c. 70 A.D.—"The cornes or graines ... lie in certaine little huskes or cods.... If that be plucked from the tree before they gape and open of themselves, they make that spice which is called Long pepper; but if as they do ripen, they cleave and chawne by little and little, they shew within the white pepper: which afterwards beeing parched in the Sunne, chaungeth colour and waxeth blacke, and therewith riveled also.... Long pepper is soone sophisticated, with the senvie or mustard seed of Alexandria: and a pound of it is worth fifteen Roman deniers. The white costeth seven deniers a pound, and the black is sold after foure deniers by the pound."—Pliny, tr. by Phil. Holland, Bk. xii. ch. 7.
c. 80-90.—"And there come to these marts great ships, on account of the bulk and quantity of pepper and malabathrum.... The pepper is brought (to market) here, being produced largely only in one district near these marts, that which is called Kottonarikē."—Periplus, § 56.
c. A.D. 100.—"The Pepper-tree (πέπερι δένδρον) is related to grow in India; it is short, and the fruit as it first puts it forth is long, resembling pods; and this long pepper has within it (grains) like small millet, which are what grow to be the perfect (black) pepper. At the proper season it opens and puts forth a cluster bearing the berries such as we know them. But those that are like unripe grapes, which constitute the white pepper, serve the best for eye-remedies, and for antidotes, and for theriacal potencies."—Dioscorides, Mat. Med. ii. 188.
c. 545.—"This is the pepper-tree" (there is a drawing). "Every plant of it is twined round some lofty forest tree, for it is weak and slim like the slender stems of the vine. And every bunch of fruit has a double leaf as a shield; and it is very green, like the green of rue."—Cosmas, Book xi.
c. 870.—"The mariners say every bunch of pepper has over it a leaf that shelters it from the rain. When the rain ceases the leaf turns aside; if rain recommences the leaf again covers the fruit."—Ibn Khurdādba, in Journ. As. 6th ser. tom. v. 284.
1166.—"The trees which bear this fruit are planted in the fields which surround the towns, and every one knows his plantation. The trees are small, and the pepper is originally white, but when they collect it they put it into basons and pour hot water upon it; it is then exposed to the heat of the sun, and dried ... in the course of which process it becomes of a black colour."—Rabbi Benjamin, in Wright, p. 114.
c. 1330.—"L'albore che fa il pepe è fatto come l'elera che nasce su per gli muri. Questo pepe sale su per gli arbori che l'uomini piantano a modo de l'elera, e sale sopra tutti li arbori più alti. Questo pepe fa rami a modo dell'uve; ... e maturo si lo vendemiano a modo de l'uve e poi pongono il pepe al sole a seccare come uve passe, e nulla altra cosa si fa del pepe."—Odoric, in Cathay, App. xlvii.
PERGUNNAH, s. Hind. pargana [Skt. pragaṇ, 'to reckon up'], a subdivision of a 'District' (see ZILLAH).
c. 1500.—"The divisions into súbas (see SOUBA) and parganas, which are maintained to the present day in the province of Tatta, were made by these people" (the Samma Dynasty).—Tárikh-i-Táhirí, in Elliot, i. 273.
1535.—"Item, from the three praguanas, viz., Anzor, Cairena, Panchenaa 133,260 fedeas."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 139.
[1614.—"I wrote him to stay in the Pregonas near Agra."—Foster, Letters, ii. 106.]
[1617.—"For that Muckshud had also newly answered he had mist his prigany."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 415.]
1753.—"Masulipatnam ... est capitale de ce qu'on appelle dans l'Inde un Sercar (see SIRCAR), qui comprend plusieurs Perganés, ou districts particuliers."—D'Anville, 132.
1812.—"A certain number of villages with a society thus organised, formed a pergunnah."—Fifth Report, 16.
PERGUNNAHS, THE TWENTY-FOUR, n.p. The official name of the District immediately adjoining and inclosing, though not administratively including, Calcutta. The name is one of a character very ancient in India and the East. It was the original 'Zemindary of Calcutta' granted to the English Company by a 'Subadar's Perwana' in 1757-58. This grant was subsequently confirmed by the Great Mogul as an unconditional and rent-free jagheer (q.v.). The quotation from Sir Richard Phillips' Million of Facts, illustrates the development of 'facts' out of the moral consciousness. The book contains many of equal value. An approximate parallel to this statement would be that London is divided into Seven Dials.
1765.—"The lands of the twenty-four Purgunnahs, ceded to the Company by the treaty of 1757, which subsequently became Colonel Clive's jagghier, were rated on the King's books at 2 lac and 22,000 rupees."—Holwell, Hist. Events, 2nd ed., p. 217.
1812.—"The number of convicts confined at the six stations of this division (independent of Zillah Twenty-four pergunnahs), is about 4,000. Of them probably nine-tenths are dacoits."—Fifth Report, 559.
c. 1831.—"Bengal is divided in 24 Pergunnahs, each with its judge and magistrate, registrar, &c."—Sir R. Phillips, Million of Facts, stereot. ed. 1843, 927.
PERI, s. This Persian word for a class of imaginary sprites, rendered familiar in the verses of Moore and Southey, has no blood-relationship with the English Fairy, notwithstanding the exact compliance with Grimm's Law in the change of initial consonant. The Persian word is parī, from par, 'a feather, or wing'; therefore 'the winged one'; [so F. Johnson, Pers. Dict.; but the derivation is very doubtful;] whilst the genealogy of fairy is apparently Ital. fata, French fée, whence féerie ('fay-dom') and thence fairy.
[c. 1500?—"I am the only daughter of a Jinn chief of noblest strain and my name is Peri-Banu."—Arab. Nights, Burton, x. 264.]
1800.—
"From cluster'd henna, and from orange groves,
That with such perfumes fill the breeze
As Peris to their Sister bear,
When from the summit of some lofty tree
She hangs encaged, the captive of the Dives."
Thalaba, xi. 24.
1817.—
"But nought can charm the luckless Peri;
Her soul is sad—her wings are weary."
Moore, Paradise and the Peri.
PERPET, PERPETUANO, s. The name of a cloth often mentioned in the 17th and first part of the 18th centuries, as an export from England to the East. It appears to have been a light and glossy twilled stuff of wool, [which like another stuff of the same kind called 'Lasting,' took its name from its durability. (See Draper's Dict. s.v.)]. In France it was called perpétuanne or sempiterne, in Ital. perpetuana.
[1609.—"Karsies, Perpetuanos and other woollen Comodities."—Birdwood, Letter Book, 288.
[1617.—"Perpetuano, 1 bale."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 293.
[1630.—"... Devonshire kersies or perpetuities...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 4.
[1680.—"Perpetuances."—Ibid. ii. 401.]
1711.—"Goods usually imported (to China) from Europe are Bullion Cloths, Clothrash, Perpetuano's, and Camblets of Scarlet, black, blew, sad and violet Colours, which are of late so lightly set by; that to bear the Dutys, and bring the prime Cost, is as much as can reasonably be hoped for."—Lockyer, 147.
[1717.—"... a Pavilion lined with Imboss'd Perpets."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccclix.]
1754.—"Being requested by the Trustees of the Charity Stock of this place to make an humble application to you for an order that the children upon the Foundation to the number of 12 or 14 may be supplied at the expense of the Honorable Company with a coat of blue Perpets or some ordinary cloth...."—Petition of Revd. R. Mapletoft, in Long, p. 29.
1757.—Among the presents sent to the King of Ava with the mission of Ensign Robert Lester, we find:
"2 Pieces of ordinary Red Broad Cloth.
3 Do. of Pérpetuánoes Popingay."
In Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 203.
PERSAIM, n.p. This is an old form of the name of Bassein (q.v.) in Pegu. It occurs (e.g.) in Milburn, ii. 281.
1759.—"The Country for 20 miles round Persaim is represented as capable of producing Rice, sufficient to supply the Coast of Choromandel from Pondicherry to Masulipatam."—Letter in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 110. Also in a Chart by Capt. G. Baker, 1754.
1795.—"Having ordered presents of a trivial nature to be presented, in return for those brought from Negrais, he referred the deputy ... to the Birman Governor of Persaim for a ratification and final adjustment of the treaty."—Symes, p. 40. But this author also uses Bassien (e.g. 32), and "Persaim or Bassien" (39), which alternatives are also in the chart by Ensign Wood.
PERSIMMON, s. This American name is applied to a fruit common in China and Japan, which in a dried state is imported largely from China into Tibet. The tree is the Diospyros kaki, L. fil., a species of the same genus which produces ebony. The word is properly the name of an American fruit and tree of the same genus (D. virginiana), also called date-plum, and, according to the Dictionary of Worcester, belonged to the Indian language of Virginia. [The word became familiar in 1896 as the name of the winner of the Derby.]
1878.—"The finest fruit of Japan is the Kaki or persimmon (Diospyros Kaki), a large golden fruit on a beautiful tree."—Miss Bird's Japan, i. 234.
PERUMBAUCUM, n.p. A town 14 m. N.W. of Conjevaram, in the district of Madras [Chingleput]. The name is perhaps perum-pākkam, Tam., 'big village.'
PESCARIA, n.p. The coast of Tinnevelly was so called by the Portuguese, from the great pearl 'fishery' there.
[c. 1566.—See under BAZAAR.]
1600.—"There are in the Seas of the East three principal mines where they fish pearls.... The third is between the Isle of Ceilon and Cape Comory, and on this account the Coast which runs from the said Cape to the shoals of Ramanancor and Manâr is called, in part, Pescaria...."—Lucena, 80.
[1616.—"Pesqueria." See under CHILAW.]
1615.—"Iam nonnihil de orâ Piscariâ dicamus quae iam inde a promontorio Commorino in Orientem ad usque breuia Ramanancoridis extenditur, quod haud procul inde celeberrimus, maximus, et copiosissimus toto Oriente Margaritarum piscatus instituitur...."—Jarric, Thes. i. 445.
1710.—"The Coast of the Pescaria of the mother of pearl which runs from the Cape of Camorim to the Isle of Manar, for the space of seventy leagues, with a breadth of six inland, was the first debarcation of this second conquest."—Sousa, Orient. Conquist. i. 122.
PESHAWUR, n.p. Peshāwar. This name of what is now the frontier city and garrison of India towards Kābul, is sometimes alleged to have been given by Akbar. But in substance the name is of great antiquity, and all that can be alleged as to Akbar is that he is said to have modified the old name, and that since his time the present form has been in use. A notice of the change is quoted below from Gen. Cunningham; we cannot give the authority on which the statement rests. Peshāwar could hardly be called a frontier town in the time of Akbar, standing as it did according to the administrative division of the Āīn, about the middle of the Sūba of Kābul, which included Kashmīr and all west of it. We do not find that the modern form occurs in the text of the Āīn as published by Prof. Blochmann. In the translation of the Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī of Nizāmu-d-din Ahmad (died 1594-95), in Elliot, we find the name transliterated variously as Pesháwar (v. 448), Parsháwar (293), Parshor (423), Pershor (424). We cannot doubt that the Chinese form Folausha in Fah-hian already expresses the name Parashāwar, or Parshāwar.
c. 400.—"From Gandhâra, going south 4 days' journey, we arrive at the country of Fo-lau-sha. In old times Buddha, in company with all his disciples, travelled through this country."—Fah-hian, by Beal, p. 34.
c. 630.—"The Kingdom of Kien-to-lo (Gândhâra) extends about 1000 li from E. to W. and 800 li from S. to N. On the East it adjoins the river Sin (Indus). The capital of this country is called Pu-lu-sha-pu-lo (Purashapura).... The towns and villages are almost deserted.... There are about a thousand convents, ruined and abandoned; full of wild plants, and presenting only a melancholy solitude...."—Hwen T'sang, Pèl. Boud. ii. 104-105.
c. 1001.—"On his (Mahmúd's) reaching Purshaur, he pitched his tent outside the city. There he received intelligence of the bold resolve of Jaipál, the enemy of God, and the King of Hind, to offer opposition."—Al-Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 25.
c. 1020.—"The aggregate of these waters forms a large river opposite the city of Parsháwar."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 47. See also 63.
1059.—"The Amír ordered a letter to be despatched to the minister, telling him 'I have determined to go to Hindustán, and pass the winter in Waihind, and Marminára, and Barshúr...."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 150.
c. 1220.—"Farshābūr. The vulgar pronunciation is Barshāwūr. A large tract between Ghazna and Lahor, famous in the history of the Musulman conquest."—Yāḳūt, in Barbier de Maynard, Dict. de la Perse, 418.
1519.—"We held a consultation, in which it was resolved to plunder the country of the Aferîdî Afghâns, as had been proposed by Sultan Bayezîd, to fit up the fort of Pershâwer for the reception of their effects and corn, and to leave a garrison in it."—Baber, 276.
c. 1555.—"We came to the city of Purshawar, and having thus fortunately passed the Kotal we reached the town of Joshāya. On the Kotal we saw rhinoceroses, the size of a small elephant."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As. Ser. i. tom. ix. 201.
c. 1590.—"Tumān Bagrām, which they call Parshāwar; the spring here is a source of delight. There is in this place a great place of worship which they call Gorkhatri, to which people, especially Jogis, resort from great distances."—Āīn (orig.), i. 592; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 404. In iii. 69, Parasháwar].
1754.—"On the news that Peishor was taken, and that Nadir Shah was preparing to pass the Indus, the Moghol's court, already in great disorder, was struck with terror."—H. of Nadir Shah, in Hanway, ii. 363.
1783.—"The heat of Peshour seemed to me more intense, than that of any country I have visited in the upper parts of India. Other places may be warm; hot winds blowing over tracts of sand may drive us under the shelter of a wetted skreen; but at Peshour, the atmosphere, in the summer solstice, becomes almost inflammable."—G. Forster, ed. 1808, ii. 57.
1863.—"Its present name we owe to Akbar, whose fondness for innovation led him to change the ancient Parashâwara, of which he did not know the meaning, to Peshâwar, or the 'frontier town.' Abul Fazl gives both names."—Cunningham, Arch. Reports, ii. 87. Gladwin does in his translation give both names; but see above.
PESHCUBZ, s. A form of dagger, the blade of which has a straight thick back, while the edge curves inwardly from a broad base to a very sharp point. Pers. pesh-ḳabz, 'fore-grip.' The handle is usually made of shirmāhī, 'the white bone (tooth?) of a large cetacean'; probably morse-tooth, which is repeatedly mentioned in the early English trade with Persia as an article much in demand (e.g. see Sainsbury, ii. 65, 159, 204, 305; iii. 89, 162, 268, 287, &c.). [The peshḳubz appears several times in Mr. Egerton's Catalogue of Indian Arms, and one is illustrated, Pl. xv. No. 760.]
1767.—
| "Received for sundry jewels, &c. | (Rs.) 7326 | 0 | 0 |
| Ditto for knife, or peshcubz (misprinted pesheolz) |
3500 | 0 | 0." |
| Lord Clive's Accounts, in Long, 497. | |||
PESHCUSH, s. Pers. pesh-kash. Wilson interprets this as literally 'first-fruits.' It is used as an offering or tribute, but with many specific and technical senses which will be found in Wilson, e.g. a fine on appointment, renewal, or investiture; a quit-rent, a payment exacted on lands formerly rent-free, or in substitution for service no longer exacted; sometimes a present to a great man, or (loosely) for the ordinary Government demand on land. Peshcush, in the old English records, is most generally used in the sense of a present to a great man.
1653.—"Pesket est vn presant en Turq."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 553.
1657.—"As to the Piscash for the King of Golcundah, if it be not already done, we do hope with it you may obteyn our liberty to coyne silver Rupees and copper Pice at the Fort, which would be a great accommodation to our Trade. But in this and all other Piscashes be as sparing as you can."—Letter of Court to Ft. St. Geo., in Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 7.
1673.—"Sometimes sending Pishcashes of considerable value."—Fryer, 166.
1675.—"Being informed that Mr. Mohun had sent a Piscash of Persian Wine, Cases of Stronge Water, &c. to ye Great Governour of this Countrey, that is 2d. or 3d. pson in ye kingdome, I went to his house to speake abt. it, when he kept me to dine with him."—Puckle's Diary, MS. in India Office.
[1683.—"Piscash." (See under FIRMAUN.)]
1689.—"But the Pishcushes or Presents expected by the Nabobs and Omrahs retarded our Inlargement for some time notwithstanding."—Ovington, 415.
1754.—"After I have refreshed my army at Delhie, and received the subsidy (Note.—'This is called a Peischcush, or present from an inferior to a superior. The sum agreed for was 20 crores') which must be paid, I will leave you in possession of his dominion."—Hist. of Nadir Shah, in Hanway, ii. 371.
1761.—"I have obtained a promise from his Majesty of his royal confirmation of all your possessions and priviledges, provided you pay him a proper pishcush...."—Major Carnac to the Governor and Council, in Van Sittart, i. 119.
1811.—"By the fixed or regulated sum ... the Sultan ... means the Paishcush, or tribute, which he was bound by former treaties to pay to the Government of Poonah; but which he does not think proper to ... designate by any term denotive of inferiority, which the word Paishcush certainly is."—Kirkpatrick, Note on Tippoo's Letters, p. 9.
PESH-KHĀNA, PESH-KHIDMAT, ss. Pers. 'Fore-service.' The tents and accompanying retinue sent on over-night, during a march, to the new camping ground, to receive the master on his arrival. A great personage among the natives, or among ourselves, has a complete double establishment, one portion of which goes thus every night in advance. [Another term used is peshkhaima Pers. 'advance tents,' as below.]
1665.—"When the King is in the field, he hath usually two Camps ... to the end that when he breaketh up and leaveth one, the other may have passed before by a day and be found ready when he arriveth at the place design'd to encamp at; and 'tis therefore that they are called Peiche-kanes, as if you should say, Houses going before...."—Bernier, E.T. 115; [ed. Constable, 359].
[1738.—"Peish-khanna is the term given to the royal tents and their appendages in India."—Hanway, iv. 153.
[1862.—"The result of all this uproarious bustle has been the erection of the Sardár's peshkhaima, or advanced tent."—Bellew, Journal of Mission, 409.]
PESHWA, s. from Pers. 'a leader, a guide.' The chief minister of the Mahratta power, who afterwards, supplanting his master, the descendant of Sivaji, became practically the prince of an independent State and chief of the Mahrattas. The Peshwa's power expired with the surrender to Sir John Malcolm of the last Peshwa, Bājī Rāo, in 1817. He lived in wealthy exile, and with a jāgīr under his own jurisdiction, at Bhitūr, near Cawnpoor, till January 1851. His adopted son, and the claimant of his honours and allowances, was the infamous Nānā Sāhib.
Mr C. P. Brown gives a feminine peshwīn: "The princess Gangā Bāī was Peshwīn of Purandhar." (MS. notes).
1673.—"He answered, it is well, and referred our Business to Moro Pundit his Peshua, or Chancellour, to examine our Articles, and give an account of what they were."—Fryer, 79.
1803.—"But how is it with the Peshwah? He has no minister; no person has influence over him, and he is only guided by his own caprices."—Wellington Desp., ed. 1837, ii. 177.
In the following passage (quandoquidem dormitans) the Great Duke had forgotten that things were changed since he left India, whilst the editor perhaps did not know:
1841.—"If you should draw more troops from the Establishment of Fort St. George, you will have to place under arms the subsidiary force of the Nizam, the Peishwah, and the force in Mysore, and the districts ceded by the Nizam in 1800-1801."—Letter from the D. of Wellington, in Ind. Adm. of Lord Ellenborough, 1874. (Dec. 29). The Duke was oblivious when he spoke of the Peshwa's Subsidiary Force in 1841.
PETERSILLY, s. This is the name by which 'parsley' is generally called in N. India. We have heard it quoted there as an instance of the absurd corruption of English words in the mouths of natives. But this case at least might more justly be quoted as an example of accurate transfer. The word is simply the Dutch term for 'parsley,' viz. petersilie, from the Lat. petroselinum, of which parsley is itself a double corruption through the French persil. In the Arabic of Avicenna the name is given as fatrasiliūn.
PETTAH, s. Tam. pēṭṭai. The extramural suburb of a fortress, or the town attached and adjacent to a fortress. The pettah is itself often separately fortified; the fortress is then its citadel. The Mahratti peṭh is used in like manner; [it is Skt. peṭaka, and the word possibly came to the Tamil through the Mahr.]. The word constantly occurs in the histories of war in Southern India.
1630.—"'Azam Khán, having ascended the Pass of Anjan-dúdh, encamped 3 kos from Dhárúr. He then directed Multafit Khán ... to make an attack upon ... Dhárúr and its petta, where once a week people from all parts, far and near, were accustomed to meet for buying and selling."—Abdul Hamīd, in Elliot, vii. 20.
1763.—"The pagoda served as a citadel to a large pettah, by which name the people on the Coast of Coromandel call every town contiguous to a fortress."—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 147.
1791.—"... The petta or town (at Bangalore) of great extent to the north of the fort, was surrounded by an indifferent rampart and excellent ditch, with an intermediate berm ... planted with impenetrable and well-grown thorns.... Neither the fort nor the petta had drawbridges."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, iii. 123.
1803.—"The pettah wall was very lofty, and defended by towers, and had no rampart."—Wellington, ed. 1837, ii. 193.
1809.—"I passed through a country little cultivated ... to Kingeri, which has a small mud-fort in good repair, and a pettah apparently well filled with inhabitants."—Ld. Valentia, i. 412.
1839.—"The English ladies told me this Pettah was 'a horrid place—quite native!' and advised me never to go into it; so I went next day, of course, and found it most curious—really quite native."—Letters from Madras, 289.
PHANSEEGAR, s. See under THUG.
[PHOOLKAREE, s. Hind. phūl-kārī, 'flowered embroidery.' The term applied in N. India to the cotton sheets embroidered in silk by village women, particularly Jats. Each girl is supposed to embroider one of these for her marriage. In recent years a considerable demand has arisen for specimens of this kind of needlework among English ladies, who use them for screens and other decorative purposes. Hence a considerable manufacture has sprung up of which an account will be found in a note by Mrs. F. A. Steel, appended to Mr. H. C. Cookson's Monograph on the Silk Industry of the Punjab (1886-7), and in the Journal of Indian Art, ii. 71 seqq.
[1887.—"They (native school girls) were collected in a small inner court, which was hung with the pretty phulcarries they make here (Rawal Pindi), and which ... looked very Oriental and gay."—Lady Dufferin, Viceregal Life, 336.]
[PHOORZA, s. A custom-house; Gujarātī phurjā, from Ar. furẓat 'a notch,' then 'a bight,' 'river-mouth,' 'harbour'; hence 'a tax' or 'custom-duty.'
[1791.—The East India Calendar (p. 131) has "John Church, Phoorza-Master, Surat."
[1727.—"And the Mogul's Furza or custom-house is at this place (Hughly)."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, ii. 19.
[1772.—"But as they still insisted on their people sitting at the gates on the Phoorzer Coosky ..."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 386, and see 392, "Phoorze Master." Coosky = P.—Mahr. Khushkī, "inland transit-duties."
[1813.—"... idols ... were annually imported to a considerable number at the Baroche Phoorza, when I was custom-master at that settlement."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 334.]
PIAL, s. A raised platform on which people sit, usually under the verandah, or on either side of the door of the house. It is a purely S. Indian word, and partially corresponds to the N. Indian chabūtra (see CHABOOTRA). Wilson conjectures the word to be Telugu, but it is in fact a form of the Portuguese poyo and poyal (Span. poyo), 'a seat or bench.' This is again, according to Diez (i. 326), from the Lat. podium, 'a projecting base, a balcony.' Bluteau explains poyal as 'steps for mounting on horseback' (Scoticè, 'a louping-on stone') [see Dalboquerque, Hak. Soc. ii. 68]. The quotation from Mr. Gover describes the S. Indian thing in full.
1553.—"... paying him his courtesy in Moorish fashion, which was seating himself along with him on a poyal."—Castanheda, vi. 3.
1578.—"In the public square at Goa, as it was running furiously along, an infirm man came in its way, and could not escape; but the elephant took him up in his trunk, and without doing him any hurt deposited him on a poyo."—Acosta, Tractado, 432.
1602.—"The natives of this region who are called Iaos, are men so arrogant that they think no others their superiors ... insomuch that if a Iao in passing along the street becomes aware that any one of another nation is on a poyal, or any place above him, if the person does not immediately come down, ... until he is gone by, he will kill him."—Couto, IV. iii. 1. [For numerous instances of this superstition, see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2nd ed. i. 360 seqq.]
1873.—"Built against the front wall of every Hindu house in southern India ... is a bench 3 feet high and as many broad. It extends along the whole frontage, except where the house-door stands.... The posts of the veranda or pandal are fixed in the ground a few feet in front of the bench, enclosing a sort of platform: for the basement of the house is generally 2 or 3 feet above the street level. The raised bench is called the Pyal, and is the lounging-place by day. It also serves in the hot months as a couch for the night.... There the visitor is received; there the bargaining is done; there the beggar plies his trade, and the Yogi (see JOGEE) sounds his conch; there also the members of the household clean their teeth, amusing themselves the while with belches and other frightful noises...."—Pyal Schools in Madras, by E. C. Gover, in Ind. Antiq. ii. 52.
PICAR, s. Hind. paikār, [which again is a corruption of Pers. pā'e-kār, pā'e, 'a foot'], a retail-dealer, an intermediate dealer or broker.
1680.—"Picar." See under DUSTOOR.
1683.—"Ye said Naylor has always corresponded with Mr. Charnock, having been always his intimate friend; and without question either provides him goods out of the Hon. Comp.'s Warehouse, or connives at the Weavers and Piccars doing of it."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 133.
[1772.—"Pykârs (Dellols (see DELOLL) and Gomastahs) are a chain of agents through whose hands the articles of merchandize pass from the loom of the manufacturer, or the store-house of the cultivator, to the public merchant, or exporter."—Verelst, View of Bengal, Gloss. s.v.]
PICE, s. Hind. paisā, a small copper coin, which under the Anglo-Indian system of currency is ¼ of an anna, 1⁄64 of a rupee, and somewhat less than 3⁄2 of a farthing. Pice is used slangishly for money in general. By Act XXIII. of 1870 (cl. 8) the following copper coins are current:—1. Double Pice or Half-anna. 2. Pice or ¼ anna. 3. Half-pice or ⅛ anna. 4. Pie or 1⁄12 anna. No. 2 is the only one in very common use. As with most other coins, weights, and measures, there used to be pucka pice, and cutcha pice. The distinction was sometimes between the regularly minted copper of the Government and certain amorphous pieces of copper which did duty for small change (e.g. in the N.W. Provinces within memory), or between single and double pice, i.e. ¼ anna-pieces and ½ anna-pieces. [Also see PIE.]
c. 1590.—"The dám ... is the fortieth part of the rupee. At first this coin was called Paisah."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 31.
[1614.—"Another coin there is of copper, called a Pize, whereof you have commonly 34 in the mamudo."—Foster, Letters, iii. 11.]
1615.—"Pice, which is a Copper Coyne; twelve Drammes make one Pice. The English Shilling, if weight, will yeeld thirtie three Pice and a halfe."—W. Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.
1616.—"Brasse money, which they call Pices, whereof three or thereabouts countervail a Peny."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1471.
1648.—"... de Peysen zijn kooper gelt...."—Van Twist, 62.
1653.—"Peça est vne monnoye du Mogol de la valeur de 6 deniers."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 553.
1673.—"Pice, a sort of Copper Money current among the Poorer sort of People ... the Company's Accounts are kept in Book-rate Pice, viz. 32 to the Mam. [i.e. Mamoodee, see GOSBECK], and 80 Pice to the Rupee."—Fryer, 205.
1676.—"The Indians have also a sort of small Copper-money; which is called Pecha.... In my last Travels, a Roupy went at Surat for nine and forty Pecha's."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 22; [ed. Ball, i. 27].
1689.—"Lower than these (pice), bitter-Almonds here (at Surat) pass for Money, about Sixty of which make a Pice."—Ovington, 219.
1726.—"1 Ana makes 1½ stuyvers or 2 peys."—Valentijn, v. 179. [Also see under MOHUR GOLD.]
1768.—"Shall I risk my cavalry, which cost 1000 rupees each horse, against your cannon balls that cost two pice?—No.—I will march your troops until their legs become the size of their bodies."—Hyder Ali, Letter to Col. Wood, in Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 287; [2nd ed. ii. 300].
c. 1816.—"'Here,' said he, 'is four pucker-pice for Mary to spend in the bazar; but I will thank you, Mrs. Browne, not to let her have any fruit....'"—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, 16, ed. 1863.
PICOTA, s. An additional allowance or percentage, added as a handicap to the weight of goods, which varied with every description,—and which the editor of the Subsidios supposes to have lead to the varieties of bahar (q.v.). Thus at Ormuz the bahar was of 20 farazolas (see FRAZALA), to which was added, as picota, for cloves and mace 3 maunds (of Ormuz), or about 1⁄72 additional; for cinnamon 1⁄20 additional; for benzoin 1⁄5 additional, &c. See the Pesos, &c. of A. Nunes (1554) passim. We have not been able to trace the origin of this term, nor any modern use.
[1554.—"Picotaa." (See under BRAZIL-WOOD, DOOCAUN.)]
PICOTTAH, s. This is the term applied in S. India to that ancient machine for raising water, which consists of a long lever or yard, pivotted on an upright post, weighted on the short arm and bearing a line and bucket on the long arm. It is the ḍhenklī of Upper India, the shādūf of the Nile, and the old English sweep, swape, or sway-pole. The machine is we believe still used in the Terra Incognita of market-gardens S.E. of London. The name is Portuguese, picota, a marine term now applied to the handle of a ship's pump and post in which it works—a 'pump-brake.' The picota at sea was also used as a pillory, whence the employment of the word as quoted from Correa. The word is given in the Glossary attached to the "Fifth Report" (1812), but with no indication of its source. Fryer (1673, pub. 1698) describes the thing without giving it a name. In the following the word is used in the marine sense:
1524.—"He (V. da Gama) ordered notice to be given that no seaman should wear a cloak, except on Sunday ... and if he did, that it should be taken from him by the constables (lhe serra tomada polos meirinhos), and the man put in the picota in disgrace, for one day. He found great fault with men of military service wearing cloaks, for in that guise they did not look like soldiers."—Correa, Lendas, II. ii. 822.
1782.—"Pour cet effet (arroser les terres) on emploie une machine appellée Picôte. C'est une bascule dressée sur le bord d'un puits ou d'un réservoir d'eaux pluviales, pour en tirer l'eau, et la conduire ensuite où l'on veut."—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 188.
c. 1790.—"Partout les pakotiés, ou puits à bascule, étoient en mouvement pour fournir l'eau nécessaire aux plantes, et partout on entendoit les jardiniers égayer leurs travaux par des chansons."—Haafner, ii. 217.
1807.—"In one place I saw people employed in watering a rice-field with the Yatam, or Pacota, as it is called by the English."—Buchanan, Journey through Mysore, &c., i. 15. [Here Yatam, is Can. yāta, Tel. ētamu, Mal. ēttam.]
[1871.—
"Aye, e'en picotta-work would gain
By using such bamboos."
Gover, Folk Songs of S. India, 184.]
PIE, s. Hind. pā'ī, the smallest copper coin of the Anglo-Indian currency, being 1⁄12 of an anna, 1⁄192 of a rupee, = about ½ a farthing. This is now the authorised meaning of pie. But pā'ī was originally, it would seem, the fourth part of an anna, and in fact identical with pice (q.v.). It is the H.—Mahr. pā'ī, 'a quarter,' from Skt. pad, pādikā in that sense.
[1866.—"... his father has a one pie share in a small village which may yield him perhaps 24 rupees per annum."—Confessions of an Orderly, 201.]
PIECE-GOODS. This, which is now the technical term for Manchester cottons imported into India, was originally applied in trade to the Indian cottons exported to England, a trade which appears to have been deliberately killed by the heavy duties which Lancashire procured to be imposed in its own interest, as in its own interest it has recently procured the abolition of the small import duty on English piece-goods in India.[223] [In 1898 a duty at the rate of 3 per cent. on cotton goods was reimposed.]
Lists of the various kinds of Indian piece-goods will be found in Milburn (i. 44, 45, 46, and ii. 90, 221), and we assemble them below. It is not in our power to explain their peculiarities, except in very few cases, found under their proper heading. [In the present edition these lists have been arranged in alphabetical order. The figures before each indicate that they fall into the following classes: 1. Piece-goods formerly exported from Bombay and Surat; 2. Piece-goods exported from Madras and the Coast; 3. Piece-goods: the kinds imported into Great Britain from Bengal. Some notes and quotations have been added. But it must be understood that the classes of goods now known under these names may or may not exactly represent those made at the time when these lists were prepared. The names printed in capitals are discussed in separate articles.]
1665.—"I have sometimes stood amazed at the vast quantity of Cotton-Cloth of all sorts, fine and others, tinged and white, which the Hollanders alone draw from thence and transport into many places, especially into Japan and Europe; not to mention what the English, Portingal and Indian merchants carry away from those parts."—Bernier, E.T. 141; [ed. Constable, 439].
1785.—(Resn. of Court of Directors of the E.I.C., 8th October) "... that the Captains and Officers of all ships that shall sail from any part of India, after receiving notice hereof, shall be allowed to bring 8000 pieces of piece-goods and no more ... that 5000 pieces and no more, may consist of white Muslins and Callicoes, stitched or plain, or either of them, of which 5000 pieces only 2000 may consist of any of the following sorts, viz., Alliballies, Alrochs (?), Cossaes, Doreas, Jamdannies, Mulmuls, Nainsooks, Neckcloths, Tanjeebs, and Terrindams, and that 3000 pieces and no more, may consist of coloured piece-goods...." &c., &c.—In Seton-Karr, i. 83.
[Abrawan, P. āb-i-ravān, 'flowing water'; a very fine kind of Dacca muslin. 'Woven air' is the name applied in the Arabian Nights to the Patna gauzes, a term originally used for the produce of the Coan looms (Burton, x. 247.) "The Hindoos amuse us with two stories, as instances of the fineness of this muslin. One, that the Emperor Aurungzebe was angry with his daughter for exposing her skin through her clothes; whereupon the young princess remonstrated in her justification that she had seven jamahs (see JAMMA) or suits on; and another, in the Nabob Allaverdy Khawn's time a weaver was chastised and turned out of the city for his neglect, in not preventing his cow from eating up a piece of abrooan, which he had spread and carelessly left on the grass."—Bolt, Considerations on Affairs of India, 206.]
3. ADATIS.
2. ALLEJAS.
3. Alliballies.—"Alaballee (signifying according to the weavers' interpretation of the word 'very fine') is a muslin of fine texture."—(J. Taylor, Account of the Cotton Manufacture at Dacca, 45). According to this the word is perhaps from Ar. ā'lā, 'superior,' H. bhalā, 'good.'
3. Allibanees.—Perhaps from ā'lā, 'superior,' bānā, 'woof.'
1. Annabatchies.
3. Arrahs.—Perhaps from the place of that name in Shahābād, where, according to Buchanan Hamilton (Eastern India, i. 548) there was a large cloth industry.
3. Aubrahs.
2. Aunneketchies.
3. BAFTAS.
3. BANDANNAS.
1. Bejutapauts.—H. be-jūṭā, 'without join,' pāt, 'a piece.'
1. BETEELAS.
3. Blue cloth.
1. Bombay Stuffs.
1. Brawl.—The N.E.D. describes Brawl as a 'blue and white striped cloth manufactured in India.' In a letter of 1616 (Foster, iv. 306) we have "Lolwee champell and Burral." The editor suggests H. biral, 'open in texture, fine.' But Roquefort (s.v.) gives: "Bure, Burel, grosse étoffe en laine de couleur rousse ou grisâtre, dont s'habillent ordinairement les ramoneurs; cette étoffe est faite de brebis noire et brune, sans aucune autre teinture." And see N.E.D. s.v. Borrel.
3. Byrampauts. (See BEIRAMEE.)
2. Callawapores.
3. Callipatties.—H. Kālī, 'black,' pattī, 'strip.'
3. CAMBAYS.
3. Cambrics.
3. Carpets.
3. Carridaries.
2. Cattaketchies.
1. Chalias. (See under SHALEE.)
3. Charconnaes.—H. chār-khāna, 'chequered.' "The charkana, or chequered muslin, is, as regards manufacture, very similar to the Doorea (see DOREAS below). They differ in the breadth of the stripes, their closeness to each other, and the size of the squares." (Forbes Watson, Textile Man. 78). The same name is now applied to a silk cloth. "The word chārkhāna simply means 'a check,' but the term is applied to certain silk or mixed fabrics containing small checks, usually about 8 or 10 checks in a line to an inch." (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 93. Also see Journ. Ind. Art, iii. 6.)
1683.—"20 yards of charkonnas."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.
2. Chavonis.
1. Chelloes. (See SHALEE.)
3. Chinechuras.—Probably cloth from Chinsura.
1. CHINTZ, of sorts.
3. Chittabullies.
3. Chowtars.—This is almost certainly not identical with Chudder. In a list of cotton cloths in the Āīn (i. 94) we have chautār, which may mean 'made with four threads or wires.' Chautāhī, 'four-fold,' is a kind of cloth used in the Punjab for counterpanes (Francis, Man. Cotton, 7). This cloth is frequently mentioned in the early letters.
1610.—"Chautares are white and well requested."—Danvers, Letters, i. 75.
1614.—"The Chauters of Agra and fine baftas nyll doth not here vend."—Foster, Letters, ii. 45.
1615.—"Four pieces fine white Cowter."—Ibid. iv. 51.
3. Chuclaes.—This may be H. chaklā, chakrī, which Platts defines as 'a kind of cloth made of silk and cotton.'
3. Chunderbannies.—This is perhaps H. chandra, 'the moon,' bānā, 'woof.'
3. Chundraconaes.—Forbes Watson has: "Chunderkana, second quality muslin for handkerchiefs": "Plain white bleached muslin called Chunderkora." The word is probably chandrakhāna, 'moon checks.'
3. Clouts, common coarse cloth, for which see N.E.D.
3. Coopees.—This is perhaps H. kaupin, kopin, 'the small lungooty worn by Fakirs.'
3. Corahs.—H. korā, 'plain, unbleached, undyed.' What is now known as Kora silk is woven in pieces for waist-cloths (see Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 76).
3. Cossaes.—This perhaps represents Ar. khāṣṣa 'special.' In the Āīn we have khāçah in the list of cotton cloths (i. 94). Mr. Taylor describes it as a muslin of a close fine texture, and identifies it with the fine muslin which, according to the Āīn (ii. 124), was produced at Sonārgāon. The finest kind he says is "jungle-khasu." (Taylor, op. cit. 45.)
3. Cushtaes.—These perhaps take their name from Kushtia, a place of considerable trade in the Nadiya District.
3. Cuttannees. (See COTTON.)
1. Dhooties. (See DHOTY.)
3. Diapers.
3. Dimities.
3. Doreas.—H. ḍoriyā, 'striped cloth,' ḍor, 'thread.' In the list in the Āīn (i. 95), Doriyah appears among cotton stuffs. It is now also made in silk: "The simplest pattern is the stripe; when the stripes are longitudinal the fabric is a doriya.... The doriya was originally a cotton fabric, but it is now manufactured in silk, silk-and-cotton, tasar, and other combinations." (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 57, 94.)
1683.—"3 pieces Dooreas."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.
3. DOSOOTIES.
3. DUNGAREES.
3. Dysucksoys.
3. Elatches.—Platts gives H. Ilāchā, 'a kind of cloth woven of silk and thread so as to present the appearance of cardamoms (ilāchī).' But it is almost certainly identical with alleja. It was probably introduced to Agra, where now alone it is made, by the Moghuls. It differs from doriya (see DOREAS above) in having a substantial texture, whereas the doriya is generally flimsy. (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 95.)
3. Emmerties.—This is H. amratī, imratī, 'sweet as nectar.'
2. GINGHAMS.
2. Gudeloor (dimities).—There is a place of the name in the Neilgherry District, but it does not seem to have any cloth manufacture.
1. GUINEA STUFFS.
3. Gurrahs.—This is probably the H. gārhā: "unbleached fabrics which under names varying in different localities, constitute a large proportion of the clothing of the poor. They are used also for packing goods, and as a covering for the dead, for which last purpose a large quantity is employed both by Hindoos and Mahomedans. These fabrics in Bengal pass under the name of garrha and guzee." (Forbes Watson, op. cit. 83.)
3. Habassies.—Probably P. 'abbāsī, used of cloths dyed in a sort of magenta colour. The recipe is given by Hadi, Mon. on Dyeing in the N.W.P. p. 16.
3. Herba Taffeties.—These are cloths made of Grass-cloth.
3. Humhums, from Ar. ḥammām, 'a Turkish bath' "(apparently so named from its having been originally used at the bath), is a cloth of a thick stout texture, and generally worn as a wrapper in the cold season." (Taylor, op. cit. 63.)
2. Izarees.—P. izār, 'drawers, trousers.' Watson (op. cit. 57, note) says that in some places it is peculiar to men, the women's drawers being Turwar. Herklots (Qanoon-e-Islam, App. xiv.) gives eezar as equivalent to shulwaur, like the pyjamma, but not so wide.
3. Jamdannies.—P.-H. jāmdānī, which is said to be properly jāmahdānī, 'a box for holding a suit.' The jāmdānī is a loom-figured muslin, which Taylor (op. cit. 48) calls "the most expensive productions of the Dacca looms."
3. Jamwars. H. jāmawār, 'sufficient for a dress.' It is not easy to say what stuff is intended by this name. In the Āīn (ii. 240) we have jamahwār, mentioned among Guzerat stuffs worked in gold thread, and again (i. 95) jāmahwār Parmnarm among woollen stuffs. Forbes Watson gives among Kashmīr shawls: "Jamewars, or striped shawl pieces"; in the Punjab they are of a striped pattern made both in pashm and wool (Johnstone, Mon. on Wool, 9), and Mr. Kipling says, "the stripes are broad, of alternate colours, red and blue, &c." (Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India, 374.)
3. Kincha cloth.
3. Kissorsoys.
3. Laccowries.
1. Lemmannees.
3. LONG CLOTHS.
3. LOONGHEES, HERBA. (See GRASS-CLOTH.)
1. LOONGHEE, MAGHRUB. Ar. maghrib, maghrab, 'the west.'
3. Mamoodeatis.
3. Mammoodies. Platts gives Maḥmūdī, 'praised, fine muslin.' The Āīn (i. 94) classes the Maḥmūdī among cotton cloths, and at a low price. A cloth under this name is made at Shāhābād in the Hardoi District. (Oudh Gazetteer, ii. 25.)
2. Monepore cloths. (See MUNNEPORE.)
2. Moorees.—"Moories are blue cloths, principally manufactured in the districts of Nellore and at Canatur in the Chingleput collectorate of Madras.... They are largely exported to the Straits of Malacca." (Balfour, Cycl. ii. 982.)
1684-5.—"Moorees superfine, 1000 pieces."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. iv. 41.
3. Muggadooties. (See MOONGA.)
3. MULMULS.
3. Mushrues.—P. mashrū', 'lawful.' It is usually applied to a kind of silk or satin with a cotton back. "Pure silk is not allowed to men, but women may wear the most sumptuous silk fabrics" (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 90, seq.). "All Mushroos wash well, especially the finer kinds, used for bodices, petticoats, and trousers of both sexes." (Forbes Watson, op. cit. 97.)
1832.—"... Mussheroo (striped washing silks manufactured at Benares)...."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 106.
1. MUSTERS.
3. Naibabies.
3. Nainsooks.—H. nainsukh, 'pleasure of the eye.' A sort of fine white calico. Forbes Watson (op. cit. 76) says it is used for neckerchiefs, and Taylor (op. cit. 46) defines it as "a thick muslin, apparently identical with the tunsook (tansak'h, Blochmann, i. 94) of the Ayeen." A cloth is made of the same name in silk, imitated from the cotton fabric. (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 95.)
1. Neganepauts.
1. Nicannees.—Quoting from a paper of 1683, Orme (Fragments, 287) has "6000 Niccanneers, 13 yards long."
3. Nillaes.—Some kind of blue cloth, H. nīlā, 'blue.'
1. Nunsarees.—There is a place called Nansārī in the Bhandāra District (Central Provinces Gazetteer, 346).
2. Oringal (cloths). Probably take their name from the once famous city of Warangal in Hyderabad.
3. PALAMPORES.
3. Peniascoes.—In a paper quoted by Birdwood (Report on Old Records, 40) we have Pinascos, which he says are stuffs made of pine-apple fibre.
2, 3. Percaulas.—H. parkālā, 'a spark, a piece of glass.' These were probably some kind of spangled robe, set with pieces of glass, as some of the modern Phoolkaris are. In the Madras Diaries of 1684-5 we have "Percollaes," and "percolles, fine" (Pringle, i. 53, iii. 119, iv. 41.)
3. Photaes.—In a letter of 1615 we have "Lunges (see LOONGHEE) and Footaes of all sorts." (Foster, Letters, iv. 306), where the editor suggests H. phūṭā, 'variegated.' But in the Āīn we find "Fautahs (loin-bands)" (i. 93), which is the P. foṭa, and this is from the connection the word probably meant.
3. Pulecat handkerchiefs. (See MADRAS handkerchiefs and BANDANNA.)
2. Punjum.—The Madras Gloss. gives Tel. punjamu, Tam. puñjam, lit. 'a collection.' "In Tel. a collection of 60 threads and in Tam. of 120 threads skeined, ready for the formation of the warp for weaving. A cloth is denominated 10, 12, 14, up to 40 poonjam, according to the number of times 60, or else 120, is contained in the total number of threads in the warp. Poonjam thus also came to mean a cloth of the length of one poonjam as usually skeined; this usual length is 36 cubits, or 18 yards, and the width from 38 to 44 inches, 14 lbs. being the common weight; pieces of half length were formerly exported as Salempoory." Writing in 1814, Heyne (Tracts, 347) says: "Here (in Salem) two punjums are designated by 'first call,' so that twelve punjums of cloth is called 'six call,' and so on."
3. Puteahs. (See PUTTEE.) In a letter of 1610 we have: "Patta, katuynen, with red stripes over thwart through." (Danvers, Letters, i. 72.)
2. Putton Ketchies.—Cloths which ossibly took their name from the city of Anhilwāra Patan in Cutch.
1727.—"That country (Tegnapatam) produces Pepper, and coarse Cloth called catchas."—A. Hamilton, i. 335.
3. Raings.—"Rang is a muslin which resembles jhuna in its transparent gauze or net-like texture. It is made by passing a single thread of the warp through each division of the reed" (Taylor, op. cit. 44.) "1 Piece of Raiglins."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.
1. Saloopauts. (See SHALEE.)
3. Sannoes.
2. Sassergates.—Some kind of cloth called 'that of the 1000 knots,' H. sahasra granṭhi. "Saserguntees" (Birdwood, Rep. on Old Records, 63).
2. Sastracundees.—These cloths seem to take their name from a place called Sāstrakunḍa, 'Pool of the Law.' This is probably the place named in the Āīn (ed. Jarrett, ii. 124): "In the township of Kiyāra Sundar is a large reservoir which gives a peculiar whiteness to the cloths washed in it." Gladwin reads the name Catarashoonda, or Catarehsoonder (see Taylor, op. cit. 91).
3. Seerbands, Seerbetties.—These are names for turbans, H. sirband, sirbatti. Taylor (op. cit. 47) names them as Dacca muslins under the names of surbund and surbutee.
3. Seershauds.—This is perhaps P. sirshād, 'head-delighting,' some kind of turban or veil.
3. Seersuckers.—Perhaps, sir, 'head,' sukh, 'pleasure.'
3. Shalbaft.—P. shālbāft, 'shawl-weaving.' (See SHAWL.)
3. Sicktersoys.
3. SOOSIES.
3. Subnoms, Subloms.—"Shubnam is a thin pellucid muslin to which the Persian figurative name of 'evening dew' (shabnam) is given, the fabric being, when spread over the bleaching-field, scarcely distinguishable from the dew on the grass." (Taylor, op. cit. 45.)
3. Succatoons. (See SUCLAT.)
3. Taffaties of sorts. "A name applied to plain woven silks, in more recent times signifying a light thin silk stuff with a considerable lustre or gloss" (Drapers' Dict. s.v.). The word comes from P. tāftan, 'to twist, spin.' The Āīn (i. 94) has tāftah in the list of silks.
3. Tainsooks.—H. tansukh, 'taking ease.' (See above under NAINSOOKS.)
3. Tanjeebs. P. tanzeb, 'body adorning.'—"A tolerably fine muslin" (Taylor, op. cit. 46; Forbes Watson, op. cit. 76). "The silk tanzeb seems to have gone out of fashion, but that in cotton is very commonly used for the chicken work in Lucknow." (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 96.)
1. Tapseils. (See under ALLEJA.) In the Āīn (i. 94) we have: "Tafçilah (a stuff from Mecca)."
1670.—"So that in your house are only left some Tapseiles and cotton yarn."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxvi. Birdwood in Report on Old Records, 38, has Topsails.
2. Tarnatannes.—"There are various kinds of muslins brought from the East Indies, chiefly from Bengal, betelles (see BETTEELA), tarnatans...." (Chambers' Cycl. of 1788, quoted in 3rd ser. N. & Q. iv. 135). It is suggested (ibid. 3rd ser. iv. 135) that this is the origin of English tarletan, Fr. tarletane, which is defined in the Drapers' Dict. as "a fine open muslin, first imported from India and afterwards imitated here."
3. Tartorees.
3. Tepoys.
3. Terindams.—"Turundam (said by the weavers to mean 'a kind of cloth for the body,' the name being derived from the Arabic word turuh (tarḥ, taraḥ) 'a kind,' and the Persian one undam (andām) 'the body,' is a muslin which was formerly imported, under the name of terendam, into this country." (Taylor, op. cit. 46.)
2. Ventepollams.
PIGDAUN, s. A spittoon; Hind. pīkdān. Pīk is properly the expectorated juice of chewed betel.