citrullus.] The most common word in the N.W.P. for a water-melon is Pers. tarbūz, whilst the musk-melon is Pers. kharbūza. And these words are so rendered from the Āīn respectively by Blochmann (see his E.T. i. 66, "melons ... water-melons," and the original i. 67, "kharbuza ... tarbuz"). But with the usual chaos already alluded to, we find both these words interpreted in F. Johnson as "water-melon." And according to Hehn the latter is called in the Slav tongues arbuz and in Mod. Greek καρπούσια, the first as well as the last probably from the Turkish ḳārpūz, which has the same meaning, for this hard ḳ is constantly dropt in modern pronunciation.—H. Y.]
We append a valuable note on this from Prof. Robertson-Smith:
"(1) The classical form of the Ar. word is biṭṭīkh. Baṭṭīkh is a widely-spread vulgarism, indeed now, I fancy, universal, for I don't think I ever heard the first syllable pronounced with an i.
"(2) The term, according to the law-books, includes all kinds of melons (Lane); but practically it is applied (certainly at least in Syria and Egypt) almost exclusively to the water-melon, unless it has a limiting adjective. Thus "the wild biṭṭīkh" is the colocynth, and with other adjectives it may be used of very various cucurbitaceous fruits (see examples in Dozy's Suppt.)
"(6) The biblical form is ăbaṭṭīkh (e.g. Numbers xi. 5, where the E.V. has 'melons'). But this is only the 'water-melon'; for in the Mishna it is distinguished from the sweet melon, the latter being named by a mere transcription in Hebrew letters of the Greek μηλοπέπων. Löw justly concludes that the Palestinians (and the Syrians, for their name only differs slightly) got the sweet melon from the Greeks, whilst for the water-melon they have an old and probably true Semitic word. For baṭṭīkh Syriac has paṭṭīkh, indicating that in literary Arabic the a has been changed to i, only to agree with rules of grammar. Thus popular pronunciation seems always to have kept the old form, as popular usage seems always to have used the word mainly in its old specific meaning. The Bible and the Mishna suffice to refute Hehn's view (of the introduction of the water-melon from India). Old Ḳimḥi, in his Miklol, illustrates the Hebrew word by the Spanish budiecas."
1598.—"... ther is an other sort like Melons, called Patecas or Angurias, or Melons of India, which are outwardlie of a darke greene colour; inwardlie white with blacke kernels; they are verie waterish and hard to byte, and so moyst, that as a man eateth them his mouth is full of water, but yet verie sweet and verie cold and fresh meat, wherefore manie of them are eaten after dinner to coole men."—Linschoten, 97; [Hak. Soc. ii. 35].
c. 1610.—"Toute la campagne est couverte d'arbres fruitiers ... et d'arbres de coton, de quantité de melons et de pateques, qui sont espèce de citrouilles de prodigieuse grosseur...."—Pyrard de Laval, ed. 1679, i. 286; [Hak. Soc. i. 399, and see i. 33].
" A few pages later the word is written Pasteques.—Ibid. 301; [Hak. Soc. i. 417].
[1663.—"Pateques, or water-melons, are in great abundance nearly the whole year round: but those of Delhi are soft, without colour or sweetness. If this fruit be ever found good, it is among the wealthy people, who import the seed and cultivate it with much care and expense."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 250.]
1673.—"From hence (Elephanta) we sailed to the Putachoes, a Garden of Melons (Putacho being a Melon) were there not wild Rats that hinder their growth, and so to Bombaim."—Fryer, 76.
PATEL, POTAIL, s. The headman of a village, having general control of village affairs, and forming the medium of communication with the officers of Government. In Mahr. paṭīl, Hind. paṭel. The most probable etym. seems to be from paṭ, Mahr. 'a roll or register,' Skt.—Hind. paṭṭa. The title is more particularly current in territories that are or have been subject to the Mahrattas, "and appears to be an essentially Maráthi word, being used as a respectful title in addressing one of that nation, or a Súdra in general" (Wilson). The office is hereditary, and is often held under a Government grant. The title is not used in the Gangetic Provinces, but besides its use in Central and W. India it has been commonly employed in S. India, probably as a Hindustani word, though Monigar (see MONEGAR) (Maṇiyakāram), adhikārī (see ADIGAR), &c., are appropriate synonyms in Tamil and Malabar districts.
[1535.—"The Tanadars began to come in and give in their submission, bringing with them all the patels (pateis) and renters with their payments, which they paid to the Governor, who ordered fresh records to be prepared."—Couto, Dec. IV. Bk. ix. ch. 2 (description of the commencement of Portuguese rule in Bassein).
[1614.—"I perceive that you are troubled with a bad commodity, wherein the desert of Patell and the rest appeareth."—Foster, Letters, ii. 281.]
1804.—"The Patel of Beitculgaum, in the usual style of a Mahratta patel, keeps a band of plunderers for his own profit and advantage. You will inform him that if he does not pay for the horses, bullocks, and articles plundered, he shall be hanged also."—Wellington, March 27.
1809.—"... Pattels, or headmen."—Lord Valentia, i. 415.
1814.—"At the settling of the jummabundee, they pay their proportion of the village assessment to government, and then dispose of their grain, cotton, and fruit, without being accountable to the patell."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 418; [2nd ed. ii. 44].
1819.—"The present system of Police, as far as relates to the villagers may easily be kept up; but I doubt whether it is enough that the village establishment be maintained, and the whole put under the Mamlutdar. The Potail's respectability and influence in the village must be kept up."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 81.
1820.—"The Patail holds his office direct of Government, under a written obligation ... which specifies his duties, his rank, and the ceremonies of respect he is entitled to; and his perquisites, and the quantity of freehold land allotted to him as wages."—T. Coats, in Tr. Bo. Lit. Soc. iii. 183.
1823.—"The heads of the family ... have purchased the office of Potail, or headman."—Malcolm, Central India, i. 99.
1826.—"The potail offered me a room in his own house, and I very thankfully accepted it."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1877, p. 241; [ed. 1873, ii. 45].
1851.—"This affected humility was in fact one great means of effecting his elevation. When at Poonah he (Madhajee Sindea) ... instead of arrogating any exalted title, would only suffer himself to be called Pateil...."—Fraser, Mil. Mem. of Skinner, i. 33.
1870.—"The Potail accounted for the revenue collections, receiving the perquisites and percentages, which were the accustomed dues of the office."—Systems of Land Tenure (Cobden Club), 163.
PATNA, n.p. The chief city of Bahar; and the representative of the Palibothra (Pātaliputra) of the Greeks. Hind. Paṭṭana, "the city." [See quotation from D'Anville under ALLAHABAD.]
1586.—"From Bannaras I went to Patenaw downe the riuer of Ganges.... Patenaw is a very long and a great towne. In times past it was a kingdom, but now it is vnder Zelabdim Echebar, the great Mogor.... In this towne there is a trade of cotton, and cloth of cotton, much sugar, which they carry from hence to Bengala and India, very much Opium, and other commodities."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 388.
1616.—"Bengala, a most spacious and fruitful Province, but more properly to be called a kingdom, which hath two very large Provinces within it, Purb (see POORUB) and Patan, the one lying on the east, and the other on the west side of the River Ganges."—Terry, ed. 1665, p. 357.
[1650.—"Patna is one of the largest towns in India, on the margin of the Ganges, on its western side, and it is not less than two coss in length."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 121 seq.]
1673.—"Sir William Langham ... is Superintendent over all the Factories on the coast of Coromandel, as far as the Bay of Bengala, and up Huygly River ... viz. Fort St. George, alias Maderas, Pettipolee, Mechlapatan, Gundore, Medapollon, Balasore, Bengala, Huygly, Castle Buzzar, Pattanaw."—Fryer, 38.
1726.—"If you go higher up the Ganges to the N. W. you come to the great and famous trading city of Pattena, capital of the Kingdom of Behar, and the residence of the Vice-roy."—Valentijn, v. 164.
1727.—"Patana is the next Town frequented by Europeans ... for Saltpetre and raw Silk. It produces also so much Opium, that it serves all the Countries in India with that commodity."—A. Hamilton, ii. 21; [ed. 1744].
PATOLA, s. Canarese and Malayāl. paṭṭuda, 'a silk-cloth.' In the fourth quotation it is rather misapplied to the Ceylon dress (see COMBOY).
1516.—"Coloured cottons and silks which the Indians call patola."—Barbosa, 184.
1522.—"... Patolos of silk, which are cloths made at Cambaya that are highly prized at Malaca."—Correa, Lendas, ii. 2, 714.
1545.—"... homems ... enchachados com patolas de seda."—Pinto, ch. clx. (Cogan, p. 219).
1552.—"They go naked from the waist upwards, and below it they are clothed with silk and cotton which they call patolas."—Castanheda, ii. 78.
[1605.—"Pattala."—Birdwood, Letter Book, 74.]
1614.—"... Patollas...."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.
PATTAMAR, PATIMAR, &c. This word has two senses:
a. A foot-runner, a courier. In this use the word occurs only in the older writers, especially Portuguese.
b. A kind of lateen-rigged ship, with one, two, or three masts, common on the west coast. This sense seems to be comparatively modern. In both senses the word is perhaps the Konkani path-mār, 'a courier.' C. P. Brown, however, says that patta-mar, applied to a vessel, is Malayāl. signifying "goose-wing." Molesworth's Mahr. Dict. gives both patemārī and phatemārī for "a sort of swift-sailing vessel, a pattymar," with the etym. "tidings-bringer." Patta is 'tidings,' but the second part of the word so derived is not clear. Sir. J. M. Campbell, who is very accurate, in the Bo. Gazetteer writes of the vessel as pātimār, though identifying, as we have done, both uses with pathmār, 'courier.' The Moslem, he says, write phatemārī quasi fatḥ-mār, 'snake of victory'(?). [The Madras Gloss. gives Mal. pattamāri, Tam. pāttimār, from patār, Hind. 'tidings' (not in Platts), māri, Mahr. 'carrier.'] According to a note in Notes and Extracts, No. 1 (Madras, 1871), p. 27, under a Ft. St. Geo. Consultation of July 4, 1673, Pattamar is therein used "for a native vessel on the Coromandel Coast, though now confined to the Western Coast." We suspect a misapprehension. For in the following entry we have no doubt that the parenthetical gloss is wrong, and that couriers are meant:
"A letter sent to the President and Councell at Surratt by a Pair of Pattamars (native craft) express...."—Op. cit. No. ii. p. 8. [On this word see further Sir H. Yule's note on Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 165.]
a.—
1552.—"... But Lorenço de Brito, seeing things come to such a pass that certain Captains of the King (of Cananor) with troops chased him to the gates, he wrote to the Viceroy of the position in which he was by Patamares, who are men that make great journeys by land."—De Barros, II. i. 5.
The word occurs repeatedly in Correa, Lendas, e.g. III. i. 108, 149, &c.
1598.—"... There are others that are called Patamares, which serue onlie for Messengers or Posts, to carie letters from place to place by land in winter-time when men cannot travaile by sea."—Linschoten, 78; [Hak. Soc. i. 260, and see ii. 165].
1606.—"The eight and twentieth, a Pattemar told that the Governor was a friend to us only in shew, wishing the Portugalls in our roome; for we did no good in the Country, but brought Wares which they were forced to buy...."—Roger Hawes, in Purchas, i. 605.
[1616.—"The Patamar (for so in this country they call poor footmen that are letter-bearers)...."—Foster, Letters, iv. 227.]
1666.—"Tranquebar, qui est eloigné de Saint Thomé de cinq journées d'un Courier à pié, qu'on appelle Patamar."—Thevenot, v. 275.
1673.—"After a month's Stay here a Patamar (a Foot Post) from Fort St. George made us sensible of the Dutch being gone from thence to Ceylon."—Fryer, 36.
[1684.—"The Pattamars that went to Codaloor by reason of the deepness of the Rivers were forced to Return...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iii. 133.]
1689.—"A Pattamar, i.e. a Foot Messenger, is generally employ'd to carry them (letters) to the remotest Bounds of the Empire."—Ovington, 251.
1705.—"Un Patemare qui est un homme du Pais; c'est ce que nous appellons un exprès...."—Luillier, 43.
1758.—"Yesterday returned a Pattamar or express to our Jew merchant from Aleppo, by the way of the Desert...."—Ives, 297.
c. 1760.—"Between Bombay and Surat there is a constant intercourse preserved, not only by sea ... but by Pattamars, or foot-messengers overland."—Grose, i. 119. This is the last instance we have met of the word in this sense, which is now quite unknown to Englishmen.
b.—
1600.—"... Escrevia que hum barco pequeno, dos que chamam patamares, se meteria...."—Lucena, Vida do P. F. Xavier, 185.
[1822.—"About 12 o'clock on the same night they embarked in Paddimars for Cochin."—Wallace, Fifteen Years, 206.]
1834.—A description of the Patamárs, with a plate, is given in Mr. John Edye's paper on Indian coasting vessels, in vol. i. of the R. As. Soc. Journal.
1860.—"Among the vessels at anchor lie the dows (see DHOW) of the Arabs, the petamares of Malabar, and the dhoneys (see DONEY) of Coromandel."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 103.
PATTELLO, PATELLEE, s. A large flat-bottomed boat on the Ganges; Hind. paṭelā. [Mr. Grierson gives among the Behar boats "the paṭelī or paṭailī, also called in Sāran katrā, on which the boards forming the sides overlap and are not joined edge to edge," with an illustration (Bihar Peasant Life, 42).]
[1680.—"The Patella; the boats that come down from Pattana with Saltpeeter or other goods, built of an Exceeding Strength and are very flatt and burthensome."—Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. 15.]
1685.—"We came to a great Godowne, where ... this Nabob's Son has laid in a vast quantity of Salt, here we found divers great Patellos taking in their lading for Pattana."—Ibid. Jan 6; [Hak. Soc. i. 175].
1860.—"The Putelee (or Kutora), or Baggage-boat of Hindostan, is a very large, flat-bottomed, clinker-built, unwieldy-looking piece of rusticity of probably ... about 35 tons burthen; but occasionally they may be met with double this size."—Colesworthy Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, p. 6.
PAULIST, n.p. The Jesuits were commonly so called in India because their houses in that country were formerly always dedicated to St. Paul, the great Missionary to the Heathen. They have given up this practice since their modern re-establishment in India. They are still called Paolotti in Italy, especially by those who don't like them.
c. 1567.—"... e vi sono assai Chiese dei padri di San Paulo i quali fanno in quei luoghi gran profitto in conuertire quei popoli."—Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 390.
1623.—"I then went to the College of the Jesuit Fathers, the Church of which, like that at Daman, at Bassaim, and at almost all the other cities of the Portuguese in India, is called San Paolo; whence it happens that in India the said Fathers are known more commonly by the name of Paolisti than by that of Jesuits."—P. della Valle, April 27; [iii. 135].
c. 1650.—"The Jesuits at Goa are known by the name of Paulists; by reason that their great Church is dedicated to St. Paul. Nor do they wear Hats, or Corner-Caps, as in Europe, but only a certain Bonnet, resembling the Skull of a Hat without the Brims."—Tavernier, E.T. 77; [ed. Ball, i. 197].
1672.—"There was found in the fortress of Cranganor a handsome convent, and Church of the Paulists, or disciples and followers of Ignatius Loyola...."—Baldaeus, Germ., p. 110. In another passage this author says they were called Paulists because they were first sent to India by Pope Paul III. But this is not the correct reason.
1673.—"St. Paul's was the first Monastery of the Jesuits in Goa, from whence they receive the name Paulistins."—Fryer, 150.
[1710.—See quotation under COBRA DE CAPELLO.]
1760.—"The Jesuits, who are better known in India by the appellation of Paulists, from their head church and convent of St. Paul's in Goa."—Grose, i. 50.
PAUNCHWAY, s. A light kind of boat used on the rivers of Bengal; like a large dingy (q.v.), with a tilted roof of matting or thatch, a mast and four oars. Beng. panśī, and pansoī. [Mr. Grierson (Peasant Life, 43) describes the pansūhī as a boat with a round bottom, but which goes in shallow water, and gives an illustration.]
[1757.—"He was then beckoning to his servant that stood in a Ponsy above the Gaut."—A. Grant, Account of the Loss of Calcutta, ed. by Col. Temple, p. 7.]
c. 1760.—"Ponsways, Guard-boats."—Grose (Glossary).
1780.—"The Paunchways are nearly of the same general construction (as budgerows), with this difference, that the greatest breadth is somewhat further aft, and the stern lower."—Hodges, 39-40.
1790.—"Mr. Bridgwater was driven out to sea in a common paunchway, and when every hope forsook him the boat floated into the harbour of Masulipatam."—Calcutta Monthly Review, i. 40.
1823.—"... A panchway, or passage-boat ... was a very characteristic and interesting vessel, large and broad, shaped like a snuffer-dish; a deck fore-and-aft, and the middle covered with a roof of palm-branches...."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 21.
1860.—"... You may suppose that I engage neither pinnace nor bujra (see BUDGEROW), but that comfort and economy are sufficiently obtained by hiring a small bhouliya (see BOLIAH) ... what is more likely at a fine weather season like this, a small native punsóee, which, with a double set of hands, or four oars, is a lighter and much quicker boat."—C. Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 10 [with an illustration].
PAWL, s. Hind. pāl, [Skt. paṭala, 'a roof']. A small tent with two light poles, and steep sloping sides; no walls, or ridge-pole. I believe the statement 'no ridge-pole,' is erroneous. It is difficult to derive from memory an exact definition of tents, and especially of the difference between pawl and shooldarry. A reference to India failed in getting a reply. The shooldarry is not essentially different from the pawl, but is trimmer, tauter, better closed, and sometimes has two flies. [The names of tents are used in various senses in different parts. The Madras Gloss. defines a paul as "a small tent with two light poles, a ridge-bar, and steep sloping sides; the walls, if any, are very short, often not more than 6 inches high. Sometimes a second ridge above carries a second roof over the first; this makes a common shooting tent." Mr. G. R. Dampier writes: "These terms are, I think, used rather loosely in the N.W.P. Sholdārī generally means a servant's tent, a sort of tente d'abri, with very low sides: the sides are generally not more than a foot high; there are no doors only flaps at one end. Pāl is generally used to denote a sleeping tent for Europeans; the roof slopes on both sides from a longitudinal ridge-pole; the sides are much higher than in the sholdārī, and there is a door at one end; the fly is almost invariably single. The Raoti (see ROWTEE) is incorrectly used in some places to denote a sleeping pāl; it is, properly speaking, I believe, a larger tent, of the same kind, but with doors in the side, not at the end. In some parts I have found they use the word pāl as equivalent to sholdārī and bilṭan (? bell-tent)."]