P (continued 5)

1755.—"Prone ... has the ruins of an old brick wall round it, and immediately without that, another with Teak Timber."—Capt. G. Baker, in Dalrymple, i. 173.

1795.—"In the evening, my boat being ahead, I reached the city of Peeaye-mew, or Prome, ... renowned in Birman history."—Symes, pp. 238-9.

PROW, PARAO, &c., s. This word seems to have a double origin in European use; the Malayāl. pāṛu, 'a boat,' and the Island word (common to Malay, Javanese, and most languages of the Archipelago) prāū or prāhū. This is often specifically applied to a peculiar kind of galley, "Malay Prow," but Crawfurd defines it as "a general term for any vessel, but generally for small craft." It is hard to distinguish between the words, as adopted in the earlier books, except by considering date and locality.

1499.—"The King despatched to them a large boat, which they call paráo, well manned, on board which he sent a Naire of his with an errand to the Captains...."—Correa, Lendas, I. i. 115.

1510.—(At Calicut) "Some other small ships are called Parao, and they are boats of ten paces each, and are all of a piece, and go with oars made of cane, and the mast also is made of cane."—Varthema, 154.

1510.—"The other Persian said: 'O Sir, what shall we do?' I replied: 'Let us go along this shore till we find a parao, that is, a small bark.'"—Ibid. 269.

1518.—"Item; that any one possessing a zambuquo (see SAMBOOK) or a parao of his own and desiring to go in it may do so with all that belongs to him, first giving notice two days before to the Captain of the City."—Livro dos Privilegios da Cidade de Goa, in Archiv. Port. Orient. Fascic. v. p. 7.

1523.—"When Dom Sancho (Dom Sancho Anriquez; see Correa, ii. 770) went into Muar to fight with the fleet of the King of Bintam which was inside the River, there arose a squall which upset all our paraos and lancharas at the bar mouth...."—Lembrança de Cousas de India, p. 5.

1582.—"Next daye after the Capitaine Generall with all his men being a land, working upon the ship called Berrio, there came in two little Paraos."—Castañeda (tr. by N. L.), f. 62v.

1586.—"The fifth and last festival, which is called Sapan Donon, is one in which the King (of Pegu) is embarked in the most beautiful parò, or boat...."—G. Balbi, f. 122.

1606.—Gouvea (f. 27v) uses parò.

" "An howre after this comming a board of the hollanders came a prawe or a canow from Bantam."—Middleton's Voyage, c. 3 (v).

[1611.—"The Portuguese call their own galiots Navires (navios) and those of the Malabars, Pairaus. Most of these vessels were Chetils (see CHETTY), that is to say merchantmen. Immediately on arrival the Malabars draw up their Pados or galliots on the beach."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 345.

1623.—"In the Morning we discern'd four ships of Malabar Rovers near the shore (they called them Paroes and they goe with Oars like our Galeots or Foists."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 201.]

[1666.—"Con secreto previno Lope de Soarez veinte bateles, y gobernandolo y entrando por un rio, hallaron el peligro de cinco naves y ochenta paraos con mucha gente resuelta y de valor."—Faria y Sousa, Asia, i. 66.

1673.—"They are owners of several small Provoes, of the same make, and Canooses, cut out of one entire Piece of Wood."—Fryer, 20. Elsewhere (e.g. 57, 59) he has Proes.

1727.—"The Andemaners had a yearly Custom to come to the Nicobar Islands, with a great number of small Praws, and kill or take Prisoners as many of the poor Nicobareans as they could overcome."—A. Hamilton, ii. 65 [ed. 1744].

1816.—"... Prahu, a term under which the Malays include every description of vessel."—Raffles, in As. Res. xii. 132.

1817.—"The Chinese also have many brigs ... as well as native-built prahus."—Raffles, Java, i. 203.

1868.—"On December 13th I went on board a prau bound for the Aru Islands."—Wallace, Malay Archip. 227.

PUCKA, adj. Hind. pakkā, 'ripe, mature, cooked'; and hence substantial, permanent, with many specific applications, of which examples have been given under the habitually contrasted term cutcha (q.v.). One of the most common uses in which the word has become specific is that of a building of brick and mortar, in contradistinction to one of inferior material, as of mud, matting, or timber. Thus:

[1756.—"... adjacent houses; all of them of the strongest Pecca work, and all most proof against our Mettal on ye Bastions." Capt. Grant, Report on Siege of Calcutta, ed. by Col. Temple, Ind. Ant., 1890, p. 7.]

1784.—"The House, Cook-room, bottle-connah, godown, &c., are all pucka-built."—In Seton-Karr, i. 41.

1824.—"A little above this beautiful stream, some miserable pucka sheds pointed out the Company's warehouses."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 259-60.

1842.—"I observe that there are in the town (Dehli) many buildings pucka-built, as it is called in India."—Wellington to Ld. Ellenborough, in Indian Adm. of Ld. E., p. 306.

1857.—"Your Lahore men have done nobly. I should like to embrace them; Donald, Roberts, Mac, and Dick are, all of them, pucca trumps."—Lord Lawrence, in Life, ii. 11.

1869.—"... there is no surer test by which to measure the prosperity of the people than the number of pucka houses that are being built."—Report of a Sub-Committee on Proposed Indian Census.

This application has given rise to a substantive pucka, for work of brick and mortar, or for the composition used as cement and plaster.

1727.—"Fort William was built on an irregular Tetragon of Brick and Mortar, called Puckah, which is a Composition of Brick-dust, Lime, Molasses, and cut Hemp, and when it comes to be dry, it is as hard and tougher than firm Stone or Brick."—A. Hamilton, ii. 19; [ed. 1744, ii. 7].

The word was also sometimes used substantively for "pucka pice" (see CUTCHA).

c. 1817.—"I am sure I strive, and strive, and yet last month I could only lay by eight rupees and four puckers."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, 66.

In (Stockdale's) Indian Vocabulary of 1788 we find another substantive use, but it was perhaps even then inaccurate.

1788.—"Pucka—A putrid fever, generally fatal in 24 hours."

Another habitual application of pucka and cutcha distinguishes between two classes of weights and measures. The existence of twofold weight, the pucka ser and the cutcha, used to be very general in India. It was equally common in Medieval Europe. Almost every city in Italy had its libra grossa and libra sottile (e.g. see Pegolotti, 4, 34, 153, 228, &c.), and we ourselves still have them, under the names of pound avoirdupois and pound troy.

1673.—"The Maund Pucka at Agra is double as much (as the Surat Maund)."—Fryer, 205.

1760.—"Les pacca cosses ... repondent à une lieue de l'Isle de France."—Lett. Edif. xv. 189.

1803.—"If the rice should be sent to Coraygaum, it should be in sufficient quantities to give 72 pucca seers for each load."—Wellington, Desp. (ed. 1837), ii. 43.

In the next quotation the terms apply to the temporary or permanent character of the appointments held.

1866.—"Susan. Well, Miss, I don't wonder you're so fond of him. He is such a sweet young man, though he is cutcha. Thank goodness, my young man is pucka, though he is only a subordinate Government Salt Chowkee."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, 222.

The remaining quotations are examples of miscellaneous use:

1853.—"'Well, Jenkyns, any news?' 'Nothing pucka that I know of.'"—Oakfield, ii. 57.

1866.—"I cannot endure a swell, even though his whiskers are pucka."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. 220.

The word has spread to China:

PUCKAULY, s.; also PUCKAUL. Hind. pakhālī, 'a water-carrier.' In N. India the pakhāl [Skt. payas, 'water,' khalla, 'skin'] is a large water-skin (an entire ox-hide) of some 20 gallons content, of which a pair are carried by a bullock, and the pakhālī is the man who fills the skins, and supplies the water thus. In the Madras Drill Regulations for 1785 (33), ten puckalies are allowed to a battalion. (See also Williamson's V. M. (1810), i. 229.)

[1538.—Referring to the preparations for the siege of Diu, "which they brought from all the wells on the island by all the bullocks they could collect with their water-skins, which they call pacals (Pacais)."—Couto, Dec. V. Bk. iii. ch. 2.]

1780.—"There is another very necessary establishment to the European corps, which is two buccalies to each company: these are two large leathern bags for holding water, slung upon the back of a bullock...."—Munro's Narrative, 183.

1803.—"It (water) is brought by means of bullocks in leathern bags, called here puckally bags, a certain number of which is attached to every regiment and garrison in India. Black fellows called Puckauly-boys are employed to fill the bags, and drive the bullocks to the quarters of the different Europeans."—Percival's Ceylon, 102.

1804.—"It would be a much better arrangement to give the adjutants of corps an allowance of 26 rupees per mensam, to supply two puckalie men, and two bullocks with bags, for each company."—Wellington, iii. 509.

1813.—"In cities, in the armies, and with Europeans on country excursions, the water for drinking is usually carried in large leather bags called pacaulies, formed by the entire skin of an ox."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 140; [2nd ed. i. 415].

1842.—"I lost no time in confidentially communicating with Capt. Oliver on the subject of trying some experiments as to the possibility of conveying empty 'puckalls' and 'mussucks' by sea to Suez."—Sir G. Arthur, in Ellenborough's Ind. Admin. 219.

[1850.—"On the reverse flank of companies march the Pickalliers, or men driving bullocks, carrying large leather bags filled with water...."—Hervey, Ten Years in India, iii. 335.]

PUCKEROW, v. This is properly the imperative of the Hind. verb pakṛānā, 'to cause to be seized,' pakṛāo, 'cause him to be seized'; or perhaps more correctly of a compound verb pakaṛāo, 'seize and come,' or in our idiom, 'Go and seize.' But puckerow belongs essentially to the dialect of the European soldier, and in that becomes of itself a verb 'to puckerow,' i.e. to lay hold of (generally of a recalcitrant native). The conversion of the Hind. imperative into an Anglo-Indian verb infinitive, is not uncommon; compare bunow, dumbcow, gubbrow, lugow, &c.

1866.—"Fanny, I am cutcha no longer. Surely you will allow a lover who is pucka to puckero!"—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, 390.

PUDIPATAN, n.p. The name of a very old seaport of Malabar, which has now ceased to have a place in the Maps. It lay between Cannanore and Calicut, and must have been near the Waddakaré of K. Johnston's Royal Atlas. [It appears in the map in Logan's Malabar as Putuppatanam or Putappanam.] The name is Tamil, Pudupaṭṭana, 'New City.' Compare true form of Pondicherry.

c. 545.—"The most notable places of trade are these ... and then five marts of Malé from which pepper is exported, to wit, Parti, Mangaruth (see MANGALORE), Salopatana, Nalopatana, Pudopatana...."—Cosmas Indicopleustes, Bk. xi. (see in Cathay, &c. p. clxxviii.).

c. 1342.—"Buddfattan, which is a considerable city, situated upon a great estuary.... The haven of this city is one of the finest; the water is good, the betel-nut is abundant, and is exported thence to India and China."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 87.

c. 1420.—"A quâ rursus se diebus viginti terrestri viâ contulit ad urbem portumque maritimum nomine Pudifetaneam."—Conti, in Poggio, de Var. Fort.

1516.—"... And passing those places you come to a river called Pudripatan, in which there is a good place having many Moorish merchants who possess a multitude of ships, and here begins the Kingdom of Calicut."—Barbosa, in Ramusio, i. f. 311v. See also in Stanley's Barbosa Pudopatani, and in Tohfat-ul-Mujahideen, by Rowlandson, pp. 71, 157, where the name (Budfattan) is misread Buduftun.

[PUG, s. Hind. pag, Skt. padaka, 'a foot'; in Anglo-Indian use the footmarks of an animal, such as a tiger.

[1831.—"... sanguine we were sometimes on the report of a bura pug from the shikaree."—Orient. Sport. Mag. reprint 1873, ii. 178.

[1882.—"Presently the large square 'pug' of the tiger we were in search of appeared."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 30.]

PUGGRY, PUGGERIE, s. Hind. pagṛī, 'a turban.' The term being often used in colloquial for a scarf of cotton or silk wound round the hat in turban-form, to protect the head from the sun, both the thing and name have of late years made their way to England, and may be seen in London shop-windows.

c. 1200.—"Prithirâja ... wore a pagari ornamented with jewels, with a splendid toro. In his ears he wore pearls; on his neck a pearl necklace."—Chand Bardai E.T. by Beames, Ind. Ant. i. 282.

[1627.—"... I find it is the common mode of the Eastern People to shave the head all save a long lock which superstitiously they leave at the very top, such especially as wear Turbans, Mandils, Dustars, and Puggarees."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1677, p. 140.]

1673.—"They are distinguished, some according to the consanguinity they claim with Mahomet, as a Siad is akin to that Imposture, and therefore only assumes to himself a Green Vest and Puckery (or Turbat)...."—Fryer, 93; [comp. 113].

1689.—"... with a Puggaree or Turbant upon their Heads."—Ovington, 314.

1871.—"They (the Negro Police in Demarara) used frequently to be turned out to parade in George Town streets, dressed in a neat uniform, with white puggries framing in their ebony faces."—Jenkins, The Coolie.

PUGGY, s. Hind. pagī (not in Shakespear's Dict., nor in Platts), from pag (see PUG), 'the foot.' A professional tracker; the name of a caste, or rather an occupation, whose business is to track thieves by footmarks and the like. On the system, see Burton, Sind Revisited, i. 180 seqq.

[1824.—"There are in some of the districts of Central India (as in Guzerat) puggees, who have small fees on the village, and whose business it is to trace thieves by the print of their feet."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 19.]

1879.—"Good puggies or trackers should be employed to follow the dacoits during the daytime."—Times of India, Overland Suppt., May 12, p. 7.

PUHUR, PORE, PYRE, &c., s. Hind. pahar, pahr, from Skt. prahara. 'A fourth part of the day and of the night, a watch' or space of 8 ghaṛīs (see GHURRY).

c. 1526.—"The natives of Hindostân divide the night and day into 60 parts, each of which they denominate a Gheri; they likewise divide the night into 4 parts, and the day into the same number, each of which they call a Pahar or watch, which the Persians call a Pâs."—Baber, 331.

[c. 1590.—"The Hindu philosophers divide the day and night into four parts, each of which they call a pahr."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 15.]

1633.—"Par." See under GHURRY.

1673.—"Pore." See under GONG.

1803.—"I have some Jasooses selected by Col. C's brahmin for their stupidity, that they might not pry into state secrets, who go to Sindia's camp, remain there a phaur in fear...."—M. Elphinstone, in Life, i. 62.

PULÁ, s. In Tamil pillai, Malayāl. pilla, 'child'; the title of a superior class of (so-called) Śūdras, [especially curnums]. In Cochin and Travancore it corresponds with Nāyar (see NAIR). It is granted by the sovereign, and carries exemption from customary manual labour.

1553.—"... pulas, who are the gentlemen" (fidalgos).—Castanheda, iv. 2.

[1726.—"O Saguate que o Commendor tinha remetido como gristnave amim e as Pulamares temos ca recebid."—Ratification, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 13.]

PULICAT, n.p. A town on the Madras coast, which was long the seat of a Dutch factory. Bp. Caldwell's native friend Seshagiri Śāstri gives the proper name as pala-Vêlkāḍu, 'old Velkāḍu or Verkāḍu,' the last a place-name mentioned in the Tamil Sivaite Tevāram (see also Valentijn below). [The Madras Gloss. gives Pazhaverk-kādu, 'old acacia forest,' which is corroborated by Dr. Hultzsch (Epigraphia Indica, i. 398).]

1519.—"And because he had it much in charge to obtain all the lac (alacre) that he could, the Governor learning from merchants that much of it was brought to the Coast of Choromandel by the vessels of Pegu and Martaban which visited that coast to procure painted cloths and other coloured goods, such as are made in Paleacate, which is on the coast of Choromandel, whence the traders with whom the Governor spoke brought it to Cochin; he, having got good information on the whole matter, sent a certain Frolentine (sic, frolentim) called Pero Escroco, whom he knew, and who was good at trade, to be factor on the coast of Choromandel...."—Correa, ii. 567.

1533.—"The said Armenian, having already been at the city of Paleacate, which is in the Province of Choromandel and the Kingdom of Bisnaga, when on his way to Bengal, and having information of the place where the body of S. Thomas was said to be, and when they arrived at the port of Paleacate the wind was against their going on...."—Barros, III. vii. 11.

[1611.—"The Dutch had settled a factory at Pellacata."—Danvers, Letters, i. 133; in Foster, ii. 83, Pollicat.]

1726.—"Then we come to Palleam Wedam Caddoe, called by us for shortness Palleacatta, which means in Malabars 'The old Fortress,' though most commonly we call it Castle Geldria."—Valentijn, Chorom. 13.

" "The route I took was along the strip of country between Porto Novo and Paleiacatta. This long journey I travelled on foot; and preached in more than a hundred places...."—Letter of the Missionary Schultze, July 19, in Notices of Madras, &c., p. 20.

1727.—"Policat is the next Place of Note to the City and Colony of Fort St George.... It is strengthned with two Forts, one contains a few Dutch soldiers for a Garrison, the other is commanded by an Officer belonging to the Mogul."—A. Hamilton, i. 372, [ed. 1744].

[1813.—"Pulecat handkerchiefs." See under PIECE-GOODS.]

PULTUN, s. Hind. palṭan, a corruption of Battalion, possibly with some confusion of platoon or péloton. The S. India form is pataulam, patālam. It is the usual native word for a regiment of native infantry; it is never applied to one of Europeans.

1800.—"All I can say is that I am ready primed, and that if all matters suit I shall go off with a dreadful explosion, and shall probably destroy some campoos and pultons which have been indiscreetly pushed across the Kistna."—A. Wellesley to T. Munro, in Mem. of Munro, by Arbuthnot, lxix.

[1895.—"I know lots of Sahibs in a pultoon at Bareilly."—Mrs Croker, Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies, 60.]

PULWAH, PULWAR, s. One of the native boats used on the rivers of Bengal, carrying some 12 to 15 tons. Hind. palwār. [For a drawing see Grierson, Bihar Village Life, p. 42.]

1735.—"... We observed a boat which had come out of Samboo river, making for Patna: the commandant detached two light pulwaars after her...."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 69.

[1767.—"... a Peon came twice to Noon-golah, to apply for polwars...."—Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 197.]

1780.—"Besides this boat, a gentleman is generally attended by two others; a pulwah for the accommodation of the kitchen, and a smaller boat, a paunchway" (q.v.).—Hodges, p. 39.

1782.—"To be sold, Three New Dacca Pulwars, 60 feet long, with Houses in the middle of each."—India Gazette, Aug. 31.

1824.—"The ghât offered a scene of bustle and vivacity which I by no means expected. There were so many budgerows and pulwars, that we had considerable difficulty to find a mooring place."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 131.

1860.—"The Pulwar is a smaller description of native travelling boat, of neater build, and less rusticity of character, sometimes used by a single traveller of humble means, and at others serves as cook-boat and accommodation for servants accompanying one of the large kind of boats...."—Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, p. 7, with an illustration.

PULWAUN, s. P.—H. pahlwān, [which properly means 'a native of ancient Persia' (see PAHLAVI). Mr. Skeat notes that in Malay the word becomes pahlāwan, probably from a confusion with Malay āwan, 'to fight']. A champion; a professed wrestler or man of strength.

[1753.—"... the fourth, and least numerous of these bodies, were choice men of the Pehlevans...."—Hanway, iii. 104.

[1813.—"When his body has by these means imbibed an additional portion of vigour, he is dignified by the appellation of Puhlwan."—Broughton, Letters, ed. 1892, p. 165.]

1828.—"I added a pehlivân or prize-fighter, a negro whose teeth were filed into saws, of a temper as ferocious as his aspect, who could throw any man of his weight to the ground, carry a jackass, devour a sheep whole, eat fire, and make a fountain of his inside, so as to act as a spout."—Hajji Baba in England, i. 15.

PUN, s. A certain number of cowries, generally 80; Hind. paṇa. (See under COWRY). The Skt. paṇa is 'a stake played for a price, a sum,' and hence both a coin (whence fanam, q.v.) and a certain amount of cowries.

1554.—"Pone." (See under PORTO PIQUENO.)

1683.—"I was this day advised that Mr. Charnock putt off Mr. Ellis's Cowries at 34 pund to ye Rupee in payment of all ye Peons and Servants of the Factory, whereas 38 punds are really bought by him for a Rupee...."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 122].

1760.—"We now take into consideration the relief of the menial servants of this Settlement, respecting the exorbitant price of labor exacted from them by tailors, washermen, and barbers, which appear in near a quadruple (pro)portion compared with the prices paid in 1755. Agreed, that after the 1st of April they be regulated as follows:

"No tailor to demand for making:

No washerman:

No barber for shaving a single person, more than 7 gundas" (see COWRY).—Ft. William Consns., March 27, in Long, 209.

PUNCH, s. This beverage, according to the received etymology, was named from the Pers. panj, or Hind. and Mahr. pānch, both meaning 'five'; because composed of five ingredients, viz. arrack, sugar, lime-juice, spice, and water. Fryer may be considered to give something like historical evidence of its origin; but there is also something of Indian idiom in the suggestion. Thus a famous horse-medicine in Upper India is known as battīsī, because it is supposed to contain 32 ('battīs') ingredients. Schiller, in his Punschlied, sacrificing truth to trope, omits the spice and makes the ingredients only 4: "Vier Elemente Innig gesellt, Bilden das Leben, Bauen die Welt."

The Greeks also had a "Punch," πενταπλόα, as is shown in the quotation from Athenaeus. Their mixture does not sound inviting. Littré gives the etymology correctly from the Pers. panj, but the 5 elements à la française, as tea, sugar, spirit, cinnamon, and lemon-peel,—no water therefore!

Some such compound appears to have been in use at the beginning of the 17th century under the name of Larkin (q.v.). Both Dutch and French travellers in the East during that century celebrate the beverage under a variety of names which amalgamate the drink curiously with the vessel in which it was brewed. And this combination in the form of Bole-ponjis was adopted as the title of a Miscellany published in 1851, by H. Meredith Parker, a Bengal civilian, of local repute for his literary and dramatic tastes. He had lost sight of the original authorities for the term, and his quotation is far astray. We give them correctly below.

c. 210.—"On the feast of the Scirrha at Athens he (Aristodemus on Pindar) says a race was run by the young men. They ran this race carrying each a vine-branch laden with grapes, such as is called ōschus; and they ran from the temple of Dionysus to that of Athena Sciras. And the winner receives a cup such as is called 'Five-fold,' and of this he partakes joyously with the band of his comrades. But the cup is called πενταπλόα because it contains wine and honey and cheese and flour, and a little oil."—Athenaeus, XI. xcii.

1638.—"This voyage (Gombroon to Surat) ... we accomplished in 19 days.... We drank English beer, Spanish sack, French wine, Indian spirit, and good English water, and made good Palepunzen."—Mandelslo, (Dutch ed. 1658), p. 24. The word Palepunzen seems to have puzzled the English translator (John Davis, 2nd ed. 1669), who has "excellent good sack, English beer, French wines, Arak, and other refreshments." (p. 10).

1653.—"Bolleponge est vn mot Anglois, qui signifie vne boisson dont les Anglois vsent aux Indes faite de sucre, suc de limon, eau de vie, fleur de muscade, et biscuit roty."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 534.

[1658.—"Arriued this place where found the Bezar almost Burnt and many of the People almost starued for want of Foode which caused much Sadnes in Mr. Charnock and my Selfe, but not soe much as the absence of your Company, which wee haue often remembered in a bowle of the cleerest Punch, hauing noe better Liquor."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. iii. cxiv.]

1659.—"Fürs Dritte, Pale bunze getituliret, von halb Wasser, halb Brantwein, dreyssig, vierzig Limonien, deren Körnlein ausgespeyet werden, und ein wenig Zucker eingeworfen; wie dem Geschmack so angenehm nicht, also auch der Gesundheit nicht."—Saar, ed. 1672, 60.

[1662.—"Amongst other spirituous drinks, as Punch, &c., they gave us Canarie that had been carried to and fro from the Indies, which was indeed incomparably good."—Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 16.]

c. 1666.—"Neánmoins depuis qu'ils (les Anglois) ont donné ordre, aussi bien que les Hollandois, que leurs equipages ne boivent point tant de Bouleponges ... il n'y a pas tant de maladies, et il ne leur meurt plus tant de monde. Bouleponge est un certain breuvage composé d'arac ... avec du suc de limons, de l'eau, et un peu de muscade rapée dessus: il est assez agréable au gout, mais c'est la peste du corps et de la santé."—Bernier, ed. 1723, ii. 335 (Eng. Tr. p. 141); [ed. Constable, 441].

1670.—"Doch als men zekere andere drank, die zij Paleponts noemen, daartusschen drinkt, zo word het quaat enigsins geweert."—Andriesz, 9. Also at p. 27, "Palepunts."

We find this blunder of the compound word transported again to England, and explained as a 'hard word.'

1672.—Padre Vincenzo Maria describes the thing, but without a name:

"There are many fruites to which the Hollanders and the English add a certain beverage that they compound of lemon-juice, aqua-vitae, sugar, and nutmegs, to quench their thirst, and this, in my belief, augments not a little the evil influence."—Viaggio, p. 103.

1673.—"At Nerule is the best Arach or Nepa (see NIPA) de Goa, with which the English on this Coast make that enervating Liquor called Paunch (which is Indostan for Five), from Five Ingredients; as the Physicians name their Composition Diapente; or from four things, Diatessaron."—Fryer, 157.

1674.—"Palapuntz, a kind of Indian drink, consisting of Aqua-vitae, Rose-water, juyce of Citrons and Sugar."—Glossographia, &c., by T. E.

[1675.—"Drank part of their boules of Punch (a liquor very strange to me)."—H. Teonge, Diary, June 1.]

1682.—"Some (of the Chinese in Batavia) also sell Sugar-beer, as well as cooked dishes and Sury (see SURA), arak or Indian brandy; wherefrom they make Mussak and Follepons, as the Englishmen call it."—Nieuhoff, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 217.

1683.—"... Our owne people and mariners who are now very numerous, and insolent among us, and (by reason of Punch) every day give disturbance."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 8; [Hak. Soc. i. 123].

1688.—"... the soldiers as merry as Punch could make them."—In Wheeler, i. 187.

1689.—"Bengal (Arak) is much stronger spirit than that of Goa, tho' both are made use of by the Europeans in making Punch."—Ovington, 237-8.

1694.—"If any man comes into a victualling house to drink punch, he may demand one quart good Goa arak, half a pound of sugar, and half a pint of good lime water, and make his own punch...."—Order Book of Bombay Govt., quoted by Anderson, p. 281.

1705.—"Un bon repas chez les Anglais ne se fait point sans bonne ponse qu'on sert dans un grand vase."—Sieur Luillier, Voy. aux Grandes Indes, 29.

1771.—"Hence every one (at Madras) has it in his Power to eat well, tho' he can afford no other Liquor at Meals than Punch, which is the common Drink among Europeans, and here made in the greatest Perfection."—Lockyer, 22.

1724.—"Next to Drams, no Liquor deserves more to be stigmatised and banished from the Repasts of the Tender, Valetudinary, and Studious, than Punch."—G. Cheyne, An Essay on Health and Longevity, p. 58.

1791.—"Dès que l'Anglais eut cessé de manger, le Paria ... fit un signe à sa femme, qui apporta ... une grande calebasse pleine de punch, qu'elle avoit preparé, pendant le souper, avec de l'eau, et du jus de citron, et du jus de canne de sucre...."—B. de St. Pierre, Chaumière Indienne, 56.

PUNCH-HOUSE, s. An Inn or Tavern; now the term is chiefly used by natives (sometimes in the hybrid form Punch-ghar, [which in Upper India is now transferred to the meeting-place of a Municipal Board]) at the Presidency towns, and applied to houses frequented by seamen. Formerly the word was in general Anglo-Indian use. [In the Straits the Malay Panc-haus is, according to Mr. Skeat, still in use, though obolescent.]

[1661.—"... the Commandore visiting us, wee delivering him another examination of a Persee (Parsee), who kept a Punch house, where the murder was committed...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, Home Series, i. 189.]

1671-2.—"It is likewise enordered and declared hereby that no Victuallar, Punch-house, or other house of Entertainment shall be permitted to make stoppage at the pay day of their wages...."—Rules, in Wheeler, iii. 423.

1676.—Major Puckle's "Proposals to the Agent about the young men at Metchlepatam.

"That some pecuniary mulct or fine be imposed ... for misdemeanours.

* * * * *

"6. Going to Punch or Rack-houses without leave or warrantable occasion.

"Drubbing any of the Company's Peons or servants."

* * * * *

—In Notes and Exts., No. I. p. 40.

1688.—"... at his return to Achen he constantly frequented an English Punch-house, spending his Gold very freely."—Dampier, ii. 134.

" "Mrs. Francis, wife to the late Lieutenant Francis killed at Hoogly by the Moors, made it her petition that she might keep a Punch-house for her maintenance."—In Wheeler, i. 184.

1697.—"Monday, 1st April ... Mr. Cheesely having in a Punch-house, upon a quarrel of words, drawn his Sword ... and being taxed therewith, he both doth own and justify the drawing of the sword ... it thereupon ordered not to wear a sword while here."—In Wheeler, i. 320.

1727.—"... Of late no small Pains and Charge have been bestowed on its Buildings (of the Fort at Tellichery); but for what Reason I know not ... unless it be for small Vessels ... or to protect the Company's Ware-house, and a small Punch-house that stands on the Sea-shore...."—A. Hamilton, i. 299 [ed. 1744].

1789.—"Many ... are obliged to take up their residence in dirty punch-houses."—Munro's Narrative, 22.

1810.—"The best house of that description which admits boarders, and which are commonly called Punch-houses."—Williamson, V.M. i. 135.

PUNCHAYET, s. Hind. panchāyat, from pānch, 'five.' A council (properly of 5 persons) assembled as a Court of Arbiters or Jury; or as a committee of the people of a village, of the members of a Caste, or whatnot, to decide on questions interesting the body generally.

1778.—"The Honourable William Hornby, Esq., President and Governor of His Majesty's Castle and Island of Bombay, &c.

"The humble Petition of the Managers of the Panchayet of Parsis at Bombay...."—Dosambhai Framji, H. of the Parsis, 1884, ii. 219.

1810.—"The Parsees ... are governed by their own panchaït or village Council. The word panchaït literally means a Council of five, but that of the Guebres in Bombay consists of thirteen of the principal merchants of the sect."—Maria Graham, 41.

1813.—"The carpet of justice was spread in the large open hall of the durbar, where the arbitrators assembled: there I always attended, and agreeably to ancient custom, referred the decision to a panchaeet or jury of five persons."—Forbes, Or. Mem., ii. 359; [in 2nd ed. (ii. 2) Panchaut].

1819.—"The punchayet itself, although in all but village causes it has the defects before ascribed to it, possesses many advantages. The intimate acquaintance of the members with the subject in dispute, and in many cases with the characters of the parties, must have made their decisions frequently correct, and ... the judges being drawn from the body of the people, could act on no principles that were not generally understood."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 89.

1821.—"I kept up punchayets because I found them ... I still think that the punchayet should on no account be dropped, that it is an excellent institution for dispensing justice, and in keeping up the principles of justice, which are less likely to be observed among a people to whom the administration of it is not at all intrusted."—Ibid. 124.

1826.—"... when he returns assemble a punchayet, and give this cause patient attention, seeing that Hybatty has justice."—Pandurang Hari, 31; [ed. 1873, i. 42].

1832.—Bengal Regn. VI. of this year allows the judge of the Sessions Court to call in the alternative aid of a punchayet, in lieu of assessors, and so to dispense with the futwa. See LAW-OFFICER.

1853.—"From the death of Runjeet Singh to the battle of Sobraon, the Sikh Army was governed by 'Punchayets' or 'Punches'—committees of the soldiery. These bodies sold the Government to the Sikh chief who paid the highest, letting him command until murdered by some one who paid higher."—Sir C. Napier, Defects of Indian Government, 69.

1873.—"The Council of an Indian Village Community most commonly consists of five persons ... the panchayet familiar to all who have the smallest knowledge of India."—Maine, Early Hist. of Institutions, 221.

PUNDIT, s. Skt. paṇḍita, 'a learned man.' Properly a man learned in Sanskrit lore. The Pundit of the Supreme Court was a Hindu Law-Officer, whose duty it was to advise the English Judges when needful on questions of Hindu Law. The office became extinct on the constitution of the 'High Court,' superseding the Supreme Court and Sudder Court, under the Queen's Letters Patent of May 14, 1862.

In the Mahratta and Telegu countries, the word Paṇḍit is usually pronounced Pant (in English colloquial Punt); but in this form it has, as with many other Indian words in like case, lost its original significance, and become a mere personal title, familiar in Mahratta history, e.g. the Nānā Dhundopant of evil fame.

Within the last 30 or 35 years the term has acquired in India a peculiar application to the natives trained in the use of instruments, who have been employed beyond the British Indian frontier in surveying regions inaccessible to Europeans. This application originated in the fact that two of the earliest men to be so employed, the explorations by one of whom acquired great celebrity, were masters of village schools in our Himālayan provinces. And the title Pundit is popularly employed there much as Dominie used to be in Scotland. The Pundit who brought so much fame on the title was the late Nain Singh, C.S.I. [See Markham, Memoir of Indian Surveys, 2nd ed. 148 seqq.]

1574.—"I hereby give notice that ... I hold it good, and it is my pleasure, and therefore I enjoin on all the pandits (panditos) and Gentoo physicians (phisicos gentios) that they ride not through this City (of Goa) or the suburbs thereof on horseback, nor in andors and palanquins, on pain of paying, on the first offence 10 cruzados, and on the second 20, pera o sapal,^[226] with the forfeiture of such horses, andors, or palanquins, and on the third they shall become the galley-slaves of the King my Lord...."—Procl. of the Governor Antonio Moriz Barreto, in Archiv. Port. Orient. Fascic. 5, p. 899.

1604.—"... llamando tãbien en su compania los Põditos, le presentaron al Nauabo."—Guerrero, Relaçion, 70.

1616.—"... Brachmanae una cum Panditis comparentes, simile quid iam inde ab orbis exordio in Indostane visum negant."—Jarric, Thesaurus, iii. 81-82.

1663.—"A Pendet Brachman or Heathen Doctor whom I had put to serve my Agah ... would needs make his Panegyrick ... and at last concluded seriously with this: When you put your Foot into the Stirrup, My Lord, and when you march on Horseback in the front of the Cavalry, the Earth trembleth under your Feet, the eight Elephants that hold it up upon their Heads not being able to support it."—Bernier, E.T., 85; [ed. Constable, 264].

1688.—"Je feignis donc d'être malade, et d'avoir la fièvre; on fit venir aussitôt un Pandite ou médicin Gentil."—Dellon, Rel. de l'Inq. de Goa, 214.

1785.—"I can no longer bear to be at the mercy of our pundits, who deal out Hindu law as they please; and make it at reasonable rates, when they cannot find it ready made."—Letter of Sir W. Jones, in Mem. by Ld. Teignmouth, 1807, ii. 67.

1791.—"Il était au moment de s'embarquer pour l'Angleterre, plein de perplexité et d'ennui, lorsque les brames de Bénarés lui apprirent que le brame supérieur de la fameuse pagode de Jagrenat ... était seul capable de resoudre toutes les questions de la Société royale de Londres. C'était en effet le plus fameux pandect, ou docteur, dont on eût jamais oui parler."—B. de St. Pierre, La Chaumière Indienne. The preceding exquisite passage shows that the blunder which drew forth Macaulay's flaming wrath, in the quotation lower down, was not a new one.

1798.—"... the most learned of the Pundits or Bramin lawyers, were called up from different parts of Bengal."—Raynal, Hist. i. 42.

1856.—"Besides ... being a Pundit of learning, he (Sir David Brewster) is a bundle of talents of various kinds."—Life and Letters of Sydney Dobell, ii. 14.

1860.—"Mr. Vizetelly next makes me say that the principle of limitation is found 'amongst the Pandects of the Benares....' The Benares he probably supposes to be some Oriental nation. What he supposes their Pandects to be I shall not presume to guess.... If Mr. Vizetelly had consulted the Unitarian Report, he would have seen that I spoke of the Pundits of Benares, and he might without any very long and costly research have learned where Benares is and what a Pundit is."—Macaulay, Preface to his Speeches.

1877.—"Colonel Y——. Since Nain Singh's absence from this country precludes my having the pleasure of handing to him in person, this, the Victoria or Patron's Medal, which has been awarded to him, ... I beg to place it in your charge for transmission to the Pundit."—Address by Sir R. Alcock, Prest. R. Geog. Soc., May 28.

"Colonel Y—— in reply, said: ... Though I do not know Nain Singh personally, I know his work.... He is not a topographical automaton, or merely one of a great multitude of native employés with an average qualification. His observations have added a larger amount of important knowledge to the map of Asia than those of any other living man, and his journals form an exceedingly interesting book of travels. It will afford me great pleasure to take steps for the transmission of the Medal through an official channel to the Pundit."—Reply to the President, same date.

PUNJAUB, n.p. The name of the country between the Indus and the Sutlej. The modern Anglo-Indian province so-called, now extends on one side up beyond the Indus, including Peshāwar, the Derajāt, &c., and on the other side up to the Jumna, including Delhi. [In 1901 the Frontier Districts were placed under separate administration.] The name is Pers. Panj-āb, 'Five Rivers.' These rivers, as reckoned, sometimes include the Indus, in which case the five are (1) Indus, (2) Jelam (see JELUM) or Behat, the ancient Vitasta which the Greeks made Ὑδάσπης (Strabo) and Βιδάσπης (Ptol.), (3) Chenāb, ancient Chandrabāgha and Āsiknī. Ptolemy preserves a corruption of the former Sanskrit name in Σανδαβάλ, but it was rejected by the older Greeks because it was of ill omen, i.e. probably because Grecized it would be Ξανδροφάγος, 'the devourer of Alexander.' The alternative Āsiknī they rendered Ἀκεσίνης. (4) Rāvī, the ancient Airāvatī, Ὑάρωτης (Strabo), Ὑδραώτης (Arrian), Ἄδρις or Ῥούαδις (Ptol.). (5) Biās, ancient Vipāsā, Ὕφασις (Arrian), Βιβάσιος (Ptol.). This excluded the Sutlej, Satadru, Hesydrus of Pliny, Ζαράδρος or Ζαδάδρης (Ptol.), as Timur excludes it below. We may take in the Sutlej and exclude the Indus, but we can hardly exclude the Chenāb as Wassāf does below.

No corresponding term is used by the Greek geographers. "Putandum est nomen Panchanadae Graecos aut omnino latuisse, aut casu quodam non ad nostra usque tempora pervenisse, quod in tanta monumentorum ruina facile accidere potuit" (Lassen, Pentapotamia, 3). Lassen however has termed the country Pentepotamia in a learned Latin dissertation on its ancient geography. Though the actual word Panjāb is Persian, and dates from Mahommedan times, the corresponding Skt. Panchanada is ancient and genuine, occurring in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. The name Panj-āb in older Mahommedan writers is applied to the Indus river, after receiving the rivers of the country which we call Punjaub. In that sense Panj-nad, of equivalent meaning, is still occasionally used. [In S. India the term is sometimes applied to the country watered by the Tumbhadra, Wardha, Malprabha, Gatprabha and Kistna (Wilks, Hist. Sketches, Madras reprint, i. 405).]

We remember in the newspapers, after the second Sikh war, the report of a speech by a clergyman in England, who spoke of the deposition of "the bloody Punjaub of Lahore."

B.C. x.—"Having explored the land of the Pahlavi and the country adjoining, there had then to be searched Panchanada in every part; the monkeys then explore the region of Kashmīr with its woods of acacias."—Rāmāyaṇa, Bk. iv. ch. 43.

c. 940.—Maṣ'ūdī details (with no correctness) the five rivers that form the Mihrān or Indus. He proceeds: "When the Five Rivers which we have named have past the House of Gold which is Mūltān, they unite at a place three days distant from that city, between it and Manṣūra at a place called Doshāb."—i. 377-8.

c. 1020.—"They all (Sind, Jhailam, Irāwa, Biah) combine with the Satlader (Sutlej) below Múltán, at a place called Panjnad, or 'the junction of the five rivers.' They form a very wide stream."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 48.

c. 1300.—"After crossing the Panj-āb, or five rivers, namely Sind, Jelam, the river of Loháwar (i.e. of Lahore, viz. the Rāvī), Satlút, and Bīyah...."—Wassāf, in Elliot, iii. 36.

c. 1333.—"By the grace of God our caravan arrived safe and sound at Banj-āb, i.e. at the River of the Sind. Banj (panj) signifies 'five,' and āb, 'water;' so that the name signifies 'the Five Waters.' They flow into this great river, and water the country."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 91.

c. 1400.—"All these (united) rivers (Jelam, Chenáb, Ráví, Bíyáh, Sind) are called the Sind or Panj-áb, and this river falls into the Persian Gulf near Thatta."—The Emp. Timur, in Elliot, iii. 476.

[c. 1630.—"He also takes a Survey of Pang-ob...."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1677, p. 63. He gives a list of the rivers in p. 70.]

1648.—"... Pang-ab, the chief city of which is Lahor, is an excellent and fruitful province, for it is watered by the five rivers of which we have formerly spoken."—Van Twist, 3.

" "The River of the ancient Indus, is by the Persians and Magols called Pang-ab, i.e. the Five Waters."—Ibid. i.

1710.—"He found this ancient and famous city (Lahore) in the Province Panschaap, by the side of the broad and fish-abounding river Rari (for Ravi)."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 282.

1790.—"Investigations of the religious ceremonies and customs of the Hindoos, written in the Carnatic, and in the Punjab, would in many cases widely differ."—Forster, Preface to Journey.

1793.—"The Province, of which Lahore is the capital, is oftener named Panjab than Lahore."—Rennell's Memoir, 3rd ed. 82.

1804.—"I rather think ... that he (Holkar) will go off to the Punjaub. And what gives me stronger reason to think so is, that on the seal of his letter to me he calls himself 'the Slave of Shah Mahmoud, the King of Kings.' Shah Mahmoud is the brother of Zemaun Shah. He seized the musnud and government of Caubul, after having defeated Zemaun Shah two or three years ago, and put out his eyes."—Wellington, Desp. under March 17.

1815.—"He (Subagtageen) ... overran the fine province of the Punjaub, in his first expedition."—Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, i. 316.

PUNKAH, s. Hind. pankhā.

a. In its original sense a portable fan, generally made from the leaf of the palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis, or 'fan-shaped'), the natural type and origin of the fan. Such pankhās in India are not however formed, as Chinese fans are, like those of our ladies; they are generally, whether large or small, of a bean-shape, with a part of the dried leaf-stalk adhering, which forms the handle.

b. But the specific application in Anglo-Indian colloquial is to the large fixed and swinging fan, formed of cloth stretched on a rectangular frame, and suspended from the ceiling, which is used to agitate the air in hot weather. The date of the introduction of this machine into India is not known to us. The quotation from Linschoten shows that some such apparatus was known in the 16th century, though this comes out clearly in the French version alone; the original Dutch, and the old English translation are here unintelligible, and indicate that Linschoten (who apparently never was at Ormuz) was describing, from hearsay, something that he did not understand. More remarkable passages are those which we take from Dozy, and from El-Fakhrī, which show that the true Anglo-Indian punka was known to the Arabs as early as the 8th century.

a.—

1710.—"Aloft in a Gallery the King sits in his chaire of State, accompanied with his Children and chiefe Vizier ... no other without calling daring to goe vp to him, saue onely two Punkaws to gather wind."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 439. The word seems here to be used improperly for the men who plied the fans. We find also in the same writer a verb to punkaw:

"... behind one punkawing, another holding his sword."—Ibid. 433.

Terry does not use the word:

1616.—"... the people of better quality, lying or sitting on their Carpets or Pallats, have servants standing about them, who continually beat the air upon them with Flabella's, or Fans, of stiffned leather, which keepe off the flyes from annoying them, and cool them as they lye."—Ed. 1665, p. 405.

1663.—"On such occasions they desire nothing but ... to lie down in some cool and shady place all along, having a servant or two to fan one by turns, with their great Pankas, or Fans."—Bernier, E.T., p. 76; [ed. Constable, 241].

1787.—"Over her head was held a punker."—Sir C. Malet, in Parl. Papers, 1821, 'Hindoo Widows.'

1809.—"He ... presented me ... two punkahs."—Lord Valentia, i. 428.

1881.—"The chair of state, the sella gestatoria, in which the Pope is borne aloft, is the ancient palanquin of the Roman nobles, and, of course, of the Roman Princes ... the fans which go behind are the punkahs of the Eastern Emperors, borrowed from the Court of Persia."—Dean Stanley, Christian Institutions, 207.

b.—

c. 1150-60.—"Sous le nom de Khaich on entend des étoffes de mauvais toile de lin qui servent à différents usages. Dans ce passage de Rhazès (c. A.D. 900) ce sont des ventilateurs faits de cet étoffe. Ceci se pratique de cette manière: on en prend un morceau de la grandeur d'un tapis, un peu plus grand ou un peu plus petit selon les dimensions de la chambre, et on le rembourre avec des objets qui ont de la consistance et qui ne plient pas facilement, par exemple avec du sparte. L'ayant ensuite suspendu au milieu de la chambre, on le fait tirer et lacher doucement et continuellement par un homme placé dans le haut de l'appartement. De cette manière il fait beaucoup de vent et rafraichit l'air. Quelquefois on le trempe dans de l'eau de rose, et alors il parfume l'air en même temps qu'il le rafraichit."—Glossaire sur le Mançouri, quoted in Dozy et Engelmann, p. 342. See also Dozy, Suppt. aux Dictt. Arabes, s.v. Khaich.

1166.—"He (Ibn Hamdun the Kātib) once recited to me the following piece of his composition, containing an enigmatical description of a linen fan: (¹)

"'Fast and loose, it cannot touch what it tries to reach; though tied up it moves swiftly, and though a prisoner it is free. Fixed in its place it drives before it the gentle breeze; though its path lie closed up it moves on in its nocturnal journey.'"—Quoted by Ibn Khallikan, E.T. iii. 91.

"(¹) The linen fan (Mirwaha-t al Khaish) is a large piece of linen, stretched on a frame, and suspended from the ceiling of the room. They make use of it in Irâk. See de Sacy's Hariri, p. 474."—Note by MacGuckin de Slane, ibid. p. 92.

c. 1300.—"One of the innovations of the Caliph Manṣūr (A.D. 753-774) was the Khaish of linen in summer, a thing which was not known before his time. But the Sāsānian Kings used in summer to have an apartment freshly plastered (with clay) every day, which they inhabited, and on the morrow another apartment was plastered for them."—El-Fakhrī, ed. Ahlwardt, p. 188.

1596.—"And (they use) instruments like swings with fans, to rock the people in, and to make wind for cooling, which they call cattaventos."—Literal Transln. from Linschoten, ch. 6.

1598.—"And they vse certaine instruments like Waggins, with bellowes, to beare all the people in, and to gather winde to coole themselves withall, which they call Cattaventos."—Old English Translation, by W. P., p. 16; [Hak. Soc. i. 52].

The French version is really a brief description of the punka:

1610.—"Ils ont aussi du Cattaventos qui sont certains instruments pendus en l'air es quels se faisant donner le bransle ils font du vent qui les rafraichit."—Ed. 1638, p. 17.

The next also perhaps refers to a suspended punka:

1662.—"... furnished also with good Cellars with great Flaps to stir the Air, for reposing in the fresh Air from 12 till 4 or 5 of the Clock, when the Air of these Cellars begins to be hot and stuffing."—Bernier, p. 79; [ed. Constable, 247].

1807.—"As one small concern succeeds another, the punkah vibrates gently over my eyes."—Lord Minto in India, 27.

1810.—"Were it not for the punka (a large frame of wood covered with cloth) which is suspended over every table, and kept swinging, in order to freshen the air, it would be scarcely possible to sit out the melancholy ceremony of an Indian dinner."—Maria Graham, 30.

" Williamson mentions that punkahs "were suspended in most dining halls."—Vade Mecum, i. 281.

1823.—"Punkas, large frames of light wood covered with white cotton, and looking not unlike enormous fire-boards, hung from the ceilings of the principal apartments."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 28.

1852.—

1875.—"The punkah flapped to and fro lazily overhead."—Chesney, The Dilemma, ch. xxxviii.

Mr. Busteed observes: "It is curious that in none of the lists of servants and their duties which are scattered through the old records in the last century (18th), is there any mention of the punka, nor in any narratives referring to domestic life in India then, that have come under our notice, do we remember any allusion to its use.... The swinging punka, as we see it to-day, was, as every one knows, an innovation of a later period.... This dates from an early year in the present century."—Echoes of Old Calcutta, p. 115. He does not seem, however, to have found any positive evidence of the date of its introduction. ["Hanging punkahs are said by one authority to have originated in Calcutta by accident towards the close of the last (18th) century. It is reported that a clerk in a Government office suspended the leaf of a table, which was accidentally waved to and fro by a visitor. A breath of cool air followed the movement, and suggested the idea which was worked out and resulted in the present machine" (Carey, Good Old Days of John Company, i. 81). Mr. Douglas says that punkahs were little used by Europeans in Bombay till 1810. They were not in use at Nuncomar's trial in Calcutta (1775), Bombay and W. India, ii. 253.]

PUNSAREE, s. A native drug-seller; Hind. pansārī. We place the word here partly because C. P. Brown says 'it is certainly a foreign word,' and assigns it to a corruption of dispensarium; which is much to be doubted. [The word is really derived from Skt. paṇyaśāla, 'a market, warehouse.']

[1830.—"Beside this, I purchased from a pansaree some application for relieving the pain of a bruise."—Frazer, The Persian Adventurer, iii. 23.]

PURDAH, s. Hind. from Pers. parda, 'a curtain'; a portière; and especially a curtain screening women from the sight of men; whence a woman of position who observes such rules of seclusion is termed parda-nishīn, 'one who sits behind a curtain.' (See GOSHA.)

1809.—"On the fourth (side) a purdah was stretched across."—Ld. Valentia, i. 100.

1810.—"If the disorder be obstinate, the doctor is permitted to approach the purdah (i.e. curtain, or screen) and to put the hand through a small aperture ... in order to feel the patient's pulse."—Williamson, V. M. i. 130.

[1813.—"My travelling palankeen formed my bed, its purdoe or chintz covering my curtains."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 109.]

1878.—"Native ladies look upon the confinement behind the purdah as a badge of rank, and also as a sign of chastity, and are exceedingly proud of it."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 113.

[1900.—"Charitable aid is needed for the purdah women."—Pioneer Mail, Jan. 21.]

PURDESEE, s. Hind. paradeśī usually written pardesī, 'one from a foreign country.' In the Bombay army the term is universally applied to a sepoy from N. India. [In the N.W.P. the name is applied to a wandering tribe of swindlers and coiners.]

PURWANNA, PERWAUNA, s. Hind. from Pers. parwāna, 'an order; a grant or letter under royal seal; a letter of authority from an official to his subordinate; a license or pass.'

1682.—"... we being obliged at the end of two months to pay Custom for the said goods, if in that time we did not procure a Pherwanna for the Duan of Decca to excuse us from it."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 10; [Hak. Soc. i. 34].

1693.—"... Egmore and Pursewaukum were lately granted us by the Nabob's purwannas."—Wheeler, i. 281.

1759.—"Perwanna, under the Coochuck (or the small seal) of the Nabob Vizier Ulma Maleck, Nizam ul Muluck Bahadour, to Mr. John Spenser."—In Cambridge's Acct. of the War, 230. (See also quotation under HOSBOLHOOKUM.)

1774.—"As the peace has been so lately concluded, it would be a satisfaction to the Rajah to receive your parwanna to this purpose before the departure of the caravan."—Bogle's Diary, in Markham's Tibet, p. 50. But Mr. Markham changes the spelling of his originals.

PUTCHOCK, s. This is the trade-name for a fragrant root, a product of the Himālaya in the vicinity of Kashmīr, and forming an article of export from both Bombay and Calcutta to the Malay countries and to China, where it is used as a chief ingredient of the Chinese pastille-rods commonly called jostick. This root was recognised by the famous Garcia de Orta as the Costus of the ancients. The latter took their word from the Skt. kusṭha, by a modification of which name—kuṭ—it is still known and used as a medicine in Upper India. De Orta speaks of the plant as growing about Mandu and Chitore, whence it was brought for sale to Ahmadābād; but his informants misled him. The true source was traced in situ by two other illustrious men, Royle and Falconer, to a plant belonging to the N. O. Compositae, Saussurea Xappe, Clarke, for which Dr. Falconer, not recognising the genus, had proposed the name of Aucklandia Costus verus, in honour of the then Governor-General. The Costus is a gregarious plant, occupying open, sloping sides of the mountains, at an elevation of 8000 to 9000 feet. See article by Falconer in Trans. Linn. Soc. xix. 23-31.

The trade-name is, according to Wilson, the Telugu pāch'chāku, 'green leaf,' but one does not see how this applies. (Is there, perhaps, some confusion with Patch? see PATCHOULI). De Orta speaks as if the word, which he writes pucho, were Malay. Though neither Crawfurd nor Favre gives the word, in this sense, it is in Marsden's earlier Malay Dict.: "Pūchok, a plant, the aromatic leaves of which are an article of trade; said by some to be Costus indicus, and by others the Melissa, or Laurus." [On this Mr. Skeat writes: "Puchok is the Malay word for a young sprout, or the growing shoot of a plant. Puchok in the special sense here used is also a Malay word, but it may be separate from the other. Klinkert gives puchok as a sprout or shoot and also as a radish-like root (indigenous in China (sic), used in medicine for fumigation, &c.). Apparently it is always the root and not the leaves of the plant that are used, in which case Marsden may have confused the two senses of the word."] In the year 1837-38 about 250 tons of this article, valued at £10,000, were exported from Calcutta alone. The annual import into China at a later date, according to Wells Williams, was 2,000 peculs or 120 tons (Middle Kingdom, ed. 1857, ii. 308). In 1865-66, the last year for which the details of such minor exports are found in print, the quantity exported from Calcutta was only 492½ cwt., or 24⅝ tons. In 1875 the value of the imports at Hankow and Chefoo was £6,421. [Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. ii. p. 482, Bombay Gazetteer, xi. 470.]

1516.—See Barbosa under CATECHU.

1520.—"We have prohibited (the export of) pepper to China ... and now we prohibit the export of pucho and incense from these parts of India to China."—Capitulo de hum Regimento del Rey a Diogo Ayres, Feitor da China, in Arch. Port. Orient., Fasc. v. 49.

1525.—"Pucho of Cambaya worth 35 tangas a maund."—Lembranças, 50.

[1527.—Mr. Whiteway notes that in a letter of Diogo Calvo to the King, dated Jan. 17, pucho is mentioned as one of the imports to China.—India Office MS. Corpo Chronologico, vol. i.]

1554.—"The baar (see BAHAR) of pucho contains 20 faraçolas (see FRAZALA), and an additional 4 of picota (q.v.), in all 24 faraçolas...."—A. Nunes, 11.

1563.—"I say that costus in Arabic is called cost or cast; in Guzarate it is called uplot (upaleta); and in Malay, for in that region there is a great trade and consumption thereof, it is called pucho. I tell you the name in Arabic, because it is called by the same name by the Latins and Greeks, and I tell it you in Guzerati, because that is the land to which it is chiefly carried from its birth-place; and I tell you the Malay name because the greatest quantity is consumed there, or taken thence to China."—Garcia, f. 72.

c. 1563.—"... Opium, Assa Fetida, Puchio, with many other sortes of Drugges."—Caesar Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 343.

[1609.—"Costus of 2 sorts, one called pokermore, the other called Uplotte (see Garcia, above)."—Danvers, Letters, i. 30.]

1617.—"5 hampers pochok...."—Cocks, Diary, i. 294.

1631.—"Caeterum Costus vulgato vocabulo inter mercatores Indos Pucho, Chinensibus Potsiock, vocatur ... vidi ego integrum Picol, quod pondus centum et viginti in auctione decem realibus distribui."—Jac. Bontii, Hist. Nat., &c., lib. iv. p. 46.

1711.—In Malacca Price Currant, July 1704: "Putchuck or Costus dulcis."—Lockyer, 77.

1726.—"Patsjaak (a leaf of Asjien (Acheen?) that is pounded to powder, and used in incense)...."—Valentijn, Choro. 34.

1727.—"The Wood Ligna dulcis grows only in this country (Sind). It is rather a Weed than a Wood, and nothing of it is useful but the Root, called Putchock, or Radix dulcis.... There are great quantities exported from Surat, and from thence to China, where it generally bears a good Price...."—A. Hamilton, i. 126; [ed. 1744, i. 127].

1808.—"Elles emploient ordinairement ... une racine aromatique appelée pieschtok, qu'on coupe par petits morceaux, et fait bouillir dans de l'huile de noix de coco. C'est avec cette huile que les danseuses se graissent...."—Haafner, ii. 117.

1862.—"Koot is sent down country in large quantities, and is exported to China, where it is used as incense. It is in Calcutta known under the name of 'Patchuk.'"—Punjab Trade Report, cvii.

PUTLAM, n.p. A town in Ceylon on the coast of the bay or estuary of Calpentyn; properly Puṭṭalama; a Tamil name, said by Mr. Fergusson to be puthu- (pudu?) alam, 'New Salt-pans.' Ten miles inland are the ruins of Tammana Newera, the original Tambapanni (or Taprobane), where Vijaya, the first Hindu immigrant, established his kingdom. And Putlam is supposed to be the place where he landed.

1298.—"The pearl-fishers ... go post to a place callen Bettelar, and (then) go 60 miles into the gulf."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 16.

c. 1345.—"The natives went to their King and told him my reply. He sent for me, and I proceeded to his presence in the town of Baṭṭāla, which was his capital, a pretty little place, surrounded by a timber wall and towers."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 166.

1672.—"Putelaon...."—Baldaeus (Germ.), 373.

1726.—"Portaloon or Putelan."—Valentijn, Ceylon, 21.

PUTNEE, PUTNEY, s.

a. Hind. and Beng. paṭṭanī, or paṭnī, from v. paṭ-nā, 'to be agreed or closed' (i.e. a bargain). Goods commissioned or manufactured to order.

1755.—"A letter from Cossimbazar mentions they had directed Mr. Warren Hastings to proceed to the Putney aurung (q.v.) in order to purchase putney on our Honble. Masters' account, and to make all necessary enquiries."—Fort William Consns., Nov. 10. In Long, 61.

b. A kind of sub-tenure existing in the Lower Provinces of Bengal, the patnīdār, or occupant of which "holds of a Zemindar a portion of the Zemindari in perpetuity, with the right of hereditary succession, and of selling or letting the whole or part, so long as a stipulated amount of rent is paid to the Zemindar, who retains the power of sale for arrears, and is entitled to a regulated fee or fine upon transfer" (Wilson, q.v.). Probably both a and b are etymologically the same, and connected with paṭṭā (see POTTAH).

[1860.—"A perpetual lease of land held under a Zumeendar is called a putnee,—and the holder is called a putneedar, who not only pays an advanced rent to the Zumeendar, but a handsome price for the same."—Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 64.]

PUTTÁN, PATHÁN, n.p. Hind. Paṭhān. A name commonly applied to Afghans, and especially to people in India of Afghan descent. The derivation is obscure. Elphinstone derives it from Pushtūn and Pukhtūn, pl. Pukhtāna, the name the Afghans give to their own race, with which Dr. Trumpp [and Dr. Bellew (Races of Afghanistan, 25) agree. This again has been connected with the Pactyica of Herodotus (iii. 102, iv. 44).] The Afghans have for the name one of the usual fantastic etymologies which is quoted below (see quotation, c. 1611). The Mahommedans in India are sometimes divided into four classes, viz. Paṭhāns; Mughals (see MOGUL), i.e. those of Turki origin; Shaikhs, claiming Arab descent; and Saiyyids, claiming also to be descendants of Mahommed.

1553.—"This State belonged to a people called Patane, who were lords of that hill-country. And as those who dwell on the skirts of the Pyrenees, on this side and on that, are masters of the passes by which we cross from Spain to France, or vice versâ, so these Patan people are the masters of the two entrances to India, by which those who go thither from the landward must pass...."—Barros, IV. vi. 1.

1563.—"... This first King was a Patane of certain mountains that march with Bengala."—Garcia, Coll. f. 34.

1572.—

[By Aubertin:

1610.—"A Pattan, a man of good stature."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 220.

c. 1611.—"... the mightiest of the Afghan people was Kais.... The Prophet gave Kais the name of Abd Ulrasheed ... and ... predicted that God would make his issue so numerous that they, with respect to the establishment of the Faith, would outvie all other people; the angel Gabriel having revealed to him that their attachment to the Faith would, in strength, be like the wood upon which they lay the keel when constructing a ship, which wood the seamen call Pathan: on this account he conferred upon Abd Ulrasheed the title of Pathan^[227] also."—Hist. of the Afghans, E.T., by Dorn, i. 38.

[1638.—"... Ozmanchan a Puttanian...."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1677, p. 76.]

1648.—"In general the Moors are a haughty and arrogant and proud people, and among them the Pattans stand out superior to the others in dress and manners."—Van Twist, 58.

1666.—"Martin Affonso and the other Portuguese delivered them from the war that the Patanes were making on them."—Faria y Sousa, Asia Portuguesa, i. 343.

1673.—"They are distinguished, some according to the Consanguinity they claim with Mahomet; as a Siad is a kin to that Imposture.... A Shiek is a Cousin too, at a distance, into which Relation they admit all new made Proselytes. Meer is somewhat allied also.... The rest are adopted under the Name of the Province ... as Mogul, the Race of the Tartars ... Patan, Duccan."—Fryer, 93.

1681.—"En estas regiones ay vna cuyas gentes se dizen los Patanes."—Martinez de la Puente, Compendio, 21.

1726.—"... The Patans (Patanders) are very different in garb, and surpass in valour and stout-heartedness in war."—Valentijn, Choro. 109.

1757.—"The Colonel (Clive) complained bitterly of so many insults put upon him, and reminded the Soubahdar how different his own conduct was, when called upon to assist him against the Pytans."—Ives, 149.

1763.—"The northern nations of India, although idolaters ... were easily induced to embrace Mahomedanism, and are at this day the Affghans or Pitans."—Orme, i. 24, ed. 1803.

1789.—"Moormen are, for the most part, soldiers by profession, particularly in the cavalry, as are also ... Pitans."—Munro, Narr. 49.

1798.—"... Afghans, or as they are called in India, Patans."—G. Forster, Travels, ii. 47.

[PUTTEE, PUTTY, s. Hind. paṭṭī.

a. A piece or strip of cloth, bandage; especially used in the sense of a ligature round the lower part of the leg used in lieu of a gaiter, originally introduced from the Himālaya, and now commonly used by sportsmen and soldiers. A special kind of cloth appears in the old trade-lists under the name of puteahs (see PIECE GOODS).

1875.—"Any one who may be bound for a long march will put on leggings of a peculiar sort, a bandage about 6 inches wide and four yards long, wound round from the ankle up to just below the knee, and then fastened by an equally long string, attached to the upper end, which is lightly wound many times round the calf of the leg. This, which is called patawa, is a much cherished piece of dress."—Drew, Jummoo, 175.

1900.—"The Puttee leggings are excellent for peace and war, on foot or on horseback."—Times, Dec. 24.

b. In the N.W.P. "an original share in a joint or coparcenary village or estate comprising many villages; it is sometimes defined as the smaller subdivision of a mahal or estate" (Wilson). Hence Putteedaree, paṭṭidārī used for a tenure of this kind.

1852.—"Their names were forthwith scratched off the collector's books, and those of their eldest sons were entered, who became forthwith, in village and cutcherry parlance, lumberdars of the shares of their fathers, or in other words, of puttee Shere Singh and puttee Baz Singh."—Raikes, Notes on the N.W.P. 94.

c. In S. India, soldiers' pay.

1810.—"... hence in ordinary acceptation, the pay itself was called puttee, a Canarese word which properly signifies a written statement of any kind."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, Madras reprint, i. 415.]

PUTTYWALLA, s. Hind. paṭṭā-wālā, paṭṭī-wālā (see PUTTEE), 'one with a belt.' This is the usual Bombay term for a messenger or orderly attached to an office, and bearing a belt and brass badge, called in Bengal chuprassy or peon (qq.v.), in Madras usually by the latter name.

1878.—"Here and there a belted Government servant, called a Puttiwālā, or Paṭṭawālā, because distinguished by a belt...."—Monier Williams, Modern India, 34.

PUTWA, s. Hind. patwā. The Hibiscus sabdariffa, L., from the succulent acid flowers of which very fair jelly is made in Anglo-Indian households. [It is also known as the Rozelle or Red Sorrel (Watt, Econ. Dict. iv. 243). Riddell (Domest. Econ. 337) calls it "Oseille or Roselle jam and jelly."]

PYE, s. A familiar designation among British soldiers and young officers for a Pariah-dog (q.v.); a contraction, no doubt, of the former word.

[1892.—"We English call him a pariah, but this word, belonging to a low, yet by no means degraded class of people in Madras, is never heard on native lips as applied to a dog, any more than our other word 'pie.'"—L. Kipling, Beast and Man, 266.]

PYJAMMAS, s. Hind. pāē-jāma (see JAMMA), lit. 'leg-clothing.' A pair of loose drawers or trowsers, tied round the waist. Such a garment is used by various persons in India, e.g. by women of various classes, by Sikh men, and by most Mahommedans of both sexes. It was adopted from the Mahommedans by Europeans as an article of dishabille and of night attire, and is synonymous with Long Drawers, Shulwáurs, and Mogul-breeches. [For some distinctions between these various articles of dress see Forbes-Watson, (Textile Manufactures, 57).] It is probable that we English took the habit like a good many others from the Portuguese. Thus Pyrard (c. 1610) says, in speaking of Goa Hospital: "Ils ont force calsons sans quoy ne couchent iamais les Portugais des Indes" (ii. p. 11; [Hak. Soc. ii. 9]). The word is now used in London shops. A friend furnishes the following reminiscence: "The late Mr. B——, tailor in Jermyn Street, some 40 years ago, in reply to a question why pyjammas had feet sewn on to them (as was sometimes the case with those furnished by London outfitters) answered: 'I believe, Sir, it is because of the White Ants!'"

[1828—

1881.—"The rest of our attire consisted of that particularly light and airy white flannel garment, known throughout India as a pajama suit."—Haekel, Ceylon, 329.

PYKE, PAIK, s. Wilson gives only one original of the term so expressed in Anglo-Indian speech. He writes: "Páík or Páyik, corruptly Pyke, Hind. &c. (from S. padātika), Páík or Páyak, Mar. A footman, an armed attendant, an inferior police and revenue officer, a messenger, a courier, a village watchman: in Cuttack the Páíks formerly constituted a local militia, holding land of the Zamindárs or Rájas by the tenure of military service," &c., quoting Bengal Regulations. [Platts also treats the two words as identical.] But it seems clear to us that there are here two terms rolled together:

a. Pers. Paik, 'a foot-runner or courier.' We do not know whether this is an old Persian word or a Mongol introduction. According to Hammer Purgstall it was the term in use at the Court of the Mongol princes, as quoted below. Both the words occur in the Āīn, but differently spelt, and that with which we now deal is spelt paik (with the fatḥa point).

c. 1590.—"The Jilaudár (see under JULIBDAR) and the Paik (a runner). Their monthly pay varies from 1200 to 120d. (dāms), according to their speed and manner of service. Some of them will run from 50 to 100 kroh (Coss) per day."—Āīn, E.T. by Blochmann, i. 138 (see orig. i. 144).

1673.—At the Court of Constantinople: "Les Peiks venoient ensuite, avec leurs bonnets d'argent doré ornés d'un petit plumage de héron, un arc et un carquois chargé de flèches."—Journal d'A. Galland, i. 98.

1687.—"... the under officers and servants called Agiam-Oglans, who are designed to the meaner uses of the Seraglio ... most commonly the sons of Christians taken from their Parents at the age of 10 or 12 years.... These are: 1, Porters, 2, Bostangies or Gardiners ... 5, Paicks and Solacks...."—Sir Paul Rycaut, Present State of the Ottoman Empire, 19.

1761.—"Ahmad Sultán then commissioned Sháh Pasand Khán ... the harkáras (see HURCARRA) and the Paiks, to go and procure information as to the state and strength of the Mahratta army."—Muhammad Jáfar Shámlu, in Elliot, viii. 151-2.

1840.—"The express-riders (Eilbothen) accomplished 50 farsangs a-day, so that an express came in 4 days from Khorasan to Tebris [Tabrīz).... The Foot-runners carrying letters (Peik), whose name at least is maintained to this day at both the Persian and Osmanli Courts, accomplished 30 farsangs a-day."—Hammer Purgstall, Gesch. der Golden Horde, 243.

[1868.—"The Payeke is entrusted with the tchilim (see CHILLUM) (pipe), which at court (Khiva) is made of gold or silver, and must be replenished with fresh water every time it is filled with tobacco."—Vambery, Sketches, 89.]

b. Hind. pāīk and pāyik (also Mahr.) from Skt. padātika, and padika, 'a foot-soldier,' with the other specific application given by Wilson, exclusive of 'courier.' In some narratives the word seems to answer exactly to peon. In the first quotation, which is from the Āīn, the word, it will be seen, is different from that quoted under (a) from the same source.

c. 1590.—"It was the custom in those times, for the palace (of the King of Bengal) to be guarded by several thousand pykes (pāyak), who are a kind of infantry. An eunuch entered into a confederacy with these guards, who one night killed the King, Futteh Shah, when the Eunuch ascended the throne, under the title of Barbuck Shah."—Gladwin's Tr., ed. 1800, ii. 19 (orig. i. 415; [Jarrett (ii. 149) gives the word as Páyiks].

In the next quotation the word seems to be the same, though used for 'a seaman.' Compare uses of Lascar.

c. 1615.—"(His fleet) consisted of 20 beaked vessels, all well manned with the sailors whom they call paiques, as well as with Portuguese soldiers and topazes who were excellent musketeers; 50 hired jalias (see GALLEVAT) of like sort and his own (Sebastian Gonçalves's) galliot (see GALLEVAT), which was about the size of a patacho, with 14 demi-falcons on each broadside, two pieces of 18 to 20 lbs. calibre in the forecastle, and 60 Portuguese soldiers, with more than 40 topazes and Cafres (see CAFFER)."—Bocarro, Decada, 452.

1722.—Among a detail of charges at this period in the Zemindárry of Rājshāhī appears:

"9. Paikan, or the pikes, guard of villages, everywhere necessary ... 2,161 rupees."—Fifth Report, App. p. 345.

The following quotation from an Indian Regulation of Ld. Cornwallis's time is a good example of the extraordinary multiplication of terms, even in one Province in India, denoting approximately the same thing:

1792.—"All Pykes, Chokeydars (see CHOKIDAR), Pasbans, Dusauds, Nigabans,^[228] Harees (see HARRY), and other descriptions of village watchmen are declared subject to the orders of the Darogah (see DAROGA)...."—Regns. for the Police ... passed by the G.-G. in C., Dec. 7.

" "The army of Assam was a militia organised as follows. The whole male population was bound to serve either as soldiers or labourers, and was accordingly divided into sets of four men each, called gotes, the individuals comprising the gotes being termed pykes."—Johnstone's Acct. of Welsh's Expedition to Assam, 1792-93-94 (commd. by Gen. Keatinge).

1802.—After a detail of persons of rank in Midnapore:

"None of these entertain armed followers except perhaps ten or a dozen Peons for state, but some of them have Pykes in considerable numbers, to keep the peace on their estates. These Pykes are under the magistrate's orders."—Fifth Report, App. p. 535.

1812.—"The whole of this last-mentioned numerous class of Pykes are understood to have been disbanded, in compliance with the new Police regulations."—Fifth Report, 71.

1872.—"... Dalais or officers of the peasant militia (Paiks). The Paiks were settled chiefly around the fort on easy tenures."—Hunter's Orissa, ii. 269.

PYSE! interjection. The use of this is illustrated in the quotations. Notwithstanding the writer's remark (below) it is really Hindustani, viz. po'is, 'look out!' or 'make way!' apparently from Skt. paśya, 'look! see!' (see Molesworth's Mahr. Dict. p. 529, col. c; Fallon's Hind. Dict., p. 376, col. a; [Platts, 282b].

[1815.—"... three men came running up behind them, as if they were clearing the road for some one, by calling out 'pice! pice!' (make way, make way)...."—Elphinstone's Report on Murder of Gungadhur Shastry, in Papers relating to E.I. Affairs, p. 14.]

1883.—"Does your correspondent Col. Prideaux know the origin of the warning called out by buggy drivers to pedestrians in Bombay, 'Pyse'? It is not Hindustani."—Letter in N. & Q., Ser. VI. viii. p. 388.

[Other expressions of the same kind are Malayāl. po, 'Get out of the way!' and Hind. Mahr. khis, khis, from khisnā, 'to drop off.'

1598.—"As these hayros goe in the streetes, they crie po, po, which is to say, take heede."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 280.

1826.—"I was awoke from disturbed rest by cries of kis! kis! (clear the way)."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 46.]