Chapter XXVIII: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (25)

CORGE, COORGE, &c., s. A mercantile term for 'a score.' The word is in use among the trading Arabs and others, as well as in India. It is established in Portuguese use apparently, but the Portuguese word is almost certainly of Indian origin, and this is expressly asserted in some Portuguese Dictionaries (_e.g._ _Lacerda's_, Lisbon, 1871). _Koṛī_ is used exactly in the same way by natives all over Upper India. Indeed, the vulgar there in numeration habitually say _do koṛī_, _tīn koṛī_, for 40, 60, and so forth. The first of our quotations shows the word in a form very closely allied to this, and explaining the transition. Wilson gives Telugu _khorjam_, "a bale or lot of 20 pieces, commonly called a _corge_." [The _Madras Gloss._ gives Can. _korji_, Tel. _khorjam_, as meaning either a measure of capacity, about 44 maunds, or a Madras town cloth measure of 20 pieces.] But, unless a root can be traced, this may easily be a corruption of the trade-word. Littré explains _corge_ or _courge_ as "Paquet de toile de coton des Indes"; and Marcel Devic says: "C'est vraisemblablement l'Arabe _khordj_"—which means a saddlebag, a portmanteau. Both the definition and the etymology seem to miss the essential meaning of _corge_, which is that of a _score_, and not that of a packet or bundle, unless by accident.

1510.—"If they be stuffs, they deal by CURIA, and in like manner if they
be jewels. By a CURIA is understood twenty."—_Varthema_, 170.

1525.—"A CORJÁ dos quotonyas grandes vale (250) tamgas."—_Lembrança, das
Cousas da India_, 48.

1554.—"The nut and mace when gathered were bartered by the natives for
common kinds of cloth, and for each KORJA of these ... they gave a
_bahar_ of mace ... and seven _bahars_ of the nut."—_Castanheda_, vi. 8.

[1605-6.—"Note the CODY or CORGE is a bondell or set nomber of 20
pieces."—_Birdwood, First Letter Book_, 80.]

1612.—"White callicos from twentie to fortie Royals the CORGE (a CORGE
being twentie pieces), a great quantitie."—_Capt. Saris_, in _Purchas_,
i. 347.

1612-13.—"They returning brought doune the Mustraes of everie sort, and
the prices demanded for them per CORGE."—_Dounton_, in _Purchas_, i. 299.

1615.—

"6 pec. whit _baftas_ of 16 and 17 Rs. CORG.
6 pec. blew _byrams_, of 15 Rs. CORG.
6 pec. red _zelas_, of 12 Rs. CORG."
_Cocks's Diary_, i. 75.

1622.—Adam Denton ... admits that he made "90 CORGE of Pintadoes" in
their house at Patani, but not at their charge.—_Sainsbury_, iii. 42.

1644.—"To the Friars of St. Francis for their regular yearly allowance, a
cow every week, 24 candies of wheat, 15 sacks of rice _girasol_, 2 sacks
of sugar, half a candy of _sero_ (qu. _sevo_, 'tallow,' 'grease,'?) ½
candy of coco-nut oil, 6 maunds of butter, 4 CORJAS of cotton stuffs, and
25,920 rés for dispensary medicines (_mezinhas de bottica_)."—_Bocarro,
MS._ f. 217.

c. 1670.—"The _Chites_ ... which are made at _Lahor_ ... are sold by
CORGES, every _Corge_ consisting of twenty pieces...."—_Tavernier, On the
Commodities of the Domns. of the Great Mogul_, &c., E.T. p. 58; [ed.
_Ball_, ii. 5].

1747.—"Another Sett of Madrass Painters ... being examined regarding what
Goods were Remaining in their hands upon the Loss of Madrass, they
acknowledge to have had 15 CORGE of Chints then under their Performance,
and which they acquaint us is all safe ... but as they have lost all
their Wax and Colours, they request an Advance of 300 Pagodas for the
Purchase of more...."—_Consns. Fort St. David_, Aug. 13. _MS. Records_ in
India Office.

c. 1760.—"At Madras ... 1 GORGE is 22 pieces."—_Grose_, i. 284.

" "No washerman to demand for 1 CORGE of pieces more than 7 _pun_
of cowries."—In _Long_, 239.

1784.—In a Calcutta Lottery-list of prizes we find "55 CORGE of
Pearls."—In _Seton-Karr_, i. 33.

[c. 1809.—"To one KORJ or 20 pieces of Tunzebs ... 50 rs."—_Buchanan
Hamilton, Eastern India_, i. 398.]

1810.—"I recollect about 29 years back, when marching from Berhampore to
Cawnpore with a detachment of European recruits, seeing several COARGES
(of sheep) bought for their use, at 3 and 3½ rupees! at the latter rate 6
sheep were purchased for a rupee ... five pence each."—_Williamson, V.
M._ i. 293.

1813.—"CORGE is 22 at Judda."—_Milburn_, i. 93.

CORINGA, n.p. _Koringa_; probably a corruption of _Kalinga_ [see KLING]. [The _Madras Gloss._ gives the Tel. _korangi_, 'small cardamoms.'] The name of a seaport in Godāvari Dist. on the northern side of the Delta. ["The only place between Calcutta and Trincomalee where large vessels used to be docked."—_Morris, Godavery Man._, p. 40.]

CORLE, s. Singh. _kōrale_, a district.

1726.—"A _Coraal_ is an overseer of a CORLE or District...."—_Valentijn,
Names of Native Officers in the Villages of Ceylon_, 1.

CORNAC, s. This word is used, by French writers especially, as an Indian word, and as the equivalent of MAHOUT (q.v.), or driver of the elephant. Littré defines: "_Nom qu'on donne_ dans les Indes _au conducteur d'un éléphant_," &c., &c., adding: "Etym. Sanskrit _karnikin_, _éléphant_." "Dans les Indes" is happily vague, and the etymology worthless. Bluteau gives CORNÂCA, but no etymology. In Singhalese _Kūrawa_ = 'Elephant Stud.' (It is not in the Singhalese Dict., but it is in the official _Glossary of Terms_, &c.), and our friend Dr. Rost suggests _Kūrawa-nāyaka_, 'Chief of the _Kūrawa_' as a probable origin. This is confirmed by the form _Cournakea_ in Valentijn, and by another title which he gives as used for the head of the Elephant Stable at Matura, viz. _Gaginaicke_ (_Names_, &c., p. 11), _i.e._ _Gaji-nāyaka_, from _Gaja_, 'an elephant.' [The _N.E.D._ remarks that some authorities give for the first part of the word Skt. _kari_, 'elephant.']

1672.—"There is a certain season of the year when the old elephant
discharges an oil at the two sides of the head, and at that season they
become like mad creatures, and often break the neck of their CARNAC or
driver."—_Baldaeus_, Germ. ed. 422. (See MUST.)

1685.—"O CORNACA q̃ estava de baixo delle tinha hum laço que metia em hũa
das mãos ao bravo."—_Ribeiro_, f. 49_b_.

1712.—"The aforesaid author (P. Fr. Gaspar de S. Bernardino in his
Itinerary), relates that in the said city (Goa), he saw three Elephants
adorned with jewels, adoring the most Holy Sacrament at the Sè Gate on
the Octave of Easter, on which day in India they make the procession of
_Corpus Domini_, because of the calm weather. I doubt not that the
CORNACAS of these animals had taught them to perform these acts of
apparent adoration. But at the same time there appears to be Religion and
Piety innate in the Elephant."[84]—In _Bluteau_, s.v. _Elephante_.

1726.—"After that (at Mongeer) one goes over a great walled area, and
again through a gate, which is adorned on either side with a great stone
elephant with a CARNAK on it."—_Valentijn_, v. 167.

" "COURNAKEAS, who stable the new-caught elephants, and tend
them."—_Valentijn, Names_, &c., 5 (in vol. v.).

1727.—"As he was one Morning going to the River to be washed, with his
CARNACK or Rider on his Back, he chanced to put his Trunk in at the
Taylor's Window."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 110; [ed. 1744, ii. 109]. This is
the only instance of English use that we know (except Mr. Carl Bock's;
and he is not an Englishman, though his book is in English). It is the
famous story of the Elephant's revenge on the Tailor.

[1831.—"With the same judgment an elephant will task his strength,
without human direction. 'I have seen,' says M. D'Obsonville, 'two
occupied in beating down a wall which their CORNACS (keepers) had desired
them to do....'"—_Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Quadrupeds_, ii.
157.]

1884.—"The CARNAC, or driver, was quite unable to control the beast,
which roared and trumpeted with indignation."—_C. Bock, Temples and
Elephants_, p. 22.

COROMANDEL, n.p. A name which has been long applied by Europeans to the Northern Tamil Country, or (more comprehensively) to the eastern coast of the Peninsula of India from Pt. Calimere northward to the mouth of the Kistna, sometimes to Orissa. It corresponds pretty nearly to the _Maabar_ of Marco Polo and the Mahommedan writers of his age, though that is defined more accurately as from C. Comorin to Nellore.

Much that is fanciful has been written on the origin of this name. Tod makes it _Kūrū-mandala_, the Realm of the Kūrūs (_Trans. R. As. Soc._ iii. 157). Bp. Caldwell, in the first edition of his _Dravidian Grammar_, suggested that European traders might have taken this familiar name from that of _Karumaṇal_ ('black sand'), the name of a small village on the coast north of Madras, which is habitually pronounced and written _Coromandel_ by European residents at Madras. [The same suggestion was made earlier (see _Wilks, Hist. Sketches_, ed. 1869, i. 5, note)]. The learned author, in his second edition, has given up this suggestion, and has accepted that to which we adhere. But Mr. C. P. Brown, the eminent Telugu scholar, in repeating the former suggestion, ventures positively to assert: "The earliest Portuguese sailors pronounced this _Coromandel_, and called the whole coast by this name, which was unknown to the Hindus";[85] a passage containing in three lines several errors. Again, a writer in the _Ind. Antiquary_ (i. 380) speaks of this supposed origin of the name as "pretty generally accepted," and proceeds to give an imaginative explanation of how it was propagated. These etymologies are founded on a corrupted form of the name, and the same remark would apply to _Khara-maṇḍalam_, the 'hot country,' which Bp. Caldwell mentions as one of the names given, in Telugu, to the eastern coast. Padre Paolino gives the name more accurately as _Ciola_ (_i.e._ _Chola_) _maṇḍalam_, but his explanation of it as meaning the Country of _Cholam_ (or _juwārī_—_Sorghum vulgare_, Pers.) is erroneous. An absurd etymology is given by Teixeira (_Relacion de Harmuz_, 28; 1610). He writes: "_Choromãdel_ or Choro Bãdel, _i.e._ Rice Port, because of the great export of rice from thence." He apparently compounds H. _chaul_, _chāwal_, 'cooked rice' (!) and BANDEL, _i.e._ BANDAR (q.v.) 'harbour.' This is a very good type of the way etymologies are made by some people, and then confidently repeated.

The name is in fact CHÔṚAMAṆḌALA, the Realm of _Chôṛa_; this being the Tamil form of the very ancient title of the Tamil Kings who reigned at Tanjore. This correct explanation of the name was already given by D'Anville (see _Éclaircissemens_, p. 117), and by W. Hamilton in 1820 (ii. 405), by Ritter, quoting him in 1836 (_Erdkunde_, vi. 296); by the late M. Reinaud in 1845 (_Relation_, &c., i. lxxxvi.); and by Sir Walter Elliot in 1869 (_J. Ethnol. Soc._ N.S. i. 117). And the name occurs in the forms CHOLAMAṆḌALAM or SOLAMAṆḌALAM on the great Temple inscription of Tanjore (11th century), and in an inscription of A.D. 1101 at a temple dedicated to Varāhasvāmi near the Seven Pagodas. We have other quite analogous names in early inscriptions, _e.g._ _Īlamaṇḍalam_ (Ceylon), _Cheramaṇḍalam_, _Tondaimaṇḍalam_, &c.

CHOLA, as the name of a Tamil people and of their royal dynasty appears as _Choḍa_ in one of Asoka's inscriptions, and in the Telugu inscriptions of the Chālukya dynasty. Nor can we doubt that the same name is represented by Σῶρα of Ptolemy who reigned at Ἀρκατοῦ (Arcot), Σώρ-ναξ who reigned at Ὄρθουρα (Wariūr), and the Σῶραι νομάδες who dwelt inland from the site of Madras.[86]

The word _Soli_, as applied to the Tanjore country, occurs in Marco Polo (Bk. iii. ch. 20), showing that _Chola_ in some form was used in his day. Indeed _Soli_ is used in Ceylon.[87] And although the _Choromandel_ of Baldaeus and other Dutch writers is, as pronounced in their language, ambiguous or erroneous, Valentijn (1726) calls the country _Sjola_, and defines it as extending from Negapatam to Orissa, saying that it derived its name from a certain kingdom, and adding that _mandalam_ is 'kingdom.'[88] So that this respectable writer had already distinctly indicated the true etymology of _Coromandel_.

Some old documents in Valentijn speak of the 'old city of Coromandel.' It is not absolutely clear what place was so called (probably by the Arabs in their fashion of calling a chief town by the name of the country), but the indications point almost certainly to Negapatam.[89]

The oldest European mention of the name is, we believe, in the _Roteiro de Vasco da Gama_, where it appears as CHOMANDARLA. The short Italian narrative of Hieronymo da Sto. Stefano is, however, perhaps earlier still, and he curiously enough gives the name in exactly the modern form "Coromandel," though perhaps his _C_ had originally a _cedilla_ (_Ramusio_, i. f. 345_v_.). These instances suffice to show that the name was not given by the Portuguese. Da Gama and his companions knew the east coast only by hearsay, and no doubt derived their information chiefly from Mahommedan traders, through their "Moorish" interpreter. That the name was in familiar Mahommedan use at a later date may be seen from Rowlandson's Translation of the _Tohfat-ul-Mujāhidīn_, where we find it stated that the Franks had built fortresses "at Meelapoor (_i.e._ _Mailapur_ or San Tomé) and Nagapatam, and other ports of SOLMUNDUL," showing that the name was used by them just as we use it (p. 153). Again (p. 154) this writer says that the Mahommedans of Malabar were cut off from extra-Indian trade, and limited "to the ports of Guzerat, the Concan, _Solmondul_, and the countries about Kaeel." At page 160 of the same work we have mention of "COROMANDEL and other parts," but we do not know how this is written in the original Arabic. Varthema (1510) has CIORMANDEL, _i.e._ _Chormandel_, but which Eden in his translation (1577, which probably affords the earliest English occurrence of the name) deforms into CYROMANDEL (f. 396b). [Albuquerque in his _Cartas_ (see p. 135 for a letter of 1513) has CHOROMANDELL _passim_.] Barbosa has in the Portuguese edition of the Lisbon Academy, CHARAMANDEL; in the Span. MS. translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, CHOLMENDEL and _Cholmender_. D'Alboquerque's _Commentaries_ (1557), Mendez Pinto (c. 1550) and Barros (1553) have CHOROMANDEL, and Garcia De Orta (1563) CHARAMANDEL. The ambiguity of the _ch_, soft in Portuguese and Spanish, but hard in Italian, seems to have led early to the corrupt form _Coromandel_, which we find in Parkes's _Mendoza_ (1589), and COROMANDYLL, among other spellings, in the English version of Castanheda (1582). Cesare Federici has in the Italian (1587) CHIARAMANDEL (probably pronounced soft in the Venetian manner), and the translation of 1599 has COROMANDEL. This form thenceforward generally prevails in English books, but not without exceptions. A Madras document of 1672 in Wheeler has CORMANDELL, and so have the early Bengal records in the India Office; Dampier (1689) has COROMONDEL (i. 509); Lockyer (1711) has "the Coast of CORMANDEL"; A. Hamilton (1727) CHORMONDEL (i. 349); ed. 1744, i. 351; and a paper of about 1759, published by Dalrymple, has "CHOROMANDEL Coast" (_Orient. Repert._ i. 120-121). The poet Thomson has CORMANDEL:

"all that from the tract
Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind
Fall on _Cormandel's_ Coast or Malabar."
_Summer._

The Portuguese appear to have adhered in the main to the correcter form CHOROMANDEL: _e.g._ _Archivio Port. Oriental_, fasc. 3, p. 480, and _passim_. A Protestant Missionary Catechism, printed at Tranquebar in 1713 for the use of Portuguese schools in India has: "na costa dos Malabaros que se chama CORMANDEL." Bernier has "la côte de KOROMANDEL" (Amst. ed. ii. 322). W. Hamilton says it is written _Choramandel_ in the Madras Records until 1779, which is substantially correct. In the MS. "List of Persons in the Service of the Rt. Honble. E. I. Company in Fort St. George and other places on the Coast of CHOROMANDELL," preserved in the Indian Office, that spelling continues down to 1778. In that year it is changed to COROMANDEL. In the French translation of Ibn Batuta (iv. 142) we find _Coromandel_, but this is only the perverse and misleading manner of Frenchmen, who make Julius Caesar cross from "France" to "England." The word is _Ma'bar_ in the original. [Alboquerque (_Comm._ Hak. Soc. i. 41) speaks of a violent squall under the name of _vara de Coromandel_.]

CORPORAL FORBES, s. A soldier's grimly jesting name for _Cholera Morbus_.

1829.—"We are all pretty well, only the regiment is sickly, and a great
quantity are in hospital with the CORPORAL FORBES, which carries them
away before they have time to die, or say who comes there."—In _Shipp's
Memoirs_, ii. 218.

CORRAL, s. An enclosure as used in Ceylon for the capture of wild elephants, corresponding to the KEDDAH of Bengal. The word is Sp. _corral_, 'a court,' &c., Port. _curral_, 'a cattle-pen, a paddock.' The Americans have the same word, direct from the Spanish, in common use for a cattle-pen; and they have formed a verb 'to _corral_,' _i.e._ to enclose in a pen, to pen. The word _kraal_ applied to native camps and villages at the Cape of Good Hope appears to be the same word introduced there by the Dutch. The word _corral_ is explained by Bluteau: "A receptacle for any kind of cattle, with railings round it and no roof, in which respect it differs from _Corte_, which is a building with a roof." Also he states that the word is used especially in churches for _septum nobilium feminarum_, a pen for ladies.

c. 1270.—"When morning came, and I rose and had heard mass, I proclaimed
a council to be held in the open space (CORRAL) between my house and that
of Montaragon."—_Chron. of James of Aragon_, tr. by _Foster_, i. 65.

1404.—"And this mosque and these chapels were very rich, and very finely
wrought with gold and azure, and enamelled tiles (_azulejos_); and within
there was a great CORRAL, with trees and tanks of water."—_Clavijo_, §
cv. Comp. _Markham_, 123.

1672.—"About Mature they catch the Elephants with CORAALS" (_Coralen_,
but sing. _Coraal_).—_Baldaeus, Ceylon_, 168.

1860.—In Emerson Tennent's _Ceylon_, Bk. VIII. ch. iv. the CORRAL is
fully described.

1880.—"A few hundred pounds expended in houses, and the erection of
CORALLS in the neighbourhood of a permanent stream will form a basis of
operations." (In Colorado.)—_Fortnightly Rev._, Jan., 125.

CORUNDUM, s. This is described by Dana under the species Sapphire, as including the grey and darker coloured opaque crystallised specimens. The word appears to be Indian. Shakespear gives Hind. _kuranḍ_, Dakh. _kurund_. Littré attributes the origin to Skt. _kuruvinda_, which Williams gives as the name of several plants, but also as 'a ruby.' In Telugu we have _kuruvindam_, and in Tamil _kurundam_ for the substance in present question; the last is probably the direct origin of the term.

c. 1666.—"Cet emeri blanc se trouve par pierres dans un lieu particulier
du Roiaume, et s'apelle CORIND en langue Telengui."—_Thevenot_, v. 297.

COSMIN, n.p. This name is given by many travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries to a port on the western side of the Irawadi Delta, which must have been near BASSEIN, if not identical with it. Till quite recently this was all that could be said on the subject, but Prof. Forchhammer of Rangoon has now identified the name as a corruption of the classical name formerly borne by Bassein, viz. _Kusima_ or _Kusumanagara_, a city founded about the beginning of the 5th century. _Kusima-maṇḍala_ was the western province of the Delta Kingdom which we know as Pegu. The Burmese corrupted the name of _Kusuma_ into _Kusmein_ and _Kothein_, and Alompra after his conquest of Pegu in the middle of the 18th century, changed it to _Bathein_. So the facts are stated substantially by Forchhammer (see _Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of Br. Burma_, No. 2, p. 12); though familiar and constant use of the word _Persaim_, which appears to be a form of _Bassein_, in the English writings of 1750-60, published by Dalrymple (_Or. Repertory_, _passim_), seems hardly consistent with this statement of the origin of _Bassein_. [Col. Temple (_Ind. Ant._ xxii. 19 _seqq._; _J. R. A. S._ 1893, p. 885) disputes the above explanation. According to him the account of the change of name by Alompra is false history; the change from initial _p_ to _k_ is not isolated, and the word _Bassein_ itself does not date beyond 1780.]

The last publication in which _Cosmin_ appears is the "Draught of the River Irrawaddy or Irabatty," made in 1796, by Ensign T. Wood of the Bengal Engineers, which accompanies Symes's _Account_ (London, 1800). This shows both _Cosmin_, and _Persaim_ or _Bassein_, some 30 or 40 miles apart. But the former was probably taken from an older chart, and from no actual knowledge.

c. 1165.—"Two ships arrived at the harbour KUSUMA in Aramana, and took in
battle and laid waste country from the port Sapattota, over which
Kurttipurapam was governor."—_J.A.S. Bengal_, vol. xli. pt. i. p. 198.

1516.—"Anrique Leme set sail right well equipped, with 60 Portuguese. And
pursuing his voyage he captured a junk belonging to Pegu merchants, which
he carried off towards Martaban, in order to send it with a cargo of rice
to Malaca, and so make a great profit. But on reaching the coast he could
not make the port of Martaban, and had to make the mouth of the River of
Pegu.... Twenty leagues from the bar there is another city called COSMIM,
in which merchants buy and sell and do business...."—_Correa_, ii. 474.

1545.—"... and 17 persons only out of 83 who were on board, being saved
in the boat, made their way for 5 days along the coast; intending to put
into the river of COSMIM, in the kingdom of Pegu, there to embark for
India (_i.e._ Goa) in the king's lacker ship...."—_F. M. Pinto_, ch.
cxlvii.

1554.—"COSMYM ... the currency is the same in this port that is used in
Peguu, for this is a seaport by which one goes to Peguu."—_A. Nunez_, 38.

1566.—"In a few days they put into COSMI, a port of Pegu, where presently
they gave out the news, and then all the Talapoins came in haste, and the
people who were dwelling there."—_Couto_, Dec. viii. cap. 13.

c. 1570.—"They go it vp the riuer in foure daies ... with the flood, to a
City called COSMIN ... whither the Customer of Pegu comes to take the
note or markes of euery man.... Nowe from COSMIN to the citie Pegu ... it
is all plaine and a goodly Country, and in 8 dayes you may make your
voyage."—_Cæsar Frederike_, in _Hakl._ ii. 366-7.

1585.—"So the 5th October we came to COSMI, the territory of which, from
side to side is full of woods, frequented by parrots, tigers, boars,
apes, and other like creatures."—_G. Balbi_, f. 94.

1587.—"We entered the barre of Negrais, which is a braue barre, and hath
4 fadomes water where it hath least. Three dayes after we came to COSMIN,
which is a very pretie towne, and standeth very pleasantly, very well
furnished with all things ... the houses are all high built, set vpon
great high postes ... for feare of the Tygers, which be very many."—_R.
Fitch_, in _Hakl._ ii. 390.

1613.—"The Portuguese proceeded without putting down their arms to attack
the Banha Dela's (position), and destroyed it entirely, burning his
factory and compelling him to flee to the kingdom of Prom, so that there
now remained in the whole realm of Pegu only the Banho of COSMIM (a place
adjoining Negrais) calling himself vassal of the King of
Arracan."—_Bocarro_, 132.

COSPETIR, n.p. This is a name which used greatly to perplex us on the 16th and 17th century maps of India, _e.g._ in Blaeu's Atlas (c. 1650), appearing generally to the west of the Ganges Delta. Considering how the geographical names of different ages and different regions sometimes get mixed up in old maps, we at one time tried to trace it to the Κασπάτυρος of Herodotus, which was certainly going far afield! The difficulty was solved by the sagacity of the deeply-lamented Prof. Blochmann, who has pointed out (_J. As. Soc. Beng._, xlii. pt. i. 224) that Cospetir represents the Bengali genitive of GAJPATI, 'Lord of Elephants,' the traditional title of the Kings of Orissa. The title _Gajpati_ was that one of the Four Great Kings who, according to Buddhist legend, divided the earth among them in times when there was no _Chakravartti_, or Universal Monarch (see CHUCKERBUTTY). _Gajapati_ rules the South; _Aśvapati_ (Lord of Horses) the North; _Chhatrapati_ (Lord of the Umbrella) the West; _Narapati_ (Lord of Men) the East. In later days these titles were variously appropriated (see _Lassen_, ii. 27 _seq._). And Akbar, as will be seen below, adopted these names, with others of his own devising, for the suits of his pack of cards. There is a Raja _Gajpati_, a chief Zamindar of the country north of Patna, who is often mentioned in the wars of Akbar (see _Elliot_, v. 399 and _passim_, vi. 55, &c.) who is of course not to be confounded with the Orissa Prince.

c. 700 (?).—"In times when there was no _Chakravartti_ King ... Chen-pu
(_Samba-dvīpa_) was divided among four lords. The southern was the Lord
of Elephants (GAJAPATI), &c...."—Introd. to _Si-yu-ki_ (in _Pèlerins
Bouddh._), ii. lxxv.

1553.—"On the other or western side, over against the Kingdom of Orixa,
the Bengalis (_os Bengalos_) hold the Kingdom of COSPETIR, whose plains
at the time of the risings of the Ganges are flooded after the fashion of
those of the River Nile."—_Barros_, Dec. IV. ix. cap. I.

This and the next passage compared show that Barros was not aware that
_Cospetir_ and _Gajpati_ were the same.

" "Of this realm of Bengala, and of other four realms its
neighbours, the Gentoos and Moors of those parts say that God has given
to each its peculiar gift: to Bengala infantry numberless; to the Kingdom
of Orixa elephants; to that of Bisnaga men most skilful in the use of
sword and shield; to the Kingdom of Dely multitudes of cities and towns;
and to Cou a vast number of horses. And so naming them in this order they
give them these other names, viz.: _Espaty_, GASPATY, Noropaty, Buapaty,
and Coapaty."—_Barros_, _ibid._ [These titles appear to be _Aśvapati_,
"Lord of Horses"; GAJAPATI; _Narapati_, "Lord of Men"; _Bhūpati_, "Lord
of Earth"; _Gopati_, "Lord of Cattle."]

c. 1590.—"His Majesty (Akbar) plays with the following suits of cards.
1st. _Ashwapati_, the lord of horses. The highest card represents a King
on horseback, resembling the King of Dihli.... 2nd. GAJPATI, the King
whose power lies in the number of his elephants, as the ruler of
Oṛisah.... 3rd. _Narpati_, a King whose power lies in his infantry, as is
the case with the rulers of Bijápúr," &c.—_Āīn_, i. 306.

c. 1590.—"Orissa contains one hundred and twenty-nine brick forts,
subject to the command of GUJEPUTTY."—_Ayeen_ (by _Gladwin_), ed. 1800,
ii. 11; [ed. _Jarrett_, ii. 126].

1753.—"Herodote fait aussi mention d'une ville de _Caspatyrus_ située
vers le haut du fleuve Indus, ce que Mercator a cru correspondre à une
denomination qui existe dans la Géographie moderne, sans altération
marquée, savoir COSPETIR. La notion qu'on a de COSPETIR se tire de
l'historien Portugais Jean de Barros ... la situation n'est plus celle
qui convient à _Caspatyrus_."—_D'Anville_, 4 _seq._

COSS, s. The most usual popular measure of distance in India, but like the _mile_ in Europe, and indeed like the mile within the British Islands up to a recent date, varying much in different localities.

The Skt. word is _krośa_, which also is a measure of distance, but originally signified 'a call,' hence the distance at which a man's call can be heard.[90]

In the Pali vocabulary called _Abhidhānappadīpīkā_, which is of the 12th century, the word appears in the form _koss_; and nearly this, _kos_, is the ordinary Hindi. _Kuroh_ is a Persian form of the word, which is often found in Mahommedan authors and in early travellers. These latter (English) often write COURSE. It is a notable circumstance that, according to Wrangell, the Yakuts of N. Siberia reckon distance by _kiosses_ (a word which, considering the Russian way of writing Turkish and Persian words, must be identical with _kos_). With them this measure is "indicated by the time necessary to cook a piece of meat." _Kioss_ is = to about 5 _versts_, or 1⅔ miles, in hilly or marshy country, but on plain ground to 7 _versts_, or 2⅓ miles.[91] The Yakuts are a Turk people, and their language is a Turki dialect. The suggestion arises whether the form _kos_ may not have come with the Mongols into India, and modified the previous _krośa_? But this is met by the existence of the word _kos_ in Pali, as mentioned above.

In ancient Indian measurement, or estimation, 4 _krośas_ went to the _yojana_. Sir H. M. Elliot deduced from distances in the route of the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hian that the _yojana_ of his age was as nearly as possible 7 miles. Cunningham makes it 7½ or 8, Fergusson 6; but taking Elliot's estimate as a mean, the ancient _kos_ would be 1¾ miles.

The _kos_ as laid down in the _Āīn_ [ed. _Jarrett_, iii. 414] was of 5000 _gaz_ [see GUDGE]. The official decision of the British Government has assigned the length of Akbar's _Ilāhī gaz_ as 33 inches, and this would make Akbar's _kos_ = 2 m. 4 f. 183⅓ yards. Actual measurement of road distances between 5 pair of Akbar's _kos-minārs_,[92] near Delhi, gave a mean of 2 m. 4 f. 158 yards.

In the greater part of the Bengal Presidency the estimated _kos_ is about 2 miles, but it is much less as you approach the N.W. In the upper part of the Doab, it is, with fair accuracy, 1¼ miles. In Bundelkhand again it is nearly 3 m. (_Carnegy_), or, according to Beames, even 4 m. [In Madras it is 2¼ m., and in Mysore the _Sultānī kos_ is about 4 m.] Reference may be made on this subject to Mr. Thomas's ed. of _Prinsep's Essays_, ii. 129; and to Mr. Beames's ed. of Elliot's _Glossary_ ("_The Races of the N.-W. Provinces_," ii. 194). The latter editor remarks that in several parts of the country there are two kinds of _kos_, a _pakkā_ and a _kachchā kos_, a double system which pervades all the weights and measures of India; and which has prevailed also in many other parts of the world [see PUCKA].

c. 500.—"A _gavyūtih_ (or league—see GOW) is two KROSAS."—_Amarakosha_,
ii. 2, 18.

c. 600.—"The descendant of Kukulstha (_i.e._ Rāma) having gone half a
KROŚA...."—_Raghuvamsā_, xiii. 79.

c. 1340.—"As for the mile it is called among the Indians al-KURŪH."—_Ibn
Batuta_, iii. 95.

" "The Sultan gave orders to assign me a certain number of
villages.... They were at a distance of 16 KURŪHS from Dihli."—_Ibn
Batuta_, 388.

c. 1470.—"The Sultan sent ten viziers to encounter him at a distance of
ten KORS (a _kor_ is equal to 10 versts)...."—_Ath. Nikitin_, 26, in
_India in the XVth Cent._

" "From Chivil to Jooneer it is 20 KORS; from Jooneer to Beder 40;
from Beder to Kulongher, 9 KORS; from Beder to Koluberg, 9."—_Ibid._ p.
12.

1528.—"I directed Chikmâk Beg, by a writing under the royal hand and
seal, to measure the distance from Agra to Kâbul; that at every nine KOS
he should raise a minâr or turret, twelve _gez_ in height, on the top of
which he was to construct a pavilion...."—_Baber_, 393.

1537.—"... that the King of Portugal should hold for himself and all his
descendants, from this day forth for aye, the Port of the City of
Mangualor (in Guzerat) with all its privileges, revenues, and
jurisdiction, with 2½ COUCEES round about...."—_Treaty in S. Botelho,
Tombo_, 225.

c. 1550.—"Being all unmanned by their love of Raghoba, they had gone but
two KOS by the close of day, then scanning land and water they
halted."—_Rāmāyana_ of _Tulsī Dās_, by _Growse_, 1878, p. 119.

[1604.—"At the rate of four _coss_ (COCES) the league by the calculation
of the Moors."—_Couto_, Dec. XII., Bk. I. cap. 4.]

1616.—"The three and twentieth arrived at Adsmeere, 219 COURSES from
Brampoore, 418 English miles, the COURSES being longer than towards the
Sea."—_Sir T. Roe_, in _Purchas_, i. 541; [Hak. Soc. i. 105].

" "The length of these forenamed Provinces is North-West to
South-East, at the least 1000 COURSES, every Indian COURSE being two
English miles."—_Terry_, in _Purchas_, ii. 1468.

1623.—"The distance by road to the said city they called seven COS, or
CORŪ, which is all one; and every _cos_ or _corū_ is half a _ferseng_ or
league of Persia, so that it will answer to a little less than two
Italian [English] miles."—_P. della Valle_, ii. 504; [Hak. Soc. i. 23].

1648.—"... which two COSS are equivalent to a Dutch mile."—_Van Twist,
Gen. Beschrijv._ 2.

1666.—"... une COSSE qui est la mesure des Indes pour l'espace des lieux,
est environ d'une demi-lieue."—_Thevenot_, v. 12.

COSSACK, s. It is most probable that this Russian term for the military tribes of various descent on what was the S. frontier of the Empire has come originally from _ḳazzāḳ_, a word of obscure origin, but which from its adoption in Central Asia we may venture to call Turki. [_Schuyler, Turkistan_, i. 8.] It appears in Pavet de Courteille's _Dict. Turk-Oriental_ as "_vagabond; aventurier ...; onagre que ses compagnons chassent loin d'eux_." But in India it became common in the sense of 'a predatory horseman' and freebooter.

1366.—"On receipt of this bad news I was much dispirited, and formed to
myself three plans; 1st. That I should turn COSSACK, and never pass 24
hours in one place, and plunder all that came to hand."—_Mem. of Timūr_,
tr. by _Stewart_, p. 111.

[1609.—In a Letter from the Company to the factors at Bantam mention is
made of one "Sophony COSUKE," or as he is also styled in the Court
Minutes "the Russe."—_Birdwood, First Letter Book_, 288.]

1618.—"COSSACKS (_Cosacchi_) ... you should know, is not the name of a
nation, but of a collection of people of various countries and sects
(though most of them Christians) who without wives or children, and
without horses, acknowledge obedience to no prince; but dwelling far from
cities in fastnesses among the woods or mountains, or rivers ... live by
the booty of their swords ... employ themselves in perpetual inroads and
cruisings by land and sea to the detriment of their nearest enemies,
_i.e._ of the Turks and other Mahometans.... As I have heard from them,
they promise themselves one day the capture of Constantinople, saying
that Fate has reserved for them the liberation of that country, and that
they have clear prophecies to that effect."—_P. della Valle_, i. 614
_seq._

c. 1752.—"His KUZZAKS ... were likewise appointed to surround and plunder
the camp of the French...."—_Hist. of Hydur Naik_, tr. by _Miles_, p. 36.

1813.—"By the bye, how do Clarke's friends the COSSACKS, who seem to be a
band of Circassians and other Sarmatians, come to be called by a name
which seems to belong to a great Toorkee tribe on the banks of the
Jaxartes? KUZZAUK is used about Delhi for a highwayman. Can it be (as I
have heard) an Arabic _Mobaligh_ (exaggeration) from _kizk_ (plunder)
applied to all predatory tribes?"—_Elphinstone_, in _Life_, i. 264.

1819.—"Some dashing leader may ... gather a predatory band round his
standard, which, composed as it would be of desperate adventurers, and
commanded by a professional KUZZAUK, might still give us an infinite deal
of trouble."—_Ibid._ ii. 68.

c. 1823.—"The term COSSACK is used because it is the one by which the
Mahrattas describe their own species of warfare. In their language the
word COSSÂKEE (borrowed like many more of their terms from the Moghuls)
means predatory."—_Malcolm, Central India_, 3d ed. i. 69.

COSSID, s. A courier or running messenger; Arab. _ḳāṣid_.

1682.—"I received letters by a COSSID from Mr. Johnson and Mr.
Catchpoole, dated ye 18th instant from _Muxoodavad_, Bulchund's
residence."—_Hedges, Diary_, Dec. 20th; [Hak. Soc. i. 58].

[1687.—"Haveing detained the COSSETTS 4 or 5 Daies."—_Ibid._ ii. lxix.]

1690.—"Therefore December the 2d. in the evening, word was brought by the
Broker to our President, of a COSSET'S Arrival with Letters from Court to
the _Vacinavish_, injoyning our immediate Release."—_Ovington_, 416.

1748.—"The Tappies [ḍâk runners] on the road to Ganjam being grown so
exceedingly indolent that he has called them in, being convinced that our
packets may be forwarded much faster by CASSIDS [mounted
postmen[93]]."—In _Long_, p. 3.

c. 1759.—"For the performance of this arduous ... duty, which required so
much care and caution, intelligencers of talent, and KASIDS or
messengers, who from head to foot were eyes and ears ... were stationed
in every quarter of the country."—_H. of Hydur Naik_, 126.

1803.—"I wish that you would open a communication by means of COSSIDS
with the officer commanding a detachment of British troops in the fort of
Songhur."—_Wellington_, ii. 159.

COSSIMBAZAR, n.p. Properly _Kāsimbāzār_. A town no longer existing, which closely adjoined the city of Murshīdābād, but preceded the latter. It was the site of one of the most important factories of the East India Company in their mercantile days, and was indeed a chief centre of all foreign trade in Bengal during the 17th century. ["In 1658 the Company established a factory at Cossimbazaar, 'CASTLE BAZAAR.'"—(_Birdwood Rep. on Old Rec._ 219.)] Fryer (1673) calls it CASTLE BUZZAR (p. 38).

1665.—"That evening I arrived at CASEN-BASAR, where I was welcom'd by
Menheir _Arnold van Wachtendonk_, Director of all _Holland_-Factories in
Bengal."—_Tavernier_, E.T., ii. 56; [ed. _Ball_, i. 131. _Bernier_ (E.T.
p. 141; ed. _Constable_, 440) has _Kassem-Bazar_; in the map, p. 454,
_Kasembazar_.]

1676.—"KASSEMBASAR, a Village in the Kingdom of _Bengala_, sends abroad
every year two and twenty thousand Bales of Silk; every Bale weighing a
hunder'd pound."—_Tavernier_, E.T. ii. 126; [_Ball_, ed. ii. 2].

[1678.—"CASSUMBAZAR." See quotation under DADNY.]

COSSYA, n.p. More properly _Kāsia_, but now officially _Khāsi_; in the language of the people themselves _kī-Kāsī_, the first syllable being a prefix denoting the plural. The name of a hill people of Mongoloïd character, occupying the mountains immediately north of Silhet in Eastern Bengal. Many circumstances in relation to this people are of high interest, such as their practice, down to our own day, of erecting rude stone monuments of the _menhir_ and _dolmen_ kind, their law of succession in the female line, &c. Shillong, the modern seat of administration of the Province of Assam, and lying midway between the proper valley of Assam and the plain of Silhet, both of which are comprehended in that government, is in the Kāsia country, at a height of 4,900 feet above the sea. The Kāsias seem to be the people encountered near Silhet by Ibn Batuta as mentioned in the quotation:

c. 1346.—"The people of these mountains resemble Turks (_i.e._ Tartars),
and are very strong labourers, so that a slave of their race is worth
several of another nation."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 216. [See KHASYA.]

1780.—"The first thing that struck my observation on entering the arena
was the similarity of the dresses worn by the different tribes of
CUSSEAHS or native Tartars, all dressed and armed agreeable to the custom
of the country or mountain from whence they came."—_Hon. R. Lindsay_, in
_Lives of the Lindsays_, iii. 182.

1789.—"We understand the COSSYAHS who inhabit the hills to the
north-westward of Sylhet, have committed some very daring acts of
violence."—In _Seton-Karr_, ii. 218.

1790.—"Agreed and ordered, that the Trade of Sylhet ... be declared
entirely free to all the natives ... under the following
Regulations:—1st. That they shall not supply the COSSYAHS or other
Hill-people with Arms, Ammunition or other articles of Military
store...."—In _Seton-Karr_, ii. 31.

COSTUS. (See PUTCHOCK.)

COT, s. A light bedstead. There is a little difficulty about the true origin of this word. It is universal as a sea-term, and in the South of India. In Northern India its place has been very generally taken by CHARPOY (q.v.), and _cot_, though well understood, is not in such prevalent European use as it formerly was, except as applied to barrack furniture, and among soldiers and their families. Words with this last characteristic have very frequently been introduced from the south. There are, however, both in north and south, vernacular words which may have led to the adoption of the term _cot_ in their respective localities. In the north we have H. _khāṭ_ and _khaṭwā_, both used in this sense, the latter also in Sanskrit; in the south, Tam. and Malayāl. _kaṭṭil_, a form adopted by the Portuguese. The quotations show, however, no _Anglo_-Indian use of the word in any form but _cot_.

The question of origin is perhaps further perplexed by the use of _quatre_ as a Spanish term in the West Indies (see _Tom Cringle_ below). A Spanish lady tells us that _catre_, or _catre de tigera_ ("scissors-cot") is applied to a bedstead with X-trestles. _Catre_ is also common Portuguese for a wooden bedstead, and is found as such in a dictionary of 1611. These forms, however, we shall hold to be of Indian origin; unless it can be shown that they are older in Spain and Portugal than the 16th century. The form _quatre_ has a curious analogy (probably accidental) to _chārpāī_.

1553.—"The Camarij (Zamorin) who was at the end of a house, placed on a
bedstead, which they call CATLE...."—_De Barros_, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap.
viii.

1557.—"The king commanded his men to furnish a tent on that spot, where
the interview was to take place, all carpeted inside with very rich
tapestries, and fitted with a sofa (CATLE) covered over with a silken
cloth."—_Alboquerque_, Hak. Soc. ii. 204.

1566.—"The king was set on a CATEL (the name of a kind of field bedstead)
covered with a cloth of white silk and gold...."—_Damian de Goës, Chron.
del R. Dom Emanuel_, 48.

1600.—"He retired to the hospital of the sick and poor, and there had his
cell, the walls of which were of coarse palm-mats. Inside there was a
little table, and on it a crucifix of the wood of St. Thomé, covered with
a cloth, and a breviary. There was also a CATRE of coir, with a stone for
pillow; and this completes the inventory of the furniture of that
house."—_Lucena, V. do P. F. Xavier_, 199.

[1613.—"Here hired a CATELE and 4 men to have carried me to
Agra."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 277.

[1634.—"The better sort sleepe upon COTS, or Beds two foot high, matted
or done with girth-web."—_Sir T. Herbert, Trav._ 149. N.E.D.]

1648.—"Indian bedsteads or CADELS."—_Van Twist_, 64.

1673.—"... where did sit the King in State on a COTT or Bed."—_Fryer_,
18.

1678.—"Upon being thus abused the said Serjeant Waterhouse commanded the
corporal Edward Short, to tie Savage down on his COT."—In _Wheeler_, i.
106.

1685.—"I hired 12 stout fellows ... to carry me as far as Lar in my COTT
(Palankeen fashion)...."—_Hedges, Diary_, July 29; [Hak. Soc. i. 203].

1688.—"In the East Indies, at Fort St. George, also Men take their COTTS
or little Field-Beds and put them into the Yards, and go to sleep in the
Air."—_Dampier's Voyages_, ii. Pt. iii.

1690.—"... the COT or Bed that was by ...."—_Ovington_, 211.

1711.—In Canton Price Current: "Bamboo COTTS for Servants each ... 1
mace."—_Lockyer_, 150.

1768-71.—"We here found the body of the deceased, lying upon a KADEL, or
couch."—_Stavorinus_, E.T., i. 442.

1794.—"Notice is hereby given that sealed proposals will be received ...
for supplying ... the different General Hospitals with clothing, COTTS,
and bedding."—In _Seton-Karr_, ii. 115.

1824.—"I found three of the party insisted upon accompanying me the first
stage, and had despatched their camp-COTS."—_Seely, Ellora_, ch. iii.

c. 1830.—"After being ... furnished with food and raiment, we retired to
our QUATRES, a most primitive sort of couch, with a piece of canvas
stretched over it."—_Tom Cringle's Log_, ed. 1863, p. 100.

1872.—"As Badan was too poor to have a KHĀT, that is, a wooden bedstead
with tester frames and mosquito curtains."—_Govinda Samanta_, i. 140.

COTAMALUCO, n.p. The title by which the Portuguese called the kings of the Golconda Dynasty, founded, like the other Mahommedan kingdoms of S. India, on the breaking up of the Bāhmani kingdom of the Deccan. It was a corruption of _Ḳuṭb-ul-Mulk_, the designation of the founder, retained as the style of the dynasty by Mahommedans as well as Portuguese (see extract from _Akbar-nāma_ under IDALCAN).

1543.—"When IDALCAN heard this reply he was in great fear ... and by
night made his escape with some in whom he trusted (very few they were),
and fled in secret, leaving his family and his wives, and went to the
territories of the _Izam Maluco_ (see NIZAMALUCO), his neighbour and
friend ... and made matrimonial ties with the _Izam Maluco_, marrying his
daughter, on which they arranged together; and there also came into this
concert the MADREMALUCO, and COTAMALUCO, and the VERIDO, who are other
great princes, marching with Izam Maluco, and connected with him by
marriage."—_Correa_, iv. 313 _seq._

1553.—"The Captains of the Kingdom of the Decan added to their proper
names other honorary ones which they affected more, one calling himself
_Iniza Malmulco_, which is as much as to say 'Spear of the State,' _Cota
Malmulco_, _i.e._ 'Fortress of the State,' _Adelchan_, 'Lord of Justice';
and we, corrupting these names, call them NIZAMALUCO, COTAMALUCO, and
HIDALCHAN."—_Barros_, IV. iv. 16; [and see _Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. i.
172]. These same explanations are given by Garcia de Orta (_Colloquios_,
f. 36_v_), but of course the two first are quite wrong. _Iniza Malmulco_,
as Barros here writes it, is Ar. _An-Niẓām ul Mulk_, "The Administrator
of the State," not from P. _neza_, "a spear." COTAMALUCO is
_Ḳuṭb-ul-Mulk_, Ar. "the Pivot (or Pole-star) of the State," not from H.
_koṭā_, "a fort."

COTIA, s. A fast-sailing vessel, with two masts and lateen sails, employed on the Malabar coast. _Koṭṭiya_ is used in Malayāl.; [the _Madras Gloss._ writes the word _kotyeh_, and says that it comes from Ceylon;] yet the word hardly appears to be Indian. Bluteau however appears to give it as such (iii. 590).

1552.—"Among the little islands of Goa he embarked on board his fleet,
which consisted of about a dozen COTIAS, taking with him a good company
of soldiers."—_Castanheda_, iii. 25. See also pp. 47, 48, 228, &c.

c. 1580.—"In the gulf of Naguná ... I saw some CUTIÁS."—_Primor e Honra_,
&c., f. 73.

1602.—"... embarking his property on certain COTIAS, which he kept for
that purpose."—_Couto_, Dec. IV. liv. i. cap. viii.

COTTA, s. H. _kaṭṭhā_. A small land-measure in use in Bengal and Bahar, being the twentieth part of a Bengal _bīghā_ (see BEEGAH), and containing eighty square yards.

[1767.—"The measurement of land in Bengal is thus estimated: 16 _Gundas_
make 1 COTTA; 20 COTTAS, 1 _Bega_, or about 16,000 square
feet."—_Verelst, View of Bengal_, 221, note.]

1784.—"... An upper roomed House standing upon about 5 COTTAHS of
ground...."—_Seton-Karr_, i. 34.

COTTON, s. We do not seem to be able to carry this familiar word further back than the Ar. _ḳuṭn_, _ḳuṭun_, or _ḳuṭunn_, having the same meaning, whence Prov. _coton_, Port. _cotão_, It. _cotone_, Germ. _Kattun_. The Sp. keeps the Ar. article, _algodon_, whence old Fr. _auqueton_ and _hoqueton_, a coat quilted with cotton. It is only by an odd coincidence that Pliny adduces a like-sounding word in his account of the _arbores lanigerae_: "ferunt mali _cotonei_ amplitudine cucurbitas, quae maturitate ruptae ostendunt lanuginis pilas, ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt"—xii. 10 (21). [On the use and cultivation of cotton in the ancient world, see the authorities collected by _Frazer, Pausanias_, iii. 470, _seqq._]

[1830.—"The dress of the great is on the Persian model; it consists of a
shirt of KUTTAUN (a kind of linen of a wide texture, the best of which is
imported from Aleppo, and the common sort from
Persia)...."—_Elphinstone's Caubul_, i. 351.]

COTTON-TREE, SILK. (See SEEMUL.)

COTWAL, CUTWAUL, s. A police-officer; superintendent of police; native town magistrate. P. _kotwāl_, 'a seneschal, a commandant of a castle or fort.' This looks as if it had been first taken from an Indian word, _koṭwālā_; [Skt. _koṭha-_ or _koshṭha pālā_ 'castle-porter']; but some doubt arises whether it may not have been a Turki term. In Turki it is written _kotāul_, _kotāwal_, and seems to be regarded by both Vambéry and Pavet de Courteille as a genuine Turki word. V. defines it as: "_Ketaul_, garde de forteresse, chef de la garnison; nom d'un tribu d'Ozbegs;" P. "_kotāwal_, _kotāwāl_, gardien d'une citadelle." There are many Turki words of analogous form, as _ḳarāwal_, 'a vidette,' _baḳāwal_, 'a table-steward,' _yasāwal_, 'a chamberlain,' _tangāwal_, 'a patrol,' &c. In modern Bokhara _Kataul_ is a title conferred on a person who superintends the Amir's buildings (_Khanikoff_, 241). On the whole it seems probable that the title was originally Turki, but was shaped by Indian associations.

[The duties of the _Kotwāl_, as head of the police, are exhaustively laid down in the _Āīn_ (_Jarrett_, ii. 41). Amongst other rules: "He shall amputate the hand of any who is the pot-companion of an executioner, and the finger of such as converse with his family."] The office of _Kotwāl_ in Western and Southern India, technically speaking, ceased about 1862, when the new police system (under Act, India, V. of 1861, and corresponding local Acts) was introduced. In Bengal the term has been long obsolete. [It is still in use in the N.W.P. to designate the chief police officer of one of the larger cities or cantonments.]

c. 1040.—"Bu-Ali KOTWAL (of Ghazni) returned from the Khilj expedition,
having adjusted matters."—_Baihaki_, in _Elliot_, ii. 151.

1406-7.—"They fortified the city of Astarābād, where Abul Leïth was
placed with the rank of KOTWAL."—_Abdurrazāk_, in _Not. et Extr._ xiv.
123.

1553.—"The message of the Camorij arriving, Vasco da Gama landed with a
dozen followers, and was received by a noble person whom they called
CATUAL...."—_Barros_, Dec. I. liv. iv. ch. viii.

1572.—

"Na praya hum regedor do Regno estava
Que na sua lingua CATUAL se chama."
_Camões_, vii. 44.

By Burton:

"There stood a Regent of the Realm ashore,
a chief, in native parlance 'CAT'UAL' hight."

also the plural:

"Mas aquelles avaros CATUAIS
Que o Gentilico povo governavam."
_Ibid._ viii. 56.

1616.—Roe has CUTWALL _passim_; [_e.g._ Hak. Soc. i. 90. &c.].

1727.—"Mr. Boucher being bred a Druggist in his youth, presently knew the
Poison, and carried it to the CAUTWAUL or Sheriff, and showed it."—_A.
Hamilton_, ii. 199. [In ed. 1744, ii. 199, CAUTWAL].

1763.—"The CATWAL is the judge and executor of justice in criminal
cases."—_Orme_ (ed. 1803), i. 26.

1812.—"... an officer retained from the former system, denominated
CUTWAL, to whom the general police of the city and regulation of the
market was entrusted."—_Fifth Report_, 44.

1847.—"The KUTWAL ... seems to have done his duty resolutely and to the
best of his judgment."—_G. O._ by _Sir C. Napier_, 121.

[1880.—"The son of the Raja's KOTWAL was the prince's great
friend."—_Miss Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales_, 209.]

COUNSILLEE, s. This is the title by which the natives in Calcutta generally designate English barristers. It is the same use as the Irish one of _Counsellor_, and a corruption of that word.

COUNTRY, adj. This term is used colloquially, and in trade, as an adjective to distinguish articles produced in India (generally with a sub-indication of disparagement), from such as are imported, and especially imported from Europe. Indeed EUROPE (q.v.) was, and still occasionally is, used as the contrary adjective. Thus, 'COUNTRY harness' is opposed to 'EUROPE harness'; '_country_-born' people are persons of European descent, but born in India; '_country_ horses' are Indian-bred in distinction from ARABS, WALERS (q.v.), English horses, and even from 'stud-breds,' which are horses reared in India, but from foreign sires; '_country_ ships' are those which are owned in Indian ports, though often officered by Europeans; _country_ bottled beer is beer imported from England in cask and bottled in India; ['_country_-wound' silk is that reeled in the crude native fashion]. The term, as well as the H. _desī_, of which _country_ is a translation, is also especially used for things grown or made in India as substitutes for certain foreign articles. Thus the _Cicca disticha_ in Bombay gardens is called '_Country_ gooseberry'; _Convolvulus batatas_, or sweet potato, is sometimes called the '_country_ potato.' It was, equally with our quotidian root which has stolen its name, a foreigner in India, but was introduced and familiarised at a much earlier date. Thus again _desī bādām_, or '_country_ almond,' is applied in Bengal to the nut of the _Terminalia Catappa_. On _desī_, which is applied, among other things, to silk, the great Ritter (_dormitans Homerus_) makes the odd remark that _desī_ is just _Seide_ reversed! But it would be equally apposite to remark that _Trigon_-ometry is just _Country_-ometry reversed!

Possibly the idiom may have been taken up from the Portuguese, who also use it, _e.g._ '_açafrao da_ terra,' '_country_ saffron,' _i.e._ SAFFLOWER, otherwise called bastard saffron, the term being sometimes applied to turmeric. But the source of the idiom is general, as the use of _desī_ shows. Moreover the Arabic _baladī_, having the same literal meaning, is applied in a manner strictly analogous, including the note of disparagement, insomuch that it has been naturalised in Spanish as indicating 'of little or no value.' Illustrations of the mercantile use of _beledi_ (_i.e._ _baladī_) will be found in a note to _Marco Polo_, 2nd ed. ii. 370. For the Spanish use we may quote the Dict. of Cobarruvias (1611): "_Baladi_, the thing which is produced at less cost, and is of small duration and profit." (See also _Dozy_ and _Engelmann_, 232 _seq._)

1516.—"_Beledyn_ ginger grows at a distance of two or three leagues all
round the city of Calicut.... In Bengal there is also much ginger of the
COUNTRY (_Gengivre Beledi_)."—_Barbosa_, 221 _seq._

[1530.—"I at once sent some of these COUNTRY men (_homeens valadis_) to
the Thanas."—_Alboquerque, Cartas_, p. 148.]

1582.—"The Nayres maye not take anye COUNTRIE women, and they also doe
not marrie."—_Castañeda_, (by N. L.), f. 36.

[1608.—"The COUNTRY here are at dissension among themselves."—_Danvers,
Letters_, i. 20.]