Chapter XII: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (9)

"In the midst an aged BANIAN grew.
It was a goodly sight to see
That venerable tree,
For o'er the lawn, irregularly spread,
Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head;
And many a long depending shoot,
Seeking to strike its root,
Straight like a plummet grew towards the ground,
Some on the lower boughs which crost their way,
Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round,
With many a ring and wild contortion wound;
Some to the passing wind at times, with sway
Of gentle motion swung;
Others of younger growth, unmoved, were hung
Like stone-drops from the cavern's fretted height."
_Southey, Curse of Kehama_, xiii. 51.
[Southey takes his account from
_Williamson, Orient. Field Sports_, ii. 113.]

1821.—

"Des BANIANS touffus, par les brames adorés,
Depuis longtemps la langueur nous implore,
Courbés par le midi, dont l'ardeur les dévore,
Ils étendent vers nous leurs rameaux altérés."
_Casimir Delavigne, Le Paria_, iii. 6.

A note of the publishers on the preceding passage, in the edition of
1855, is diverting:

"Un journaliste allemand a accusé M. Casimir Delavigne d'avoir pris pour
un arbre une secte religieuse de l'Inde...." The German journalist was
wrong here, but he might have found plenty of matter for ridicule in the
play. Thus the Brahmins (men) are _Akebar_ (!), _Idamore_ (!!), and
_Empsael_ (!!!); their women _Néala_ (?), _Zaide_ (!), and _Mirza_ (!!).

1825.—"Near this village was the finest BANYAN-TREE which I had ever
seen, literally a grove rising from a single primary stem, whose massive
secondary trunks, with their straightness, orderly arrangement, and
evident connexion with the parent stock, gave the general effect of a
vast vegetable organ. The first impression which I felt on coming under
its shade was, 'What a noble place of worship!'"—_Heber_, ii. 93 (ed.
1844).

1834.—"Cast forth thy word into the everliving, everworking universe; it
is a seed-grain that cannot die; unnoticed to-day, it will be found
flourishing as a BANYAN-GROVE—(perhaps alas! as a hemlock forest) after a
thousand years."—_Sartor Resartus._

1856.—

"... its pendant branches, rooting in the air,
Yearn to the parent earth and grappling fast,
Grow up huge stems again, which shooting forth
In massy branches, these again despatch
Their drooping heralds, till a labyrinth
Of root and stem and branch commingling, forms
A great cathedral, aisled and choired in wood."
_The_ BANYAN TREE, a Poem.

1865.—"A family tends to multiply families around it, till it becomes the
centre of a tribe, just as the BANYAN tends to surround itself with a
forest of its own offspring."—_Maclennan, Primitive Marriage_, 269.

1878.—"... des BANYANS soutenus par des racines aëriennes et dont les
branches tombantes engendrent en touchant terre des sujets
nouveaux."—_Rev. des Deux Mondes_, Oct. 15, p. 832.

BĀRASINHĀ, s. The H. name of the widely-spread _Cervus Wallichii_, Cuvier. This H. name ('12-horn') is no doubt taken from the number of tines being approximately twelve. The name is also applied by sportsmen in Bengal to the _Rucervus Duvaucellii_, or _Swamp-Deer_. [See _Blanford, Mamm._ 538 _seqq._].

[1875.—"I know of no flesh equal to that of the ibex; and the _navo_, a
species of gigantic antelope of Chinese Tibet, with the BARRA-SINGH, a
red deer of Kashmir, are nearly equally good."—_Wilson, Abode of Snow_,
91.]

[BARBER'S BRIDGE, n.p. This is a curious native corruption of an English name. The bridge in Madras, known as BARBER'S BRIDGE, was built by an engineer named Hamilton. This was turned by the natives into _Ambuton_, and in course of time the name _Ambuton_ was identified with the Tamil _ambattan_, 'barber,' and so it came to be called _Barber's Bridge_.—See _Le Fanu, Man. of the Salem Dist._ ii. 169, note.]

BARBICAN, s. This term of mediæval fortification is derived by Littré, and by Marcel Devic, from Ar. _barbakh_, which means a sewer-pipe or water-pipe. And _one_ of the meanings given by Littré is, "une ouverture longue et étroite pour l'écoulement des eaux." Apart from the possible, but untraced, history which this alleged meaning may involve, it seems probable, considering the usual meaning of the word as 'an outwork before a gate,' that it is from Ar. P. _bāb-khāna_, 'gate-house.' This etymology was suggested in print about 50 years ago by one of the present writers,[36] and confirmed to his mind some years later, when in going through the native town of Cawnpore, not long before the Mutiny, he saw a brand-new double-towered gateway, or gate-house, on the face of which was the inscription in Persian characters: "_Bāb-Khāna_-i-Mahommed Bakhsh," or whatever was his name, _i.e._ "The BARBICAN of _Mahommed Bakhsh_." [The _N.E.D._ suggests P. _barbar-khānah_, 'house on the wall,' it being difficult to derive the Romanic forms in _bar-_ from _bāb-khāna_.]

The editor of the Chron. of K. James of Aragon (1833, p. 423) says that _barbacana_ in Spain means a second, outermost and lower wall; _i.e._ a fausse-braye. And this agrees with facts in that work, and with the definition in Cobarruvias; but not at all with Joinville's use, nor with V.-le-Duc's explanation.

c. 1250.—"Tuit le baron ... s'acorderent que en un tertre ... féist l'en
une forteresse qui fust bien garnie de gent, si qui se li Tur fesoient
saillies ... cell tore fust einsi come BARBACANE (orig. '_quasi
antemurale_') de l'oste."—The Med. Fr. tr. of _William of Tyre_, ed.
_Paul Paris_, i. 158.

c. 1270.—"... on condition of his at once putting me in possession of the
albarrana tower ... and should besides make his Saracens construct a
BARBACANA round the tower."—_James of Aragon_, as above.

1309.—"Pour requerre sa gent plus sauvement, fist le roys faire une
BARBAQUANE devant le pont qui estoit entre nos dous os, en tel maniere
que l'on pooit entrer de dous pars en la BARBAQUANE à
cheval."—_Joinville_, p. 162.

1552.—"Lourenço de Brito ordered an intrenchment of great strength to be
dug, in the fashion of a BARBICAN (BARBACÃ) outside the wall of the fort
... on account of a well, a stone-cast distant...."—_Barros_, II. i. 5.

c. 1870.—"_Barbacane._ Défense extérieure protégeant une entrée, et
permettant de réunir un assez grand nombre d'hommes pour disposer des
sorties ou protéger une retraite."—_Viollet-le-Duc, H. d'une Forteresse_,
361.

BARBIERS, s. This is a term which was formerly very current in the East, as the name of a kind of paralysis, often occasioned by exposure to chills. It began with numbness and imperfect command of the power of movement, sometimes also affecting the muscles of the neck and power of articulation, and often followed by loss of appetite, emaciation, and death. It has often been identified with BERIBERI, and medical opinion seems to have come back to the view that the two are _forms_ of one disorder, though this was not admitted by some older authors of the last century. The allegation of Lind and others, that the most frequent subjects of _barbiers_ were Europeans of the lower class who, when in drink, went to sleep in the open air, must be contrasted with the general experience that _beriberi_ rarely attacks Europeans. The name now seems obsolete.

1673.—"Whence follows Fluxes, Dropsy, Scurvy, BARBIERS (which is an
enervating (_sic_) the whole Body, being neither able to use hands or
Feet), Gout, Stone, Malignant and Putrid Fevers."—_Fryer_, 68.

1690.—"Another Distemper with which the Europeans are sometimes
afflicted, is the BARBEERS, or a deprivation of the Vse and Activity of
their Limbs, whereby they are rendered unable to move either Hand or
Foot."—_Ovington_, 350.

1755.—(If the land wind blow on a person sleeping) "the consequence of
this is always dangerous, as it seldom fails to bring on a fit of the
BARBIERS (as it is called in this country), that is, a total deprivation
of the use of the limbs."—_Ives_, 77.

[c. 1757.—"There was a disease common to the lower class of Europeans,
called the BARBERS, a species of palsy, owing to exposure to the land
winds after a fit of intoxication."—In _Carey, Good Old Days_, ii. 266.]

1768.—"The BARBIERS, a species of palsy, is a disease most frequent in
India. It distresses chiefly the lower class of Europeans, who when
intoxicated with liquors frequently sleep in the open air, exposed to the
land winds."—_Lind_ on _Diseases of Hot Climates_, 260. (See BERIBERI.)

BARGANY, BRAGANY, H. _bārakānī_. The name of a small silver coin current in W. India at the time of the Portuguese occupation of Goa, and afterwards valued at 40 _reis_ (then about 5¼_d._). The name of the coin was apparently a survival of a very old system of coinage-nomenclature. _Kānī_ is an old Indian word, perhaps Dravidian in origin, indicating ¼ of ¼ of ¼, or 1-64th part. It was applied to the _jital_ (see JEETUL) or 64th part of the mediæval Delhi silver _tanka_—this latter coin being the prototype in weight and position of the Rupee, as the _kānī_ therefore was of the modern Anglo-Indian pice (= 1-64th of a Rupee). There were in the currency of Mohammed Tughlak (1324-1351) of Delhi, aliquot parts of the _tanka_, _Dokānīs_, _Shash-kānīs_, _Hasht-kānīs_, _Dwāzda-kānīs_, and _Shānzda-kānīs_, representing, as the Persian numerals indicate, pieces of 2, 6, 8, 12, and 16 _kānīs_ or _jitals_. (See _E. Thomas, Pathan Kings of Delhi_, pp. 218-219.) Other fractional pieces were added by Fīroz Shāh, Mohammed's son and successor (see _Id._ 276 _seqq._ and quotation under c. 1360, below). Some of these terms long survived, _e.g._ _do-kānī_ in localities of Western and Southern India, and in Western India in the present case the _bārakānī_ or 12 _kānī_, a vernacular form of the _dwāzda-kānī_ of Mohammed Tughlak.

1330.—"Thousands of men from various quarters, who possessed thousands of
these copper coins ... now brought them to the treasury, and received in
exchange gold _tankas_ and silver _tankas_ (TANGA), _shash-gānīs_ and
_du-gānīs_, which they carried to their homes."—_Táríkh-i-Fíroz-Sháhi_,
in _Elliot_, iii. 240-241.

c. 1350—"Sultan Fíroz issued several varieties of coins. There was the
gold _tanka_ and the silver _tanka_. There were also distinct coins of
the respective value of 48, 25, 24, 12, 10, 8 and 6, and one _jītal_,
known as _chihal-o-hasht-gānī_, _bist-o-panjgānī_, _bist-o-chahār-gānī_,
_dwāzdah-gānī_, _dah-gānī_, _hasht-gānī_, _shāsh-gānī_, and _yak
jītal_."—_Ibid._ 357-358.

1510.—BARGANYM, in quotation from Correa under PARDAO.

1554.—"E as _tamgas_ brancas que se recebem dos foros, são de 4 BARGANIS
a _tamga_, e de 24 leaes o BARGANY ..." _i.e._ "And the white _tangas_
that are received in payment of land revenues are at the rate of 4
BARGANIS to the _tanga_, and of 24 _leals_ to the BARGANY."—_A. Nunez_,
in _Subsidios_, p. 31.

" "_Statement of the Revenues which the King our Lord holds in the
Island and City of Guoa._

"Item—The Islands of _Tiçoary_, and _Divar_, and that of _Chorão_, and
_Johão_, all of them, pay in land revenue (_de foro_) according to
ancient custom 36,474 white _tanguas_, 3 BARGUANIS, and 21 _leals_, at
the tale of 3 BARGUANIS to the _tangua_ and 24 _leals_ to the BARGUANIM,
the same thing as 24 _bazarucos_, amounting to 14,006 _pardaos_, 1
_tangua_ and 47 _leals_, making 4,201,916-2/5 _reis_. The Isle of Tiçoary
(SALSETTE) is the largest, and on it stands the city of Guoa; the others
are much smaller and are annexed to it, they being all contiguous, only
separated by rivers."—_Botelho, Tombo_, _ibid._ pp. 46-7.

1584.—"They vse also in Goa amongst the common sort to bargain for coals,
wood, lime and such like, at so many BRAGANINES, accounting 24
_basaruchies_ for one _braganine_, albeit there is no such money
stamped."—_Barret_, in _Hakl._ ii. 411; (but it is copied from _G.
Balbi's_ Italian, f. 71_v_).

BARGEER, s. H. from P. _bārgīr_. A trooper of irregular cavalry who is not the owner of his troop horse and arms (as is the normal practice (see SILLADAR)), but is either put in by another person, perhaps a native officer in the regiment, who supplies horses and arms and receives the man's full pay, allowing him a reduced rate, or has his horse from the State in whose service he is. The P. word properly means 'a load-taker,' 'a baggage horse.' The transfer of use is not quite clear. ["According to a man's reputation or connections, or the number of his followers, would be the rank (_mansab_) assigned to him. As a rule, his followers brought their own horses and other equipment; but sometimes a man with a little money would buy extra horses, and mount relations or dependants upon them. When this was the case, the man riding his own horse was called, in later parlance, a _silaḥdār_ (literally, 'equipment-holder'), and one riding somebody else's horse was a _bārgīr_ ('burden-taker')."—_W. Irvine, The Army of the Indian Moghuls, J.R.A.S._ July 1896, p. 539.]

1844.—"If the man again has not the cash to purchase a horse, he rides
one belonging to a native officer, or to some privileged person, and
becomes what is called his BARGEER...."—_Calcutta Rev._, vol ii. p. 57.

BARKING-DEER, s. The popular name of a small species of deer (_Cervulus aureus_, Jerdon) called in H. _kākar_, and in Nepal _ratwā_; also called _Ribfaced-Deer_, and in Bombay BAIKREE. Its common name is from its call, which is a kind of short bark, like that of a fox but louder, and may be heard in the jungles which it frequents, both by day and by night.—(_Jerdon_).

[1873.—"I caught the cry of a little BARKING-DEER."—_Cooper, Mishmee
Hills_, 177.]

BARODA, n.p. Usually called by the Dutch and older English writers _Brodera_; proper name according to the _Imp. Gazetteer_, _Wadodra_; a large city of Guzerat, which has been since 1732 the capital of the Mahratta dynasty of Guzerat, the Gaikwārs. (See GUICOWAR).

1552.—In Barros, "Cidade de BARODAR," IV. vi. 8.

1555.—"In a few days we arrived at _Barūj_; some days after at BALOUDRA,
and then took the road towards _Champaïz_ (read _Champanīr_?)."—_Sidī
'Alī_, p. 91.

1606.—"That city (Champanel) may be a day's journey from DEBERADORA or
BARODAR, which we commonly call VERDORA."—_Couto_, IV. ix. 5.

[1614.—"We are to go to Amadavar, Cambaia and BROTHERA."—_Foster,
Letters_, ii. 213; also see iv. 197.]

1638.—-"La ville de BRODRA est située dans une plaine sablonneuse, sur la
petite riviere de _Wasset_, a trente _Cos_, ou quinze lieües de
_Broitschea_."—_Mandelslo_, 130.

1813.—BRODERA, in _Forbes, Or. Mem._, iii. 268; [2nd ed. ii. 282, 389].

1857.—"The town of BARODA, originally _Barpatra_ (or a bar leaf, _i.e._
leaf of the _Ficus indica_, in shape), was the first large city I had
seen."—_Autob. of Lutfullah_, 39.

BAROS, n.p. A fort on the West Coast of Sumatra, from which the chief export of Sumatra camphor, so highly valued in China, long took place. [The name in standard Malay is, according to Mr Skeat, _Barus_.] It is perhaps identical with the _Panṣūr_ or _Fanṣūr_ of the Middle Ages, which gave its name to the _Fanṣūrī_ camphor, famous among Oriental writers, and which by the perpetuation of a misreading is often styled _Ḳaiṣūrī_ camphor, &c. (See CAMPHOR, and _Marco Polo_, 2nd ed. ii. 282, 285 _seqq._) The place is called BARROWSE in the _E. I. Colonial Papers_, ii. 52, 153.

1727.—"BAROS is the next place that abounds in Gold, Camphire, and
Benzoin, but admits of no foreign Commerce."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 113.

BARRACKPORE, n.p. The auxiliary Cantonment of Calcutta, from which it is 15 m. distant, established in 1772. Here also is the country residence of the Governor-General, built by Lord Minto, and much frequented in former days before the annual migration to Simla was established. The name is a hybrid. (See ACHANOCK).

BARRAMUHUL, n.p. H. _Bāramaḥall_, 'Twelve estates'; an old designation of a large part of what is now the district of Salem in the Madras Presidency. The identification of the Twelve Estates is not free from difficulty; [see a full note in _Le Fanu's Man. of Salem_, i. 83, _seqq._].

1881.—"The BARAMAHAL and Dindigal was placed under the Government of
Madras; but owing to the deficiency in that Presidency of civil servants
possessing a competent knowledge of the native languages, and to the
unsatisfactory manner in which the revenue administration of the older
possessions of the Company under the Madras Presidency had been
conducted, Lord Cornwallis resolved to employ military officers for a
time in the management of the Baramahl."—_Arbuthnot, Mem. of Sir T.
Munro_, xxxviii.

BASHAW, s. The old form of what we now call _pasha_, the former being taken from _bāshā_, the Ar. form of the word, which is itself generally believed to be a corruption of the P. _pādishāh_. Of this the first part is Skt. _patis_, Zend. _paitis_, Old P. _pati_, 'a lord or master' (comp. Gr. δεσπότης). _Pechah_, indeed, for 'Governor' (but with the _ch_ guttural) occurs in I. Kings x. 15, II. Chron. ix. 14, and in Daniel iii. 2, 3, 27. Prof. Max Müller notices this, but it would seem merely as a curious coincidence.—(See _Pusey on Daniel_, 567.)

1554.—"Hujusmodi BASSARUM sermonibus reliquorum Turcarum sermones
congruebant."—_Busbeq._ Epist. ii. (p. 124).

1584.—

"Great kings of Barbary and my portly BASSAS."
_Marlowe, Tamburlane the Great_,
1st Part, iii. 1.

c. 1590.—"Filius alter Osmanis, Vrchanis frater, alium non habet in
Annalibus titulum, quam Alis BASSA: quod _bassae_ vocabulum Turcis caput
significat."—_Lennclavius, Annales Sultanorum Othmanidarum_, ed. 1650, p.
402. This etymology connecting _bāshā_ with the Turkish _bāsh_, 'head,'
must be rejected.

c. 1610.—"Un BASCHA estoit venu en sa Cour pour luy rendre compte du
tribut qu'il luy apportoit; mais il fut neuf mois entiers à attendre que
celuy qui a la charge ... eut le temps et le loisir de le
compter...."—_Pyrard de Laval_ (of the Great Mogul), ii. 161.

1702.—"... The most notorious injustice we have suffered from the Arabs
of Muscat, and the BASHAW of Judda."—In _Wheeler_, ii. 7.

1727.—"It (Bagdad) is now a prodigious large City, and the Seat of a
_Beglerbeg_.... The BASHAWS of _Bassora_, _Comera_, and _Musol_ (the
ancient Nineveh) are subordinate to him."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 78.

BASIN, s. H. _besan_. Pease-meal, generally made of GRAM (q.v.) and used, sometimes mixed with ground orange-peel or other aromatic substance, to cleanse the hair, or for other toilette purposes.

[1832.—"The attendants present first the powdered peas, called BASUN,
which answers the purpose of soap."—_Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations_,
i. 328.]

BASSADORE, n.p. A town upon the island of KISHM in the Persian Gulf, which belonged in the 16th century to the Portuguese. The place was ceded to the British Crown in 1817, though the claim now seems dormant. The permission for the English to occupy the place as a naval station was granted by Saiyyid Sultan bin Aḥmad of 'Omān, about the end of the 18th century; but it was not actually occupied by us till 1821, from which time it was the depôt of our Naval Squadron in the Gulf till 1882. The real form of the name is, according to Dr. Badger's transliterated map (in _H. of Imâns, &c. of Omân_), _Bāsīdū_.

1673.—"At noon we came to BASSATU, an old ruined town of the Portugals,
fronting Congo."—_Fryer_, 320.

BASSAN, s. H. _bāsan_, 'a dinner-plate'; from Port. _bacia_ (_Panjab N. & Q._ ii. 117).

BASSEIN, n.p. This is a corruption of three entirely different names, and is applied to various places remote from each other.

(1) _Wasāi_, an old port on the coast, 26 m. north of Bombay, called by the Portuguese, to whom it long pertained, BAÇAIM (_e.g._ _Barros_, I. ix. 1).

c. 1565.—"Dopo Daman si troua BASAIN con molte ville ... ne di questa
altro si caua che risi, frumenti, e molto ligname."—_Cesare de' Federici_
in _Ramusio_, iii. 387v.

1756.—"Bandar BASSAI."—_Mirat-i-Ahmadi_, Bird's tr., 129.

1781.—"General Goddard after having taken the fortress of BESSI, which is
one of the strongest and most important fortresses under the Mahratta
power...."—_Seir Mutaqherin_, iii. 327.

(2) A town and port on the river which forms the westernmost delta-arm of the Irawadi in the Province of Pegu. The Burmese name BATHEIN, was, according to Prof. Forchammer, a change, made by the Burmese conqueror Alompra, from the former name _Kuthein_ (_i.e._ _Kusein_), which was a native corruption of the old name _Kusima_ (see COSMIN). We cannot explain the old European corruption _Persaim_. [It has been supposed that the name represents the _Besynga_ of Ptolemy (_Geog._ ii. 4; see _M‘Crindle_ in _Ind. Ant._ xiii. 372); but (_ibid._ xxii. 20) Col. Temple denies this on the ground that the name BASSEIN does not date earlier than about 1780. According to the same authority (_ibid._ xxii. 19), the modern Burmese name is _Patheng_, by ordinary phonetics used for _Putheng_, and spelt _Pusin_ or _Pusim_. He disputes the statement that the change of name was made by Alaungp'aya or Alompra. The Talaing pronunciation of the name is _Pasem_ or _Pasim_, according to dialect.]

[1781.—"Intanto piaciutto era alla Congregazione di Propagando che il
Regno di Ava fosse allora coltivato nella fede da' Sacerdoti secolari di
essa Congregazione, e a' nostri destino li Regni di BATTIAM, Martaban, e
Pegu."—_Quirini, Percoto_, 93.

[1801.—"An ineffectual attempt was made to repossess and defend BASSIEN
by the late Chekey or Lieutenant."—_Symes, Mission_, 16.]

The form PERSAIM occurs in _Dalrymple_, (1759) (_Or. Repert._, i. 127 and
_passim_).

(3) _Basim_, or properly _Wāsim_; an old town in Berar, the chief place of the district so-called. [See _Berar Gazett._ 176.]

BATÁRA, s. This is a term applied to divinities in old Javanese inscriptions, &c., the use of which was spread over the Archipelago. It was regarded by W. von Humboldt as taken from the Skt. _avatāra_ (see AVATAR); but this derivation is now rejected. The word is used among R. C. Christians in the Philippines now as synonymous with 'God'; and is applied to the infant Jesus (_Blumentritt, Vocabular_). [Mr. Skeat (_Malay Magic_, 86 _seqq._) discusses the origin of the word, and prefers the derivation given by Favre and Wilkin, Skt. _bhaṭṭāra_, 'lord.' A full account of the "_Petara_, or Sea Dyak gods," by Archdeacon J. Perham, will be found in _Roth, Natives of Sarawak_, I. 168 _seqq._]

BATAVIA, n.p. The famous capital of the Dutch possessions in the Indies; occupying the site of the old city of Jakatra, the seat of a Javanese kingdom which combined the present Dutch Provinces of Bantam, Buitenzorg, Krawang, and the Preanger Regencies.

1619.—"On the day of the capture of Jakatra, 30th May 1619, it was
certainly time and place to speak of the Governor-General's
dissatisfaction that the name of BATAVIA had been given to the
Castle."—_Valentijn_, iv. 489.

The Governor-General, Jan Pietersen Coen, who had taken Jakatra, desired to have called the new fortress _New Hoorn_, from his own birth-place, Hoorn, on the Zuider Zee.

c. 1649.—"While I stay'd at BATAVIA, my Brother dy'd; and it was pretty
to consider what the _Dutch_ made me pay for his Funeral."—_Tavernier_
(E.T.), i. 203.

BATCUL, BATCOLE, BATECALA, &c., n.p. _Bhatkal_. A place often named in the older narratives. It is on the coast of Canara, just S. of Pigeon Island and Hog Island, in lat. 13° 59′, and is not to be confounded (as it has been) with BEITCUL.

1328.—"... there is also the King of BATIGALA, but he is of the
Saracens."—_Friar Jordanus_, p. 41.

1510.—The "BATHECALA, a very noble city of India," of Varthema (119),
though misplaced, must we think be this place and not BEITCUL.

1548.—"Trelado (_i.e._ 'Copy') do Contrato que o Gouernador Gracia de Saa
fez com a Raynha de BATECALAA por não aver Reey e ela reger o Reeyno."—In
_S. Botelho, Tombo_, 242.

1599.—"... part is subject to the Queene of BATICOLA, who selleth great
store of pepper to the Portugals, at a towne called Onor...."—_Sir Fulke
Greville_ to Sir Fr. Walsingham, in _Bruce's Annals_, i. 125.

1618.—"The fift of March we anchored at BATACHALA, shooting three Peeces
to give notice of our arriuall...."—_Wm. Hore_, in _Purchas_, i. 657. See
also _Sainsbury_, ii. p. 374.

[1624.—"We had the wind still contrary, and having sail'd three other
leagues, at the usual hour we cast anchor near the Rocks of
BATICALA."—_P. della Valle_, Hak. Soc. ii. 390.]

1727.—"The next Sea-port, to the Southward of _Onoar_, is BATACOLA, which
has the _vestigia_ of a very large city...."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 282.

[1785.—"BYTE KOAL." See quotation under DHOW.]

BATEL, BATELO, BOTELLA, s. A sort of boat used in Western India, Sind, and Bengal. Port. _batell_, a word which occurs in the _Roteiro de V. da Gama_, 91 [cf. PATTELLO].

[1686.—"About four or five hundred houses burnt down with a great number
of their BETTILOS, Boras and boats."—_Hedges, Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii. 55.]

1838.—"The BOTELLA may be described as a Dow in miniature.... It has
invariably a square flat stern, and a long grab-like head."—_Vaupell_, in
_Trans. Bo. Geog. Soc._ vii. 98.

1857.—"A Sindhi BATTÉLA, called _Rahmatí_, under the Tindal Kasim, laden
with dry fish, was about to proceed to Bombay."—_Lutfullah_, 347. See
also _Burton, Sind Revisited_ (1877), 32, 33.

[1900.—"The Sheikh has some fine war-vessels, called BATILS."—_Bent,
Southern Arabia_, 8.]

BATTA, s. Two different words are thus expressed in Anglo-Indian colloquial, and in a manner confounded.

A. H. _bhata_ or _bhātā_: an extra allowance made to officers, soldiers, or other public servants, when in the field, or on other special grounds; also subsistence money to witnesses, prisoners, and the like. Military BATTA, originally an occasional allowance, as defined, grew to be a constant addition to the pay of officers in India, and constituted the chief part of the excess of Indian over English military emoluments. The question of the right to _batta_ on several occasions created great agitation among the officers of the Indian army, and the measure of economy carried out by Lord William Bentinck when Governor-General (G. O. of the Gov.-Gen. in Council, 29th November 1828) in the reduction of full _batta_ to half _batta_, in the allowances received by all regimental officers serving at stations within a certain distance of the Presidency in Bengal (viz. Barrackpore, Dumdum, Berhampore, and Dinapore) caused an enduring bitterness against that upright ruler.

It is difficult to arrive at the origin of this word. There are, however, several Hindi words in rural use, such as _bhāt_, _bhantā_, 'advances made to ploughmen without interest,' and _bhaṭṭa_, _bhaṇṭā_, 'ploughmen's wages in kind,' with which it is possibly connected. It has also been suggested, without much probability, that it may be allied to _bahut_, 'much, excess,' an idea entering into the meaning of both A and B. It is just possible that the familiar military use of the term in India may have been influenced by the existence of the European military term _bât_ or _bât-money_. The latter is from _bât_, 'a pack-saddle,' [Late Lat. _bastum_], and implies an allowance for carrying baggage in the field. It will be seen that one writer below seems to confound the two words.

B. H. _baṭṭā_ and _bāṭṭā_: agio, or difference in exchange, discount on coins not current, or of short weight. We may notice that Sir H. Elliot does not recognize an absolute separation between the two senses of BATTA. His definition runs thus: "Difference of exchange; anything extra; an extra allowance; discount on uncurrent, or short-weight coins; usually called BATTA. The word has been supposed to be a corruption of _Bharta_, increase, but it is a pure Hindi vocable, and is more usually applied to discount than to premium."—(_Supp. Gloss._ ii. 41.) [Platts, on the other hand, distinguishes the two words—_Baṭṭa_, Skt. _vṛitta_, 'turned,' or _varta_, 'livelihood'—"Exchange, discount, difference of exchange, deduction, &c.," and _Bhaṭṭa_, Skt. _bhakta_ 'allotted,'—"advances to ploughmen without interest; ploughman's wages in kind."] It will be seen that we have early Portuguese instances of the word apparently in both senses.

The most probable explanation is that the word (and I may add, the thing) originated in the Portuguese practice, and in the use of the Canarese word _bhatta_, Mahr. _bhāt_, 'rice' in 'the husk,' called by the Portuguese _bate_ and _bata_, for a maintenance allowance.

The word _batty_, for what is more generally called _paddy_, is or was commonly used by the English also in S. and W. India (see _Linschoten_, _Lucena_ and _Fryer_ quoted s.v. PADDY, and _Wilson's Glossary_, s.v. _Bhatta_).

The practice of giving a special allowance for _mantimento_ began from a very early date in the Indian history of the Portuguese, and it evidently became a recognised augmentation of pay, corresponding closely to our _batta_, whilst the quotation from Botelho below shows also that _bata_ and _mantimento_ were used, more or less interchangeably, for this allowance. The correspondence with our Anglo-Indian _batta_ went very far, and a case singularly parallel to the discontent raised in the Indian army by the reduction of full-_batta_ to half-_batta_ is spoken of by Correa (iv. 256). The _mantimento_ had been paid all the year round, but the Governor, Martin Afonso de Sousa, in 1542, "desiring," says the historian, "a way to curry favour for himself, whilst going against the people and sending his soul to hell," ordered that in future the _mantimento_ should be paid only during the 6 months of WINTER (_i.e._ of the rainy season), when the force was on shore, and not for the other 6 months when they were on board the cruisers, and received rations. This created great bitterness, perfectly analogous in depth and in expression to that entertained with regard to Lord W. Bentinck and Sir John Malcolm, in 1829. Correa's utterance, just quoted, illustrates this, and a little lower down he adds: "And thus he took away from the troops the half of their _mantimento_ (_half their batta_, in fact), and whether he did well or ill in that, he'll find in the next world."—(See also _ibid._ p. 430).

The following quotations illustrate the Portuguese practice from an early date:

1502.—"The Captain-major ... between officers and men-at-arms, left 60
men (at Cochin), to whom the factor was to give their pay, and every
month a _cruzado_ of _mantimento_, and to the officers when on service 2
_cruzados_...."—_Correa_, i. 328.

1507.—(In establishing the settlement at Mozambique) "And the Captains
took counsel among themselves, and from the money in the chest, paid the
force each a _cruzado_ a month for _mantimento_, with which the men
greatly refreshed themselves...."—_Ibid._ 786.

1511.—"All the people who served in Malaca, whether by sea or by land,
were paid their pay for six months in advance, and also received monthly
_two cruzados_ of _mantimento_, cash in hand" (_i.e._ they had _double
batta_).—_Ibid._ ii. 267.

A.

1548.—"And for 2 _ffarazes_ (see FARASH) 2 pardaos a month for the two
and 4 tangas for BATA."...—_S. Botelho, Tombo_, 233. The editor thinks
this is for _bate_, _i.e._ _paddy_. But even if so it is used exactly
like BATTA or maintenance money. A following entry has: "To the constable
38,920 reis a year, in which is comprised maintenance (_mantimento_)."

1554.—An example of BATEE for rice will be found s.v. MOORAH.

The following quotation shows _battee_ (or _batty_) used at Madras in a way that also indicates the original identity of _batty_, 'rice,' and BATTA, 'extra allowance':—

1680.—"The _Peons_ and _Tarryars_ (see TALIAR) sent in quest of two
soldiers who had deserted from the garrison returned with answer that
they could not light of them, whereupon the Peons were turned out of
service, but upon Verona's intercession were taken in again, and fined
each one month's pay, and to repay the money paid them for
BATTEE...."—_Ft. St. Geo. Consn._, Feb. 10. In _Notes and Exts._ No. iii.
p. 3.

1707.—"... that they would allow BATTA or subsistence money to all that
should desert us."—In _Wheeler_, ii. 63.

1765.—"... orders were accordingly issued ... that on the 1st January,
1766, the double BATTA should cease...."—_Caraccioli's Clive_, iv. 160.

1789.—"... BATTA, or as it is termed in England, _bât_ and forage money,
which is here, in the field, almost double the peace allowance."—_Munro's
Narrative_, p. 97.

1799.—"He would rather live on half-pay, in a garrison that could boast
of a fives court, than vegetate on _full_ BATTA, where there was
none."—_Life of Sir T. Munro_, i. 227.

The following shows Batty used for rice in Bombay:

[1813.—"Rice, or BATTY, is sown in June."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. i.
23.]

1829.—"_To the Editor of the Bengal Hurkaru._—Sir,—Is it understood that
the Wives and daughters of officers on _half_ BATTA are included in the
order to mourn for the Queen of Wirtemberg; or will _half_-mourning be
considered sufficient for them?"—Letter in above, dated 15th April 1829.

1857.—"They have made me a K.C.B. I may confess to you that I would much
rather have got a year's BATTA, because the latter would enable me to
leave this country a year sooner."—_Sir Hope Grant_, in _Incidents of the
Sepoy War_.

B.—

1554.—"And gold, if of 10 _mates_ or 24 carats, is worth 10 cruzados the
tael ... if of 9 _mates_, 9 cruzados; and according to whatever the
_mates_ may be it is valued; but moreover it has its BATAO, _i.e._ its
shroffage (_çarrafagem_) or agio (_caibo_) varying with the season."—_A.
Nunes_, 40.

1680.—"The payment or receipt of BATTA or VATUM upon the exchange of
Pollicat for Madras pagodas prohibited, both coines being of the same
MATT and weight, upon pain of forfeiture of 24 pagodas for every offence
together with the loss of the BATTA."—_Ft. St. Geo. Consn._, Feb. 10. In
_Notes and Exts._, p. 17.

1760.—"The Nabob receives his revenues in the SICCAS of the current year
only ... and all SICCAS of a lower date being esteemed, like the coin of
foreign provinces, only a merchandize, are bought and sold at a certain
discount called BATTA, which rises and falls like the price of other
goods in the market...."—_Ft. Wm. Cons._, June 30, in _Long_, 216.

1810.—"... he immediately tells master that the BATTA, _i.e._ the
exchange, is altered."—_Williamson, V. M._ i. 203.

BATTAS, BATAKS, &c. n.p. [the latter, according to Mr. Skeat, being the standard Malay name]; a nation of Sumatra, noted especially for their singular cannibal institutions, combined with the possession of a written character of their own and some approach to literature.

c. 1430.—"In ejus insulae, quam dicunt BATHECH, parte, anthropophagi
habitant ... capita humana in thesauris habent, quae ex hostibus captis
abscissa, esis carnibus recondunt, iisque utuntur pro nummis."—_Conti_,
in _Poggius, De Var. Fort._ lib. iv.

c. 1539.—"This Embassador, that was Brother-in-law to the King of BATTAS
... brought him a rich Present of Wood of Aloes, Calambaa, and five
quintals of Benjamon in flowers."—_Cogan's Pinto_, 15.

c. 1555.—"This Island of Sumatra is the first land wherein we know man's
flesh to be eaten by certaine people which liue in the mountains, called
BACAS (read BATAS), who vse to gilde their teethe."—_Galvano, Discoveries
of the World_, Hak. Soc. 108.

1586.—"Nel regno del Dacin sono alcuni luoghi, ne' quali si ritrouano
certe genti, che mangiano le creature humane, e tali genti, si chaimano
BATACCHI, e quando frà loro i padri, e le madri sono vechhi, si accordano
i vicinati di mangiarli, e li mangiano."—_G. Balbi_, f. 130.

1613.—"In the woods of the interior dwelt Anthropophagi, eaters of human
flesh ... and to the present day continues that abuse and evil custom
among the BATTAS of Sumatra."—_Godinho de Eredia_, f. 23_v_.

[The fact that the Battas are cannibals has recently been confirmed by
Dr. Volz and H. von Autenrieth (_Geogr. Jour._, June 1898, p. 672.]

BAWUSTYE, s. Corr. of _bobstay_ in Lascar dialect (_Roebuck_).

BAY, The, n.p. In the language of the old Company and its servants in the 17th century, _The_ BAY meant the Bay of Bengal, and their factories in that quarter.

1683.—"And the Councell of the BAY is as expressly distinguished from the
Councell of Hugly, over which they have noe such power."—In _Hedges_,
under Sept. 24. [Hak. Soc. i. 114.]

1747.—"We have therefore laden on her 1784 Bales ... which we sincerely
wish may arrive safe with You, as We do that the Gentlemen at the BAY had
according to our repeated Requests, furnished us with an earlier
conveyance...."—_Letter from Ft. St. David_, 2nd May, to the Court (MS.
in India Office).

BAYA, s. H. _baiā_ [_bayā_], the Weaver-bird, as it is called in books of Nat. Hist., _Ploceus baya_, Blyth (Fam. _Fringillidae_). This clever little bird is not only in its natural state the builder of those remarkable pendant nests which are such striking objects, hanging from eaves or palm-branches; but it is also docile to a singular degree in domestication, and is often exhibited by itinerant natives as the performer of the most delightful tricks, as we have seen, and as is detailed in a paper of Mr Blyth's quoted by Jerdon. "The usual procedure is, when ladies are present, for the bird on a sign from its master to take a cardamom or sweatmeat in its bill, and deposit it between a lady's lips.... A miniature cannon is then brought, which the bird loads with coarse grains of powder one by one ... it next seizes and skilfully uses a small ramrod: and then takes a lighted match from its master, which it applies to the touch-hole." Another common performance is to scatter small beads on a sheet; the bird is provided with a needle and thread, and proceeds in the prettiest way to thread the beads successively. [The quotation from Abul Faẓl shows that these performances are as old as the time of Akbar and probably older still.]

[c. 1590.—"The BAYA is like a wild sparrow but yellow. It is extremely
intelligent, obedient and docile. It will take small coins from the hand
and bring them to its master, and will come to a call from a long
distance. Its nests are so ingeniously constructed as to defy the rivalry
of clever artificers."—_Āīn_ (trans. Jarrett), iii. 122.]

1790.—"The young Hindu women of Banáras ... wear very thin plates of
gold, called _tíca's_, slightly fixed by way of ornament between the
eyebrows; and when they pass through the streets, it is not uncommon for
the youthful libertines, who amuse themselves with training BAYĀ'S, to
give them a sign, which they understand, and to send them to pluck the
pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mistresses."—_Asiat.
Researches_, ii. 110.

[1813.—Forbes gives a similar account of the nests and tricks of the
BAYA.—_Or. Mem._, 2nd ed. i. 33.]

BAYADÈRE, s. A Hindu dancing-girl. The word is especially used by French writers, from whom it has been sometimes borrowed as if it were a genuine Indian word, particularly characteristic of the persons in question. The word is in fact only a Gallicized form of the Portuguese _bailadeira_, from _bailar_, to dance. Some 50 to 60 years ago there was a famous ballet called _Le dieu et la_ BAYADÈRE, and under this title _Punch_ made one of the most famous hits of his early days by presenting a cartoon of Lord Ellenborough as the BAYADÈRE dancing before the idol of Somnāth; [also see DANCING-GIRL].

1513.—"There also came to the ground many dancing women (_molheres_
BAILADEIRAS) with their instruments of music, who make their living by
that business, and these danced and sang all the time of the
banquet...."—_Correa_, ii. 364.

1526.—"XLVII. The dancers and danceresses (bayladores e BAYLADEIRAS) who
come to perform at a village shall first go and perform at the house of
the principal man of the village" (_Gancar_, see GAUM).—_Foral de usos
costumes dos Gancares e Lavradores de esta Ilha de Goa_, in _Arch. Port.
Or._, fascic. 5, 132.

1598.—"The heathenish whore called BALLIADERA, who is a
dancer."—_Linschoten_, 74; [Hak. Soc. i. 264].

1599.—"In hâc icone primum proponitur _Inda_ BALLIADERA, id est
saltatrix, quae in publicis ludis aliisque solennitatibus saltando
spectaculum exhibet."—_De Bry_, Text to pl. xii. in vol. ii. (also see p.
90, and vol. vii. 26), etc.

[c. 1676.—"All the BALADINES of Gombroon were present to dance in their
own manner according to custom."—_Tavernier_, ed. _Ball_, ii. 335.]

1782.—"Surate est renommé par ses BAYADÈRES, dont le véritable nom est
_Dévédassi_: celui de _Bayadères_ que nous leur donnons, vient du mot
BALLADEIRAS, qui signifie en Portugais _Danseuses_."—_Sonnerat_, i. 7.

1794.—"The name of BALLIADERE, we never heard applied to the dancing
girls; or saw but in Raynal, and 'War in Asia, by an Officer of Colonel
Baillie's Detachment;' it is a corrupt Portuguese word."—_Moor's
Narrative of Little's Detachment_, 356.

1825.—"This was the first specimen I had seen of the southern BAYADÈRE,
who differ considerably from the nâch girls of northern India, being all
in the service of different temples, for which they are purchased
young."—_Heber_, ii. 180.

c. 1836.—"On one occasion a rumour reached London that a great success
had been achieved in Paris by the performance of a set of Hindoo dancers,
called LES BAYADÈRES, who were supposed to be priestesses of a certain
sect, and the London theatrical managers were at once on the _qui vive_
to secure the new attraction.... My father had concluded the arrangement
with the Bayadères before his brother managers arrived in Paris. Shortly
afterwards, the Hindoo priestesses appeared at the Adelphi. They were
utterly uninteresting, wholly unattractive. My father lost £2000 by the
speculation; and in the family they were known as the 'BUY-EM-DEARS' ever
after."—_Edmund Yates, Recollections_, i. 29, 30 (1884).

BAYPARREE, BEOPARRY, s. H. _bepārī_, and _byopārī_ (from Skt. _vyāpārin_); a trader, and especially a petty trader or dealer.

A friend long engaged in business in Calcutta (Mr J. F. Ogilvy, of Gillanders & Co.) communicates a letter from an intelligent Bengalee gentleman, illustrating the course of trade in country produce before it reaches the hands of the European shipper:

1878.—"... the enhanced rates ... do not practically benefit the producer
in a marked, or even in a corresponding degree; for the lion's share goes
into the pockets of certain intermediate classes, who are the growth of
the above system of business.

"Following the course of trade as it flows into Calcutta, we find that
between the cultivators and the exporter these are: 1st. The BEPPARREE,
or petty trader; 2nd. The _Aurut-dar_;[37] and 3rd. The MAHAJUN,
interested in the Calcutta trade. As soon as the crops are cut, BEPPARREE
appears upon the scene; he visits village after village, and goes from
homestead to homestead, buying there, or at the village marts, from the
RYOTS; he then takes his purchases to the _Aurut-dar_, who is stationed
at a centre of trade, and to whom he is perhaps under advances, and from
the _Aurut-dar_ the Calcutta Mahajun obtains his supplies ... for
eventual despatch to the capital. There is also a fourth class of dealers
called _Phoreas_, who buy from the Mahajun and sell to the European
exporter. Thus, between the cultivator and the shipper there are so many
middlemen, whose participation in the trade involves a multiplication of
profits, which goes a great way towards enhancing the price of
commodities before they reach the shipper's hands."—_Letter from Baboo
Nobokissin Ghose._ [Similar details for Northern India will be found in
_Hoey, Mon. Trade and Manufactures of Lucknow_, 59 _seqq._]

BAZAAR, s. H. &c. From P. _bāzār_, a permanent market or street of shops. The word has spread westward into Arabic, Turkish, and, in special senses, into European languages, and eastward into India, where it has generally been adopted into the vernaculars. The popular pronunciation is _băzár_. In S. India and Ceylon the word is used for a single shop or stall kept by a native. The word seems to have come to S. Europe very early. F. Balducci Pegolotti, in his Mercantile Handbook (c. 1340) gives BAZARRA as a Genoese word for 'market-place' (_Cathay_, &c. ii. 286). The word is adopted into Malay as _pāsār_, [or in the poems _pasara_].

1474.—Ambrose Contarini writes of Kazan, that it is "walled like Como,
and with BAZARS (_bazzari_) like it."—_Ramusio_, ii. f. 117.

1478.—Josafat Barbaro writes: "An Armenian Choza Mirech, a rich merchant
in the BAZAR" (_bazarro_).—_Ibid._ f. 111_v_.

1563.—"... BAZAR, as much as to say the place where things are
sold."—_Garcia_, f. 170.

1564.—A privilege by Don Sebastian of Portugal gives authority "to sell
garden produce freely in the BAZARS (_bazares_), markets, and streets (of
Goa) without necessity for consent or license from the farmers of the
garden produce, or from any other person whatsoever."—_Arch. Port. Or._,
fasc. 2, 157.

c. 1566.—"La Pescaria delle Perle ... si fa ogn' anno ... e su la costa
all' in contro piantano vna villa di case, e BAZARRI di paglia."—_Cesare
de' Federici_, in _Ramusio_, iii. 390.

1606.—"... the Christians of the BAZAR."—_Gouvea_, 29.

1610.—"En la Ville de Cananor il y a vn beau marché tous les jours,
qu'ils appellent BASARE."—_Pyrard de Laval_, i. 325; [Hak. Soc. i. 448].

[1615.—"To buy pepper as cheap as we could in the BUSSER."—_Foster,
Letters_, iii. 114.]

[ " "He forbad all the BEZAR to sell us victuals or
else...."—_Ibid._ iv. 80.]

[1623.—"They call it BEZARI KELAN, that is the Great Merkat...."—_P.
della Valle_, Hak. Soc. i. 96. (P. _Kalān_, 'great').]

1638.—"We came into a BUSSAR, or very faire Market place."—_W. Bruton_,
in _Hakl._ v. 50.

1666.—"Les BAZARDS ou Marchés sont dans une grande rue qui est au pié de
la montagne."—_Thevenot_, v. 18.

1672.—"... Let us now pass the Pale to the Heathen Town (of Madras) only
parted by a wide Parrade, which is used for a BUZZAR or
Mercate-place."—_Fryer_, 38.

[1826.—"The Kotwall went to the BAZAAR-MASTER."—_Pandurang Hari_, ed.
1873, p. 156.]

1837.—"Lord, there is a honey BAZAR, repair thither."—_Turnour's_ transl.
of _Mahawanso_, 24.

1873.—"This, remarked my handsome Greek friend from Vienna, is the finest
wife-BAZAAR in this part of Europe.... Go a little way east of this, say
to Roumania, and you will find wife-BAZAAR completely undisguised, the
ladies seated in their carriages, the youths filing by, and pausing
before this or that beauty, to bargain with papa about the dower, under
her very nose."—_Fraser's Mag. N. S._ vii. p. 617 (_Vienna_, by _M. D.
Conway_).

BDELLIUM, s. This aromatic gum-resin has been identified with that of the _Balsamodendron Mukul_, Hooker, inhabiting the dry regions of Arabia and Western India; _gugal_ of Western India, and _moḳl_ in Arabic, called in P. _bo-i-jahūdān_ (Jews' scent). What the Hebrew _bdolah_ of the R. Phison was, which was rendered _bdellium_ since the time of Josephus, remains very doubtful. Lassen has suggested _musk_ as possible. But the argument is only this: that Dioscorides says some called bdellium μάδελκον; that μάδελκον perhaps represents _Madālaka_, and though there is no such Skt. word as _madālaka_, there _might_ be _madāraka_, because there is _madāra_, which means some perfume, no one knows what! (_Ind. Alterth._ i. 292.) Dr. Royle says the Persian authors describe the BDELLIUM as being the product of the Doom palm (see _Hindu Medicine_, p. 90). But this we imagine is due to some ambiguity in the sense of _moḳl_. [See the authorities quoted in _Encycl. Bibl._ s.v. BDELLIUM which still leave the question in some doubt.]

c. A.D. 90.—"In exchange are exported from Barbarice (Indus Delta)
costus, BDELLA...."—_Periplus_, ch. 39.

c. 1230.—"BDALLYŪN. A Greek word which as some learned men think, means
'The Lion's Repose.' This plant is the same as _moḳl_."—_Ebn El-Baithár_,
i. 125.

1612.—"BDELLIUM, the pund ... xxs."—Rates and Valuatiouns (_Scotland_),
p. 298.

BEADALA, n.p. Formerly a port of some note for native craft on the Rāmnād coast (Madura district) of the Gulf of Manar, _Vadaulay_ in the Atlas of India. The proper name seems to be _Vēdālai_, by which it is mentioned in Bishop Caldwell's _Hist. of Tinnevelly_ (p. 235), [and which is derived from Tam. _vedu_, 'hunting,' and _al_, 'a banyan-tree' (_Mad. Adm. Man. Gloss._ p. 953)]. The place was famous in the Portuguese History of India for a victory gained there by Martin Affonso de Sousa (_Capitão Mór do Mar_) over a strong land and sea force of the Zamorin, commanded by a famous Mahommedan Captain, whom the Portuguese called Pate Marcar, and the Tuḥfat-al Mujāhidīn calls 'Ali Ibrahīm Markār, 15th February, 1538. Barros styles it "one of the best fought battles that ever came off in India." This occurred under the viceroyalty of Nuno da Cunha, not of Stephen da Gama, as the allusions in Camões seem to indicate. Captain Burton has too hastily identified _Beadala_ with a place on the coast of Malabar, a fact which has perhaps been the cause of this article (see _Lusiads_, Commentary, p. 477).

1552.—"Martin Affonso, with this light fleet, on which he had not more
than 400 soldiers, went round Cape Comorin, being aware that the enemy
were at BEADALÁ...."—_Barros_, Dec. IV., liv. viii. cap. 13.

1562.—"The Governor, departing from Cochym, coasted as far as Cape
Comoryn, doubled that Cape, and ran for BEADALÁ, which is a place
adjoining the Shoals of CHILAO [CHILAW]...."—_Correa_, iv. 324.

c. 1570.—"And about this time Alee Ibrahim Murkar, and his brother-in-law
Kunjee-Alee-Murkar, sailed out with 22 grabs in the direction of Kaeel,
and arriving off BENTALAH, they landed, leaving their grabs at anchor....
But destruction overtook them at the arrival of the Franks, who came upon
them in their galliots, attacking and capturing all their grabs.... Now
this capture by the Franks took place in the latter part of the month of
Shaban, in the year 944 [end of January, 1538]."—_Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen_,
tr. by Rowlandson, 141.

1572.—

"E despois junto ao Cabo Comorim
Huma façanha faz esclarecida,
A frota principal do Samorim,
Que destruir o mundo não duvida,
Vencerá co o furor do ferro e fogo;
Em si verá BEADÁLA o martio jogo."
_Camões_, x. 65.

By Burton (but whose misconception of the locality has here affected his translation):

"then _well nigh reached_ the Cape 'clept Comorin,
another wreath of Fame by him is won;
the strongest squadron of the Samorim
who doubted not to see the world undone,
he shall destroy with rage of fire and steel:
BE'ADÁLÁ'S self his martial yoke shall feel."

1814.—"VAIDÁLAI, a pretty populous village on the coast, situated 13
miles east of Mutupetta, inhabited chiefly by Musulmans and Shánárs, the
former carrying on a wood trade."—_Account of the Prov. of Ramnad_, from
Mackenzie Collections in _J. R. As. Soc._ iii. 170.

BEAR-TREE, BAIR, &c. s. H. _ber_, Mahr. _bora_, in Central Provinces _bor_, [Malay _bedara_ or _bidara China_,] (Skt. _badara_ and _vadara_) _Zizyphus jujuba_, Lam. This is one of the most widely diffused trees in India, and is found wild from the Punjab to Burma, in all which region it is probably native. It is cultivated from Queensland and China to Morocco and Guinea. "Sir H. Elliot identifies it with the lotus of the ancients, but although the large juicy product of the garden _Zizyphus_ is by no means bad, yet, as Madden quaintly remarks, one might eat any quantity of it without risk of forgetting home and friends."—(_Punjab Plants_, 43.)

1563.—"_O._ The name in Canarese is _bor_, and in the Decan BÉR, and the
Malays call them _vidaras_, and they are better than ours; yet not so
good as those of Balagate ... which are very tasty."—_Garcia De O._, 33.]

[1609.—"Here is also great quantity of gum-lack to be had, but is of the
tree called BER, and is in grain like unto red mastic."—_Danvers,
Letters_, i. 30.]

BEARER, s. The word has two meanings in Anglo-Indian colloquial: A. A palanquin-carrier; B. (In the Bengal Presidency) a domestic servant who has charge of his master's clothes, household furniture, and (often) of his ready money. The word in the latter meaning has been regarded as distinct in origin, and is stated by Wilson to be a corruption of the Bengali _vehārā_ from Skt. _vyavahāri_, a domestic servant. There seems, however, to be no _historical_ evidence for such an origin, _e.g._ in any habitual use of the term _vehārā_, whilst as a matter of fact the domestic bearer (or _sirdār-bearer_, as he is usually styled by his fellow-servants, often even when he has no one under him) was in Calcutta, in the penultimate generation when English gentlemen still kept palankins, usually just what this literally implies, viz. the head-man of a set of palankin-bearers. And throughout the Presidency the BEARER, or valet, still, as a rule, belongs to the caste of _Kahārs_ (see KUHAR), or palki-bearers. [See BOY.]

A.—

c. 1760.—"... The poles which ... are carried by six, but most commonly
four BEARERS."—_Grose_, i. 153.

1768-71.—"Every house has likewise ... one or two sets of BERRAS, or
palankeen-bearers."—_Stavorinus_, i. 523.

1771.—"Le bout le plus court du Palanquin est en devant, et porté par
deux BERAS, que l'on nomme BOYS à la Côte (c'est-à-dire _Garçons_,
_Serviteurs_, en Anglois). Le long bout est par derrière et porte par
trois BERAS."—_Anquetil du Perron, Desc. Prelim._ p. xxiii. _note_.

1778.—"They came on foot, the town having neither horses nor
palankin-BEARERS to carry them, and Colonel Coote received them at his
headquarters...."—_Orme_, iii. 719.

1803.—"I was ... detained by the scarcity of BEARERS."—_Lord Valentia_,
i. 372.

B.—

1782.—"... imposition ... that a gentleman should pay a rascal of a
_Sirdar_ BEARER monthly wages for 8 or 10 men ... out of whom he gives 4,
or may perhaps indulge his master with 5, to carry his palankeen."—_India
Gazette_, Sept. 2.

c. 1815.—"_Henry and his_ BEARER."—(Title of a well-known book of Mrs.
Sherwood's.)

1824.—"... I called to my _sirdar_-BEARER who was lying on the floor,
outside the bedroom."—_Seely, Ellora_, ch. i.

1831.—"... le grand maître de ma garde-robe, _sirdar_
BEEHRAH."—_Jacquemont, Correspondance_, i. 114.

1876.—"My BEARER who was to go with us (Eva's ayah had struck at the last
moment and stopped behind) had literally girt up his loins, and was
loading a diminutive mule with a miscellaneous assortment of brass pots
and blankets."—_A True Reformer_, ch. iv.