Chapter XXXIX: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (36)

GOGOLLA, GOGALA, n.p. This is still the name of a village on a peninsular sandy spit of the mainland, opposite to the island and fortress of Diu, and formerly itself a fort. It was known in the 16th century as the _Villa dos Rumes_, because Melique Az (Malik Ayāz, the Mahom. Governor), not much trusting the Rumes (_i.e._ the Turkish Mercenaries), "or willing that they should be within the Fortress, sent them to dwell there." (_Barros_, II. iii. cap. 5).

1525.—"Paga DYO e GOGOLLA a el Rey de Cambaya treze layques em tangas ...
xiij laiques."—_Lembrança_, 34.

1538.—In _Botelho, Tombo_, 230, 239, we find "Alfandegua de GUOGUALAA."

1539.—"... terminating in a long and narrow tongue of sand, on which
stands a fort which they call GOGALA, and the Portuguese the _Villa dos
Rumes_. On the point of this tongue the Portuguese made a beautiful round
bulwark."—_João de Castro, Primeiro Roteiro_, p. 218.

GOLAH, s. Hind. _golā_ (from _gol_, 'round'). A store-house for grain or salt; so called from the typical form of such store-houses in many parts of India, viz. a circular wall of mud with a conical roof. [One of the most famous of these is the _Golā_ at Patna, completed in 1786, but never used.]

[1785.—"We visited the GOLA, a building intended for a public
granary."—In _Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. ii. 445.]

1810.—"The GOLAH, or warehouse."—_Williamson, V. M._ ii. 343.

1878.—"The villagers, who were really in want of food, and maddened by
the sight of those GOLAHS stored with grain, could not resist the
temptation to help themselves."—_Life in the Mofussil_, ii. 77.

GOLD MOHUR FLOWER, s. _Caesalpinia pulcherrima_, Sw. The name is a corruption of the H. _gulmor_, which is not in the dictionaries, but is said to mean 'peacock-flower.'

[1877.—"The crowd began to press to the great GOOL-MOHUR
tree."—_Allardyce, City of Sunshine_, iii. 207.]

GOLE, s. The main body of an army in array; a clustered body of troops; an irregular squadron of horsemen. P.—H. _ghol_; perhaps a confusion with the Arab. _jaul_ (_gaul_), 'a troop': [but Platts connects it with Skt. _kula_, 'an assemblage'].

1507.—"As the right and left are called Berânghâr and Sewânghâr ... and
are not included in the centre which they call GHŪL, the right and left
do not belong to the GHŪL."—_Baber_, 227.

1803.—"When within reach, he fired a few rounds, on which I formed my men
into two GHOLES.... Both GHOLES attempted to turn his flanks, but the men
behaved ill, and we were repulsed."—_Skinner, Mil. Mem._ i. 298.

1849.—"About this time a large GOLE of horsemen came on towards me, and I
proposed to charge; but as they turned at once from the fire of the guns,
and as there was a _nullah_ in front, I refrained from advancing after
them."—_Brigadier Lockwood, Report of 2nd Cavalry Division at Battle of
Goojerat._

GOMASTA, GOMASHTAH, s. Hind. from Pers. _gumāshtah_, part. 'appointed, delegated.' A native agent or factor. In Madras the modern application is to a clerk for vernacular correspondence.

1747.—"As for the Salem Cloth they beg leave to defer settling any Price
for that sort till they can be advised from the GOA MASTERS (!) in that
Province."—_Ft. St. David Consn._, May 11. MS. Records in India Office.

1762.—"You will direct the gentleman, GOMASTAHS, _Muttasuddies_ (see
MOOTSUDDY), and _Moonshies_, and other officers of the English Company to
relinquish their farms, _taalucs_ (see TALOOK), GUNGES, and GOLAHS."—_The
Nabob to the Governor_, in _Van Sittart_, i. 229.

1776.—"The Magistrate shall appoint some one person his GOMASTAH or Agent
in each Town."—_Halhed's Code_, 55.

1778.—"The Company determining if possible to restore their investment to
the former condition ... sent GOMASTAHS, or Gentoo factors in their own
pay."—_Orme_, ed. 1803, ii. 57.

c. 1785.—"I wrote an order to my GOMASTAH in the factory of
Hughly."—_Carraccioli's Life of Clive_, iii. 448.

1817.—"The banyan hires a species of broker, called a GOMASTAH, at so
much a month."—_Mill's Hist._ iii. 13.

1837.—"... (The Rajah) sent us a very good breakfast; when we had eaten
it, his GOMASHTA (a sort of secretary, at least more like that than
anything else) came to say ..."—_Letters from Madras_, 128.

GOMBROON, n.p. The old name in European documents of the place on the Persian Gulf now known as _Bandar 'Abbās_, or _'Abbāsī_. The latter name was given to it when Shāh 'Abbās, after the capture and destruction of the island city of Hormuz, established a port there. The site which he selected was the little town of GAMRŪN. This had been occupied by the Portuguese, who took it from the 'King of Lar' in 1612, but two years later it was taken by the Shāh. The name is said (in the _Geog. Magazine_, i. 17) to be Turkish, meaning 'a Custom House.' The word alluded to is probably _gumruḳ_, which has that meaning, and which is again, through Low Greek, from the Latin _commercium_. But this etymology of the name seems hardly probable. That indicated in the extract from A. Hamilton below is from Pers. _ḳamrūn_, 'a shrimp,' or Port. _camarão_, meaning the same.

The first mention of Gombroon in the E. I. Papers seems to be in 1616, when Edmund Connok, the Company's chief agent in the Gulf, calls it "_Gombraun_, the best port in all Persia," and "that hopeful and glorious port of Gombroon" (_Sainsbury_, i. 484-5; [_Foster, Letters_, iv. 264]). There was an English factory here soon after the capture of Hormuz, and it continued to be maintained in 1759, when it was taken by the Comte d'Estaing. The factory was re-established, but ceased to exist a year or two after.

[1565.—"_Bamdel_ GOMBRUC, so-called in Persian and Turkish, which means
Custom-house."—_Mestre Afonso's Overland Journey, Ann. Maritim. e Colon._
ser. 4. p. 217.]

1614.—(The Captain-major) "under orders of Dom Luis da Gama returned to
succour COMORÃO, but found the enemy's fleet already there and the fort
surrendered.... News which was heard by Dom Luis da Gama and most of the
people of Ormuz in such way as might be expected, some of the old folks
of Ormuz prognosticating at once that in losing COMORÃO Ormuz itself
would be lost before long, seeing that the former was like a barbican or
outwork on which the rage of the Persian enemy spent itself, giving time
to Ormuz to prepare against their coming thither."—_Bocarro, Decada_,
349.

1622.—"That evening, at two hours of the night, we started from below
that fine tree, and after travelling about a league and a half ... we
arrived here in COMBRÙ, a place of decent size and population on the
sea-shore, which the Persians now-a-days, laying aside as it were the old
name, call the 'Port of Abbas,' because it was wrested from the
Portuguese, who formerly possessed it, in the time of the present King
Abbas."—_P. della Valle_, ii. 413; [in Hak. Soc. i. 3, he calls it
COMBU].

c. 1630.—"GUMBROWN (or _Gomroon_, as some pronounce it) is by most
Persians Κατ' ἐξοχὴν cald _Bander_ or the Port Towne ... some (but I
commend them not) write it _Gamrou_, others _Gomrow_, and other-some
_Cummeroon_.... A Towne it is of no Antiquity, rising daily out of the
ruines of late glorious (now most wretched) _Ormus_."—_Sir T. Herbert_,
121.

1673.—"The Sailors had stigmatized this place of its Excessive Heat, with
this sarcastical Saying, _That there was but an Inch-Deal between_
GOMBEROON _and Hell_"—_Fryer_, 224.

Fryer in another place (marginal rubric, p. 331) says: "GOMBROON ware,
made of Earth, the best next China." Was this one of the sites of
manufacture of the Persian porcelain now so highly prized? ["The main
varieties of this Perso-Chinese ware are the following:—(1) A sort of
semi-porcelain, called by English dealers, quite without reason,
'_Gombroon_ ware,' which is pure white and semi-transparent, but, unlike
Chinese porcelain, is soft and friable where not protected by the
glaze."—_Ency. Brit._ 9th ed. xix. 621.]

1727.—"This GOMBROON was formerly a Fishing Town, and when _Shaw Abass_
began to build it, had its Appellation from the Portugueze, in Derision,
because it was a good place for catching Prawns and Shrimps, which they
call CAMERONG."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 92; [ed. 1744, i. 93].

1762.—"As this officer (Comte d'Estaing) ... broke his parole by taking
and destroying our settlements at GOMBROON, and upon the west Coast of
Sumatra, at a time when he was still a prisoner of war, we have laid
before his Majesty a true state of the case."—In _Long_, 288.

GOMUTÍ, s. Malay _gumuti_ [Scott gives _gāmūti_]. A substance resembling horsehair, and forming excellent cordage (the _cabos negros_ of the Portuguese—_Marre, Kata-Kata Malayou_, p. 92), sometimes improperly called COIR (q.v.), which is produced by a palm growing in the Archipelago, _Arenga saccharifera_, Labill. (_Borassus Gomutus_, Lour.). The tree also furnishes _ḳalams_ or reed-pens for writing, and the material for the poisoned arrows used with the blow-tube. The name of the palm itself in Malay is _anau_. (See SAGWIRE.) There is a very interesting account of this palm in _Rumphius, Herb. Amb._, i. pl. xiii. Dampier speaks of the fibre thus:

1686.—"... There is another sort of Coire cables ... that are black, and
more strong and lasting, and are made of Strings that grow like
Horse-hair at the Heads of certain Trees, almost like the Coco-trees.
This sort comes mostly from the Island of Timor."—i. 295.

GONG, s. This word appears to be Malay (or, according to Crawfurd, originally Javanese), _gong_ or _agong_. ["The word _gong_ is often said to be Chinese. Clifford and Swettenham so mark it; but no one seems to be able to point out the Chinese original" (_Scott, Malayan Words in English_, 53).] Its well-known application is to a disk of thin bell-metal, which when struck with a mallet, yields musical notes, and is used in the further east as a substitute for a bell. ["The name _gong_, _agong_, is considered to be imitative or suggestive of the sound which the instrument produces" (_Scott_, _loc. cit._ 51).] Marcel Devic says that the word exists in all the languages of the Archipelago; [for the variants see _Scott_, _loc. cit._]. He defines it as meaning "instrument de musique aussi appelé _tam-tam_"; but see under TOM-TOM. The great drum, to which Dampier applies the name, was used like the metallic _gong_ for striking the hour. Systems of _gongs_ variously arranged form harmonious musical instruments among the Burmese, and still more elaborately among the Javanese.

The word is commonly applied by Anglo-Indians also to the H. _ghanṭā_ (_ganṭa_, Dec.) or _ghaṛī_, a thicker metal disc, not musical, used in India for striking the hour (see GHURRY). The _gong_ being used to strike the hour, we find the word applied by Fryer (like _gurry_) to the hour itself, or interval denoted.

c. 1590.—"In the morning before day the Generall did strike his GONGO,
which is an instrument of War that soundeth like a Bell."—(This was in
Africa, near Benguela). _Advent. of Andrew Battel_, in _Purchas_, ii.
970.

1673.—"They have no Watches nor Hour-Glasses, but measure Time by the
dropping of Water out of a Brass Bason, which holds a GHONG, or less than
half an Hour; when they strike once distinctly, to tell them it's the
First GHONG, which is renewed at the Second GHONG for Two, and so Three
at the End of it till they come to Eight; when they strike on the Brass
Vessel at their liberty to give notice the _Pore_ (see PUHUR) is out, and
at last strike One leisurely to tell them it is the First
_Pore_."—_Fryer_, 186.

1686.—"In the Sultan's Mosque (at Mindanao) there is a great Drum with
but one Head, called a GONG; which is instead of a Clock. This GONG is
beaten at 12 a Clock, at 3, 6, and 9."—_Dampier_, i. 333.

1726.—"These GONGS (gongen) are beaten very gently at the time when the
Prince is going to make his appearance."—_Valentijn_, iv. 58.

1750-52.—"Besides these (in China) they have little drums, great and
small kettle drums, GUNGUNGS or round brass basons like frying
pans."—_Olof Toreen_, 248.

1817.—

"War music bursting out from time to time
With GONG and tymbalon's tremendous chime."—_Lalla Rookh, Mokanna._

Tremendous sham poetry!

1878.—"... le nom plébéien ... sonna dans les salons.... Comme un coup de
cymbale, un de ces GONGS qui sur les théâtres de féerie annoncent les
apparitions fantastiques."—_Alph. Daudet, Le Nabab_, ch. 4.

GOODRY, s. A quilt; H. _gudṛī_. [The _gudṛī_, as distinguished from the _razāi_ (see ROZYE), is the bundle of rags on which Faḳīrs and the very poorest people sleep.]

1598.—"They make also faire couerlits, which they call GODORIINS [or]
Colchas, which are very faire and pleasant to the eye, stitched with
silke; and also of cotton of all colours and stitchinges."—_Linschoten_,
ch. 9; [Hak. Soc. i. 61].

c. 1610.—"Les matelats et les couvertures sont de soye ou de toille de
coton façonnée à toutes sortes de figures et couleur. Ils appellent cela
GOULDRINS."—_Pyrard de Laval_, ii. 3; [Hak. Soc. ii. 4].

1653.—"GOUDRIN est vn terme Indou et Portugais, qui signifie des
couuertures picquées de cotton."—_De la Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, p.
539.

[1819.—"He directed him to go to his place, and take a GODHRA of his (a
kind of old patched counterpane of shreds, which Fuqueers frequently have
to lie down upon and throw over their shoulders)."—_Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo._ i.
113.]

GOOGUL, s. H. _gugal_, _guggul_, Skt. _guggula_, _guggulu_. The aromatic gum-resin of the _Balsamodendron Mukul_, Hooker (_Amyris agallocha_, Roxb.), the _muḳl_ of the Arabs, and generally supposed to be the BDELLIUM of the ancients. It is imported from the Beyla territory, west of Sind (see _Bo. Govt. Selections_ (N.S.), No. xvii. p. 326).

1525.—(Prices at Cambay). "GUGALL d'orumuz (the maund), 16
_fedeas_."—_Lembrança_, 43.

1813.—"GOGUL is a species of bitumen much used at Bombay and other parts
of India, for painting the bottom of ships."—_Milburn_, i. 137.

GOOJUR, n.p. H. _Gūjar_, Skt. _Gurjjara_. The name of a great Hindu clan, very numerous in tribes and in population over nearly the whole of Northern India, from the Indus to Rohilkhand. In the Delhi territory and the Doab they were formerly notorious for thieving propensities, and are still much addicted to cattle-theft; and they are never such steady and industrious cultivators as the _Jāts_, among whose villages they are so largely interspersed. In the Punjab they are Mahommedans. Their extensive diffusion is illustrated by their having given name to Gujarāt (see GOOZERAT) as well as to _Gujrāt_ and _Gujrānwāla_ in the Punjab. And during the 18th century a great part of Sahāranpūr District in the Northern Doab was also called _Gujrāt_ (see _Elliot's Races_, by _Beames_, i. 99 _seqq._).

1519.—"In the hill-country between Nilâb and Behreh ... and adjoining to
the hill-country of Kashmīr, are the Jats, GUJERS, and many other men of
similar tribes."—_Memoirs of Baber_, 259.

[1785.—"The road is infested by tribes of banditti called GOOGURS and
mewatties."—In _Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. II. 426.]

GOOLAIL, s. A pellet-bow. H. _gulel_, probably from Skt. _guḍa_, _gula_, the pellet used. [It is the Arabic _Kaus-al-bandūk_, by using which the unlucky Prince in the First Kalandar's Tale got into trouble with the Wazīr (_Burton, Arab. Nights_, i. 98).]

1560.—Busbeck speaks of being much annoyed with the multitude and
impudence of kites at Constantinople: "ego interim cum MANUALI BALISTA
post columnam sto, modo hujus, modo illius caudae vel alarum, ut casus
tulerit, pinnas testaceis globis verberans, donec mortifero ictu unam aut
alteram percussam decutio...."—_Busbeq. Epist._ iii. p. 163.

[c. 1590.—"From the general use of pellet bows which are fitted with
bowstrings, sparrows are very scarce (in Kashmīr)."—_Āīn_, ed. _Jarrett_,
ii. 351. In the original _kamān-i-guroha_, _guroha_, according to
_Steingass, Dict._, being "a ball ... ball for a cannon, balista, or
cross-bow."]

1600.—"O for a _stone-bow_ to hit him in the eye."—_Twelfth Night_, ii.
5.

1611.—

"Children will shortly take him for a wall,
And set their _stone-bows_ in his forehead."
_Beaum. & Flet., A King and No King_, V.

[1870.—"The GOOLEIL-BANS, or pellet-bow, generally used as a weapon
against crows, is capable of inflicting rather severe
injuries."—_Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurisprudence_, 337.]

GOOLMAUL, GOOLMOOL, s. H. _gol-māl_, 'confusion, jumble'; _gol-māl karnā_, 'to make a mess.'

[1877.—"The boy has made such a GOL-MOL (uproar) about religion that
there is a risk in having anything to do with him."—_Allardyce, City of
Sunshine_, ii. 106.]

[GOOMTEE, n.p. A river of the N.W.P., rising in the Shāhjahānpur District, and flowing past the cities of Lucknow and Jaunpur, and joining the Ganges between Benares and Ghāzipur. The popular derivation of the name, as in the quotation, is, as if _Ghūmtī_, from H. _ghūmnā_, 'to wind,' in allusion to its winding course. It is really from Skt. _gomati_, 'rich in cattle.'

[1848.—"The GHUMTI, which takes its name from its windings...."—_Buyers,
Recoll. of N. India_, 240.]

GOONT, s. H. _gūnṭh_, _gūṭh_. A kind of pony of the N. Himālayas, strong but clumsy.

c. 1590.—"In the northern mountainous districts of Hindustan a kind of
small but strong horses is bred, which is called GUṬ; and in the confines
of Bengal, near Kúch, another kind of horses occurs, which rank between
the _guṭ_ and Turkish horses, and are called _tánghan_ (see TANGUN); they
are strong and powerful."—_Āīn_, i. 183; [also see ii. 280].

1609.—"On the further side of _Ganges_ lyeth a very mighty Prince, called
_Raiaw Rodorow_, holding a mountainous Countrey ... thence commeth much
Muske, and heere is a great breed of a small kind of Horse, called GUNTS,
a true travelling scale-cliffe beast."—_W. Finch_, in _Purchas_, i. 438.

1831.—"In Cashmere I shall buy, without regard to price, the best GHOUNTE
in Tibet."—_Jacquemont's Letters_, E.T. i. 238.

1838.—"Give your GŪNTH his head and he will carry you safely ... any
horse would have struggled, and been killed; these GŪNTHS appear to
understand that they must be quiet, and their master will help
them."—_Fanny Parkes, Wanderings of a Pilgrim_, ii. 226.

GOORKA, GOORKALLY, n.p. H. _Gurkhā_, _Gurkhālī_. The name of the race now dominant in Nepāl, and taking their name from a town so called 53 miles W. of Khatmandu. [The name is usually derived from the Skt. _go-raksha_, 'cow-keeper.' For the early history see _Wright, H. of Nepāl_, 147]. They are probably the best soldiers of modern India, and several regiments of the Anglo-Indian army are recruited from the tribe.

1767.—"I believe, Sir, you have before been acquainted with the situation
of Nipal, which has long been besieged by the GOORCULLY Rajah."—_Letter
from Chief at Patna_, in _Long_, 526.

[ " "The Rajah being now dispossessed of his country, and shut up in
his capital by the Rajah of GOERCULLAH, the usual channel of commerce has
been obstructed."—_Letter from Council to E.I. Co._, in _Verelst, View of
Bengal_, App. 36.]

GOOROO, s. H. _gurū_, Skt. _guru_; a spiritual teacher, a (Hindu) priest.

(Ancient).—"That brahman is called GURU who performs according to rule
the rites on conception and the like, and feeds (the child) with rice
(for the first time)."—_Manu_, ii. 142.

c. 1550.—"You should do as you are told by your parents and your
GURU."—_Rāmāyana_ of Tulsī Dās, by _Growse_ (1878), 43.

[1567.—"GROUS." See quotation under CASIS.]

1626.—"There was a famous Prophet of the Ethnikes, named GORU."—_Purchas,
Pilgrimage_, 520.

1700.—"... je suis fort surpris de voir à la porte ... le Pénitent au
colier, qui demandoit à parler au GOUROU."—_Lettres Edif._, x. 95.

1810.—"Persons of this class often keep little schools ... and then are
designated GOOROOS; a term implying that kind of respect we entertain for
pastors in general."—_Williamson, V. M._ ii. 317.

1822.—"The Adventures of the GOOROO Paramartan; a tale in the Tamul
Language" (translated by B. Babington from the original of Padre Beschi,
written about 1720-1730), London.

1867.—"Except the GURU of Bombay, no priest on earth has so large a power
of acting on every weakness of the female heart as a Mormon bishop at
Salt Lake."—_Dixon's New America_, 330.

GOORUL, s. H. _gūral_, _goral_; the Himālayan chamois; _Nemorhoedus Goral_ of Jerdon. [_Cemas Goral_ of Blanford (_Mammalia_, 516).]

[1821.—"The flesh was good and tasted like that of the GHORUL, so
abundant in the hilly belt towards India."—_Lloyd & Gerard's Narr._, ii.
112.

[1886.—"On Tuesday we went to a new part of the hill to shoot 'GUREL,' a
kind of deer, which across a khud, looks remarkably small and more like a
hare than a deer."—_Lady Dufferin, Viceregal Life_, 235.]

[GOORZEBURDAR, s. P. _gurz-bardār_, 'a mace-bearer.'

[1663.—"Among the Kours and the Mansebdars are mixed many GOURZE-BERDARS,
or mace-bearers chosen for their tall and handsome persons, and whose
business it is to preserve order in assemblies, to carry the King's
orders, and execute his commands with the utmost speed."—_Bernier_, ed.
_Constable_, 267.

[1717.—"Everything being prepared for the GOORZEBURDAR'S reception."—In
_Yule, Hedges' Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii. ccclix.

[1727.—"GOOSBERDAR." See under HOSBOLHOOKUM.]

GOOZERAT, GUZERAT, n.p. The name of a famous province in Western India, Skt. _Gurjjara_, _Gurjjara-rāshtra_, Prakrit passing into H. and Mahr. _Gujarāt_, _Gujrāt_, taking its name from the Gūjar (see GOOJUR) tribe. The name covers the British Districts of Surat, Broach, Kaira, Panch Mahals, and Ahmedābād, besides the territories of the Gaekwar (see GUICOWAR) of Baroda, and a multitude of native States. It is also often used as including the peninsula of Kāthiāwāṛ or Surāshtra, which alone embraces 180 petty States.

c. 640.—Hwen T'sang passes through _Kiu-chi-lo_, _i.e._ GURJJARA, but
there is some difficulty as to the position which he assigns to
it.—_Pèlerins Bouddh._, iii. 166; [_Cunningham, Arch. Rep._ ii. 70
_seqq._].

1298.—"GOZURAT is a great Kingdom.... The people are the most desperate
pirates in existence...."—_Marco Polo_, Bk. iii. ch. 26.

c. 1300.—"GUZERAT, which is a large country, within which are Kambáy,
Somnát, Kanken-Tána, and several other cities and towns."—_Rashíduddín_,
in _Elliot_, i. 67.

1300.—"The Sultan despatched Ulugh Khán to Ma'bar and GUJARÁT for the
destruction of the idol-temple of Somnát, on the 20th of Jumádá'-l awwal,
698 H...."—_Amīr Khusrū_, in _Elliot_, iii. 74.

[c. 1330.—"JUZRAT." See under LAR.]

1554.—"At last we made the land of GUCHRÁT in Hindustan."—_Sidi 'Ali_, p.
79.

The name is sometimes used by the old writers for the people, and especially for the Hindu merchants or BANYANS (q.v.) of Guzerat. See _Sainsbury_, i. 445 and _passim_.

[c. 1605.—"And alsoe the GUZATTS do saile in the Portugalls shipps in
euery porte of the East Indies...."—_Birdwood, First Letter Book_, 85.]

GOOZUL-KHANA, s. A bathroom; H. from Ar.—P. _ghusl-khāna_, of corresponding sense. The apartment so called was used by some of the Great Moghuls as a place of private audience.

1616.—"At eight, after supper he comes down to the GUZELCAN (v.l.
GAZELCAN), a faire Court wherein in the middest is a Throne erected of
freestone."—_Sir T. Roe_, in _Purchas_, ii.; [Hak. Soc. i. 106].

" "The thirteenth, at night I went to the GUSSELL CHAN, where is
best opportunitie to doe business, and tooke with me the _Italian_,
determining to walk no longer in darknesse, but to prooue the
King...."—_Ibid._ p. 543; [in Hak. Soc. i. 202, GUZEL-CHAN; in ii. 459,
GUSHEL CHOES].

c. 1660.—"The grand hall of the _Am-Kas_ opens into a more retired
chamber, called the GOSEL-KANE, or the place to wash in. But few are
suffered to enter there.... There it is where the king is seated in a
chair ... and giveth a more particular Audience to his
officers."—_Bernier_, E.T. p. 85; [ed. _Constable_, 265; _ibid._ 361
GOSLE-KANE].

GOPURA, s. The meaning of the word in Skt. is 'city-gate,' _go_ 'eye,' _pura_, 'city.' But in S. India the _gopuram_ is that remarkable feature of architecture, peculiar to the Peninsula, the great pyramidal tower over the entrance-gate to the precinct of a temple. See _Fergusson's Indian and Eastern Architecture_, 325, &c. [The same feature has been reproduced in the great temple of the Seth at Brindāban, which is designed on a S. Indian model. (_Growse, Mathura_, 260).] This feature is not, in any of the S. Indian temples, older than the 15th or 16th cent., and was no doubt adopted for purposes of defence, as indeed the _Śilpa-śāstra_ ('Books of Mechanical Arts') treatises imply. This fact may sufficiently dispose of the idea that the feature indicates an adoption of architecture from ancient Egypt.

1862.—"The GOPURAMS or towers of the great pagoda."—_Markham, Peru and
India_, 408.

GORA, s. H. _gorā_, 'fair-complexioned.' A white man; a European soldier; any European who is not a SAHIB (q.v.). Plural _gorā-lōg_, 'white people.'

[1861.—"The cavalry ... rushed into the lines ... declaring that the GORA
LOG (the European soldiers) were coming down upon them."—_Cave Browne,
Punjab and Delhi_, i. 243.]

GORAWALLAH, s. H. _ghoṛā-wālā_, _ghoṛā_, 'a horse.' A groom or horsekeeper; used at Bombay. On the Bengal side SYCE (q.v.) is always used, on the Madras side HORSEKEEPER (q.v.).

1680.—GURRIALS, apparently for _ghoṛā-wālās_ (_Gurrials_ would be
alligators, GAVIAL), are allowed with the horses kept with the Hoogly
Factory.—See _Fort St. Geo. Consns. on Tour_, Dec. 12, in _Notes and
Exts._, No. ii. 63.

c. 1848.—"On approaching the different points, one knows Mrs. —— is at
hand, for her GORAHWALLAS wear green and gold _puggries_."—_Chow-Chow_,
i. 151.

GORAYT, s. H. _goṛeṭ_, _goṛaiṭ_, [which has been connected with Skt. _ghur_, 'to shout']; a village watchman and messenger, [in the N.W.P. usually of a lower grade than the CHOKIDAR, and not, like him, paid a cash wage, but remunerated by a piece of rent-free land; one of the village establishment, whose special duty it is to watch crops and harvested grain].

[c. 1808.—"Fifteen messengers (GORAYITS) are allowed ¼ ser on the man of
grain, and from 1 to 5 bigahs of land each."—_Buchanan, Eastern India_,
ii. 231.]

GORDOWER, GOORDORE, s. A kind of boat in Bengal, described by Ives as "a vessel pushed on by paddles." Etym. obscure. _Ghuṛdauṛ_ is a horse-race, a race-course; sometimes used by natives to express any kind of open-air assemblage of Europeans for amusement. [The word is more probably a corr. of P. _girdāwā_, 'a patrol'; _girdāwar_, 'all around, a supervisor,' because such boats appear to be used in Bengal by officials on their tours of inspection.]

1757.—"To get two bolias (see BOLIAH), a GOORDORE, and 87 DANDIES (q.v.)
from the Nazir."—_Ives_, 157.

GOSAIN, GOSSYNE, &c. s. H. and Mahr. _Gosāīn_, _Gosāī_, _Gosāvī_, _Gusā'īn_, &c., from Skt. _Goswāmī_, 'Lord of Passions' (lit. 'Lord of cows'), _i.e._ one who is supposed to have subdued his passions and renounced the world. Applied in various parts of India to different kinds of persons not necessarily celibates, but professing a life of religious mendicancy, and including some who dwell together in convents under a superior, and others who engage in trade and hardly pretend to lead a religious life.

1774.—"My hopes of seeing Teshu Lama were chiefly founded on the
GOSAIN."—_Bogle_, in _Markham's Tibet_, 46.

c. 1781.—"It was at this time in the hands of a GOSINE, or Hindoo
Religious."—_Hodges_, 112. (The use of this barbarism by Hodges is
remarkable, common as it has become of late years.)

[1813.—"Unlike the generality of Hindoos, these GOSAINGS do not burn
their dead...."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. i. 312-3; in i. 544 he writes
GOSANNEE.]

1826.—"I found a lonely cottage with a light in the window, and being
attired in the habit of a GOSSEIN, I did not hesitate to request a
lodging for the night."—_Pandurang Hari_, 399; [ed. 1873, ii. 275].

GOSBECK, COSBEAGUE, s. A coin spoken of in Persia (at Gombroon and elsewhere). From the quotation from Fryer it appears that there was a _Goss_ and a _Gosbegi_, corresponding to Herbert's double and single _Cozbeg_. Mr. Wollaston in his _English-Persian Dict._ App. p. 436, among "Moneys now current in Persia," gives "5 _dínár_ = 1 GHĀZ; also a nominal money." The _ghāz_, then, is the name of a coin (though a coin no longer), and GHĀZ-BEGĪ was that worth 10 _dīnārs_. Marsden mentions a copper coin, called _kazbegi_ = 50 (nominal) _dīnārs_, or about 3½_d._ (_Numism. Orient._, 456.) But the value in _dīnārs_ seems to be in error. [Prof. Browne, who referred the matter to M. Husayn Kuli Khān, Secretary of the Persian Embassy in London, writes: "This gentleman states that he knows no word _ghāzī-beg_, or _g̣āzī-beg_, but that there was formerly a coin called _ghāz_, of which 5 went to the _shāhī_; but this is no longer used or spoken of." The _ghāz_ was in use at any rate as late as the time of Hajji Baba; see below.]

[1615.—"The chiefest money that is current in Persia is the _Abase_,
which weigheth 2 _metzicales_. The second is the _mamede_, which is half
an _abesse_. The third is the _shahey_ and is a quarter of an _abbesse_.
In the _rial_ of eight are 13 _shayes_. In the _cheken_ of Venetia 20
_shayes_. In a _shaye_ are 2½ _bisties_ or CASBEGES 10. One _bistey_ is 4
CASBEGES or 2 _tanges_. The _Abasse_, _momede_ and _Shahey_ and _bistey_
are of silver; the rest are of copper like to the _pissas_ of
India."—_Foster, Letters_, iii. 176.]

c. 1630.—"The _Abbasee_ is in our money sixteene pence; _Larree_ ten
pence; _Mamoodee_ eight pence; _Bistee_ two pence; double COZBEG one
penny; single COZBEG one half-penny; _Fluces_ are ten to a COZBEG."—_Sir
T. Herbert_, ed. 1638, p. 231.

1673.—"A Banyan that seemingly is not worth a GOSBECK (the lowest coin
they have)."—_Fryer_, 113. See also p. 343.

" "10 COSBEAGUES is 1 Shahee; 4 Shahees is one Abassee or
16_d._"—_Ibid._ 211.

"

"Brass money with characters,
Are a GOSS, ten whereof compose a Shahee,
A GOSBEEGE, five of which go to a Shahee."
_Ibid._ 407.

1711.—"10 COZ, or _Pice_, a Copper Coin, are 1 Shahee."—_Lockyer_, 241.

1727.—"1 _Shahee_ is ... 10 GAAZ or COSBEGS."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 311;
[ed. 1744].

1752.—"10 COZBAUGUES or Pice (a Copper Coin) are 1 Shatree" (read
_Shahee_).—_Brooks_, p. 37. See also in _Hanway_, vol. i. p. 292,
KAZBEGIE; [in ii. 21, KAZBEKIE].

[1824.—"But whatever profit arose either from these services, or from the
spoils of my monkey, he alone was the gainer, for I never touched a GHAUZ
of it."—_Hajji Baba_, 52 _seq._]

1825.—"A toman contains 100 mamoodies; a new abassee, 2 mamoodies or 4
shakees ... a shakee, 10 COZ or COZBAUGUES, a small copper
coin."—_Milburn_, 2nd ed. p. 95.

GOSHA, adj. Used in some parts, as an Anglo-Indian technicality, to indicate that a woman was secluded, and cannot appear in public. It is short for P. _gosha-nishīn_, 'sitting in a corner'; and is much the same as _parda-nishīn_ (see PURDAH).

GOUNG, s. Burm. _gaung_; a village head man. ["Under the Thoogyee were _Rwa_-GOUNG, or heads of villages, who aided in the collection of the revenue and were to some extent police officials." (_Gazetteer of Burma_, i. 480.)]

A. GOUR, s. H. _gāur_, _gāuri gāē_, (but not in the dictionaries), [Platts gives _gaur_, Skt. _gaura_, 'white, yellowish, reddish, pale red']. The great wild ox, _Gavaeus Gaurus_, Jerd.; [_Bos gaurus_, Blanford (_Mammalia_), 484 _seq._], the same as the BISON (q.v.). [The classical account of the animal will be found in _Forsyth, Highlands of Central India_, ed. 1889, pp. 109 _seqq._]

1806.—"They erect strong fences, but the buffaloes generally break them
down.... They are far larger than common buffaloes. There is an account
of a similar kind called the GORE; one distinction between it and the
buffalo is the length of the hoof."—_Elphinstone_, in _Life_, i. 156.

B. GOUR, s. Properly Can. _gauḍ_, _gauṛ_, _gauḍa_. The head man of a village in the Canarese-speaking country; either as corresponding to PATEL, or to the ZEMINDAR of Bengal. [See _F. Buchanan, Mysore_, i. 268; _Rice, Mysore_, i. 579.]

c. 1800.—"Every Tehsildary is farmed out in villages to the GOURS or
head-men."—In _Munro's Life_, iii. 92.

C. GOUR, n.p. _Gauṛ_, the name of a medieval capital of Bengal, which lay immediately south of the modern civil station of Malda, and the traces of which, with occasional Mahommedan buildings, extend over an immense area, chiefly covered with jungle. The name is a form of the ancient _Gauḍa_, meaning, it is believed, 'the country of sugar,' a name applied to a large part of Bengal, and specifically to the portion where those remains lie. It was the residence of a Hindu dynasty, the Senas, at the time of the early Mahommedan invasions, and was popularly known as _Lakhnāotī_; but the reigning king had transferred his seat to Nadiya (70 m. above Calcutta) before the actual conquest of Bengal in the last years of the 12th century. Gaur was afterwards the residence of several Mussulman dynasties. [See _Ravenshaw, Gaur, its Ruins and Inscriptions_, 1878.]

1536.—"But Xercansor [Shīr Khān Sūr, afterwards King of Hindustan as Shīr
Shāh] after his success advanced along the river till he came before the
city of GOURO to besiege it, and ordered a lodgment to be made in front
of certain verandahs of the King's Palace which looked upon the river;
and as he was making his trenches certain Rumis who were resident in the
city, desiring that the King should prize them highly (_d'elles fizesse
cabedal_) as he did the Portuguese, offered their service to the King to
go and prevent the enemy's lodgment, saying that he should also send the
Portuguese with them."—_Correa_, iii. 720.

[1552.—"CAOR." See under BURRAMPOOTER.]

1553.—"The chief city of the Kingdom (of Bengala) is called GOURO. It is
situated on the banks of the Ganges, and is said to be 3 of our leagues
in length, and to contain 200,000 inhabitants. On the one side it has the
river for its defence, and on the landward faces a wall of great height
... the streets are so thronged with the concourse and traffic of people
... that they cannot force their way past ... a great part of the houses
of this city are stately and well-wrought buildings."—_Barros_, IV. ix.
cap. 1.

1586.—"From Patanaw I went to Tanda which is in the land of the GOUREN.
It hath in times past been a kingdom, but is now subdued by Zelabdin
Echebar ..."—_R. Fitch_, in _Hakluyt_, ii. 389.

1683.—"I went to see ye famous Ruins of a great Citty and Pallace called
[of] GOWRE ... we spent 3½ hours in seeing ye ruines especially of the
Pallace which has been ... in my judgment considerably bigger and more
beautifull than the Grand Seignor's Seraglio at Constantinople or any
other Pallace that I have seen in Europe."—_Hedges, Diary_, May 16; [Hak.
Soc. i. 88].

GOVERNOR'S STRAITS, n.p. This was the name applied by the Portuguese (_Estreito do Gobernador_) to the Straits of Singapore, _i.e._ the straits south of that island (or New Strait). The reason of the name is given in our first quotation. The Governor in question was the Spaniard Dom João da Silva.

1615.—"The Governor sailed from Manilha in March of this year with 10
galleons and 2 galleys.... Arriving at the Straits of Sincapur, * * * *
and passing by a new strait which since has taken the name of ESTREITO DO
GOVERNADOR, there his galleon grounded on the reef at the point of the
strait, and was a little grazed by the top of it."—_Bocarro_, 428.

1727.—"Between the small _Carimon_ and _Tanjong-bellong_ on the
Continent, is the entrance of the Streights of _Sincapure_ before
mentioned, and also into the STREIGHTS OF GOVERNADORE, the largest and
easiest Passage into the _China Seas_."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 122.

1780.—"Directions for sailing from Malacca to Pulo Timoan through
GOVERNOR'S STRAITS, commonly called the Straits of Sincapour."—_Dunn's N.
Directory_, 5th ed. p. 474. See also _Lettres Edif._, 1st ed. ii. 118.

1841.—"Singapore Strait, called GOVERNOR STRAIT, or New Strait, by the
French and Portuguese."—_Horsburgh_, 5th ed. ii. 264.

GOW, GAOU, s. Dak. H. _gau_. An ancient measure of distance preserved in S. India and Ceylon. In the latter island, where the term still is in use, the _gawwa_ is a measure of about 4 English miles. It is Pali _gāvuta_, one quarter of a _yojana_, and that again is the Skt. _gavyūti_ with the same meaning. There is in Molesworth's _Mahr. Dictionary_, and in _Wilson_, a term _gaukos_ (see COSS), 'a land measure' (for which read 'distance measure'), the distance at which the lowing of a cow may be heard. This is doubtless a form of the same term as that under consideration, but the explanation is probably modern and incorrect. The _yojana_ with which the _gau_ is correlated, appears etymologically to be 'a yoking,' viz. "the stage, or distance to be gone in one harnessing without unyoking" (_Williams_); and the lengths attributed to it are very various, oscillating from 2½ to 9 miles, and even to 8 _krośas_ (see COSS). The last valuation of the _yojana_ would correspond with that of the _gau_ at ¼.

c. 545.—"The great Island (Taprobane), according to what the natives say,
has a length of 300 GAUDIA, and a breadth of the same, _i.e._ 900
miles."—_Cosmas Indicopleustes_, (in _Cathay_, clxxvii.).

1623.—"From Garicota to Tumbre may be about a league and a half, for in
that country distances are measured by GAÙ, and each GAÙ is about two
leagues, and from Garicòta to Tumbre they said was not so much as a GAÙ
of road."—_P. della Valle_, ii. 638; [Hak. Soc. ii. 230].

1676.—"They measure the distances of places in India by GOS and _Costes_.
A GOS is about 4 of our common leagues, and a _Coste_ is one
league."—_Tavernier_, E.T. ii. 30; [ed. _Ball_, i. 47].

1860.—"A GAOU in Ceylon expresses a somewhat indeterminate length,
according to the nature of the ground to be traversed, a GAOU across a
mountainous country being less than one measured on level ground, and a
GAOU for a loaded cooley is also permitted to be shorter than for one
unburthened, but on the whole the average may be taken _under four
miles_."—_Tennent's Ceylon_, 4th ed. i. 467.

GRAB, s. This name, now almost obsolete, was applied to a kind of vessel which is constantly mentioned in the sea- and river-fights of India, from the arrival of the Portuguese down to near the end of the 18th century. That kind of etymology which works from inner consciousness would probably say: "This term has always been a puzzle to the English in India. The fact is that it was a kind of vessel much used by corsairs, who were said to _grab_ all that passed the sea. Hence," &c. But the real derivation is different.

The Rev. Howard Malcom, in a glossary attached to his _Travels_, defines it as "a square-rigged Arab vessel, having a projecting stern (stem?) and no bowsprit; it has two masts." Probably the application of the term may have deviated variously in recent days. [See _Bombay Gazetteer_, xiii. pt. i. 348.] For thus again in _Solvyns_ (_Les Hindous_, vol. i.) a _grab_ is drawn and described as a ship with three masts, a sharp prow, and a bowsprit. But originally the word seems, beyond question, to have been an Arab name for a _galley_. The proper word is Arab. _ghorāb_, 'a raven,' though adopted into Mahratti and Konkani as _gurāb_. Jal says, quoting Reinaud, that _ghorāb_ was the name given by the Moors to the true galley, and cites Hyde for the _rationale_ of the name. We give Hyde's words below. Amari, in a work quoted below (p. 397), points out the analogous _corvetta_ as perhaps a transfer of _ghurāb_:

1181.—"A vessel of our merchants ... making sail for the city of Tripoli
(which God protect) was driven by the winds on the shore of that country,
and the crew being in want of water, landed to procure it, but the people
of the place refused it unless some corn were sold to them. Meanwhile
there came a GHURĀB from Tripoli ... which took and plundered the crew,
and seized all the goods on board the vessel."[140]—_Arabic Letter from_
Ubaldo, _Archbishop and other authorities of Pisa, to the Almohad Caliph_
Abu Yak'ub Yusuf, in _Amari, Diplomi Arabi_, p. 8.

The Latin contemporary version runs thus:

"Cum quidam nostri cari cives de Siciliâ cum carico frumenti ad Tripolim
venirent, tempestate maris et vi ventorum compulsi, ad portum dictum
Macri devenerunt; ibique aquâ deficiente, et cum pro eâ auriendâ irent,
Barbarosi non permiserunt eos ... nisi prius eis de frumento venderent.
Cumque inviti eis de frumento venderent _galea_ vestra de Tripoli
armata," &c.—_Ibid._ p. 269.

c. 1200.—GHURĀB, Cornix, Corvus, galea.

* * * * *

GALEA, Ghurāb, Gharbān.—_Vocabulista Arabico_ (from Riccardian Library),
pubd. Florence, 1871, pp. 148, 404.

1343.—"Jalansi ... sent us off in company with his son, on board a vessel
called _al-'Ukairi_, which is like a GHORĀB, only more roomy. It has 60
oars, and when it engages is covered with a roof to protect the rowers
from the darts and stone-shot."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 59.

1505.—In the _Vocabulary_ of Pedro de Alcala, _galera_ is interpreted in
Arabic as GORÂB.

1554.—In the narrative of Sidi 'Ali Kapudān, in describing an action that
he fought with the Portuguese near the Persian Gulf, he says the enemy's
fleet consisted of 4 barques as big as CARRACKS (q.v.), 3 great GHURĀBS,
6 Karāwals (see CARAVEL) and 12 smaller GHURĀBS, or galliots (see
GALLEVAT) with oars.—In _J. As._, ser. 1. tom. ix. 67-68.

[c. 1610.—"His royal galley called by them Ogate GOURABE (_gourabe_ means
'galley,' and _ogate_ 'royal')."—_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 312.]

1660.—"Jani Beg might attack us from the hills, the GHRÁBS from the
river, and the men of Sihwān from the rear, so that we should be in a
critical position."—_Mohammed M'asum_, in _Elliot_, i. 250. The word
occurs in many pages of the same history.

[1679.—"My Selfe and Mr. Gapes GROB the stern most."—In _Hedges, Diary_,
Hak. Soc. ii. clxxxiv.]

1690.—"_Galera_ ... ab Arabibus tam Asiaticis quam Africanis vocatur ...
GHORÂB, _i.e._ Corvus, quasi piceâ nigredine, rostro extenso, et velis
remisque sicut alis volans galera: unde et Vlacho Graece dicitur
Μέλαινα."—_Hyde, Note on Peritsol_, in _Synt. Dissertt_. i. 97.

1673.—"Our Factors, having concerns in the cargo of the ships in this
Road, loaded two GROBS and departed."—_Fryer_, 153.

1727.—"The _Muskat_ War ... obliges them (the Portuguese) to keep an
_Armada_ of five or six Ships, besides small Frigates and GRABS of
War."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 250; [ed. 1744, ii. 253].

1750-52.—"The ships which they make use of against their enemies are
called GOERABBS by the Dutch, and GRABBS by the English, have 2 or 3
masts, and are built like our ships, with the same sort of rigging, only
their prows are low and sharp as in gallies, that they may not only place
some cannons in them, but likewise in case of emergency for a couple of
oars, to push the GRABB on in a calm."—_Olof Toreen, Voyage_, 205.

c. 1754.—"Our E. I. Company had here (Bombay) one ship of 40 guns, one of
20, one GRAB of 18 guns, and several other vessels."—_Ives_, 43. Ives
explains "Ketches, which they call GRABS." This shows the meaning already
changed, as no galley could carry 18 guns.

c. 1760.—"When the Derby, Captain Ansell, was so scandalously taken by a
few of Angria's GRABS."—_Grose_, i. 81.

1763.—"The GRABS have rarely more than two masts, though some have three;
those of three are about 300 tons burthen; but the others are not more
than 150: they are built to draw very little water, being very broad in
proportion to their length, narrowing, however, from the middle to the
end, where instead of bows they have a prow, projecting like that of a
Mediterranean galley."—_Orme_ (reprint), i. 408-9.

1810.—"Here a fine English East Indiaman, there a GRAB, or a dow from
Arabia."—_Maria Graham_, 142.

" "This GLAB (_sic_) belongs to an Arab merchant of Muscat. The
Nakhodah, an Abyssinian slave."—_Elphinstone_, in _Life_, i. 232.

[1820.—"We had scarce set sail when there came in a GHORAB (a kind of
boat) the Cotwal of Surat ..."—_Trans. Lit. Soc. Bo._ ii. 5.]

1872.—"Moored in its centre you saw some 20 or 30 GHURÁBS (grabs) from
Maskat, Baghlahs from the Persian Gulf, Kotiyahs from Kach'h, and
Pattimars or Batelas from the Konkan and Bombay."—_Burton, Sind
Revisited_, i. 83.

GRAM, s. This word is properly the Portuguese _grão_, _i.e._ 'grain,' but it has been specially appropriated to that kind of vetch (_Cicer arietinum_, L.) which is the most general grain- (rather pulse-) food of horses all over India, called in H. _chanā_. It is the Ital. _cece_, Fr. _pois chiche_, Eng. _chick-pea_ or _Egypt. pea_, much used in France and S. Europe. This specific application of _grão_ is also Portuguese, as appears from Bluteau. The word _gram_ is in some parts of India applied to other kinds of pulse, and then this application of it is recognised by qualifying it as _Bengal gram_. (See remarks under CALAVANCE.) The plant exudes oxalate of potash, and to walk through a gram-field in a wet morning is destructive to shoe-leather. The natives collect the acid.

[1513.—"And for the food of these horses (exported from the Persian Gulf)
the factor supplied GRÃOS."—_Albuquerque, Cartas_, p. 200, Letter of Dec.
4.

[1554.—(Describing Vijayanagar.) "There the food of horses and elephants
consists of GRÃOS, rice and other vegetables, cooked with _jagra_, which
is palm-tree sugar, as there is no barley in that country."—_Castanheda_,
Bk. ii. ch. 16.

[c. 1610.—"They give them also a certain GRAIN like lentils."—_Pyrard de
Laval_, Hak. Soc. ii. 79.]

1702.—"... he confessing before us that their allowance three times a
week is but a quart of rice and GRAM together for five men a day, but
promises that for the future it shall be rectified."—In _Wheeler_, ii.
10.

1776.—"... Lentils, GRAM ... mustard seed."—_Halhed's Code_, p. 8 (pt.
ii.).

1789.—"... GRAM, a small kind of pulse, universally used instead of
oats."—_Munro's Narrative_, 85.

1793.—"... GRAM, which it is not customary to give to bullocks in the
Carnatic."—_Dirom's Narrative_, 97.

1804.—"The GRAM alone, for the four regiments with me, has in some months
cost 50,000 pagodas."—_Wellington_, iii. 71.

1865.—"But they had come at a wrong season, GRAM was dear, and prices
low, and the sale concluded in a dead loss."—_Palgrave's Arabia_, 290.

GRAM-FED, adj. Properly the distinctive description of mutton and beef fattened upon gram, which used to be the pride of Bengal. But applied figuratively to any 'pampered creature.'

c. 1849.—"By an old Indian I mean a man full of curry and of bad
Hindustani, with a fat liver and no brains, but with a self-sufficient
idea that no one can know India except through long experience of brandy,
champagne, GRAM-FED mutton, cheroots and hookahs."—_Sir C. Napier_,
quoted in _Bos. Smith's Life of Ld. Lawrence_, i. 338.

1880.—"I missed two persons at the Delhi assemblage in 1877. All the
GRAM-FED secretaries and most of the alcoholic chiefs were there; but the
famine-haunted villagers and the delirium-shattered opium-eating
Chinaman, who had to pay the bill, were not present."—_Ali Baba_, 127.

GRANDONIC. (See GRUNTHUM and SANSKRIT).

GRASS-CLOTH, s. This name is now generally applied to a kind of cambric from China made from the _Chuma_ of the Chinese (_Boehmaria nivea_, Hooker, the _Rhea_, so much talked of now), and called by the Chinese _sia-pu_, or 'summer-cloth.' We find grass-cloths often spoken of by the 16th century travellers, and even later, as an export from Orissa and Bengal. They were probably made of _Rhea_ or some kindred species, but we have not been able to determine this. Cloth and nets are made in the south from the Neilgherry nettle (_Girardinia heterophylla_, D. C.)

c. 1567.—"CLOTH OF HERBES (_panni d'erba_), which is a kinde of silke,
which groweth among the woodes without any labour of man."—_Caesar
Frederike_, in _Hakl._ ii. 358.

1585.—"Great store of the CLOTH which is made from GRASSE, which they
call _yerua_" (in Orissa).—_R. Fitch_, in _Hakl._ ii. 387.

[1598.—See under SAREE.

[c. 1610.—"Likewise is there plenty of silk, as well that of the silkworm
as of the (silk) _herb_, which is of the brightest yellow colour, and
brighter than silk itself."—_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 328.]

1627.—"Their manufactories (about Balasore) are of Cotton ... Silk, and
Silk and Cotton _Romals_ ...; and of HERBA (a Sort of tough GRASS) they
make _Ginghams_, _Pinascos_, and several other Goods for
Exportation."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 397; [ed. 1744].

1813.—Milburn, in his List of Bengal Piece-Goods, has HERBA _Taffaties_
(ii. 221).

GRASS-CUTTER, s. This is probably a corruption representing the H. _ghāskhodā_ or _ghāskāṭā_, 'the digger, or cutter, of grass'; the title of a servant employed to collect grass for horses, one such being usually attached to each horse besides the SYCE or HORSE-KEEPER. In the north the _grasscutter_ is a man; in the south the office is filled by the horsekeeper's wife. _Ghāskaṭ_ is the form commonly used by Englishmen in Upper India speaking Hindustani; but _ghasiyārā_ by those aspiring to purer language. The former term appears in _Williamson's V. M._ (1810) as _gauskot_ (i. 186), the latter in _Jacquemont's Correspondence_ as _grassyara_. No grasscutters are mentioned as attached to the stables of Akbar; only a money allowance for grass. The antiquity of the Madras arrangement is shown by a passage in Castanheda (1552): "... he gave him a horse, and a boy to attend to it, and a _female slave_ to see to its fodder."—(ii. 58.)

1789.—"... an Horsekeeper and GRASSCUTTER at two pagodas."—_Munro's
Narr._ 28.

1793.—"Every horse ... has two attendants, one who cleans and takes care
of him, called the horse-keeper, and the other the GRASSCUTTER, who
provides for his forage."—_Dirom's Narr._ 242.

1846.—"Every horse has a man and a maid to himself—the maid cuts grass
for him; and every dog has a boy. I inquired whether the cat had any
servants, but I found he was allowed to wait upon himself."—_Letters from
Madras_, 37.

[1850.—"Then there are our servants ... four Saises and four GHASCUTS
..."—_Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission_, ii. 253.]

1875.—"I suppose if you were to pick up ... a GRASSCUTTER'S pony to
replace the one you lost, you wouldn't feel that you had done the rest of
the army out of their rights."—_The Dilemma_, ch. xxxvii.

[GRASSHOPPER FALLS, n.p. An Anglo-Indian corruption of the name of the great waterfall on the Sheravati River in the Shimoga District of Mysore, where the river plunges down in a succession of cascades, of which the principal is 890 feet in height. The proper name of the place is _Gersoppa_, or _Gerusappe_, which takes its name from the adjoining village; _geru_, Can., 'the marking nut plant' (_semecarpus anacardium_, L.), _soppu_, 'a leaf.' See _Mr. Grey's_ note on _P. della Valle_, Hak. Soc. ii. 218.]

GRASS-WIDOW, s. This slang phrase is applied in India, with a shade of malignity, to ladies living apart from their husbands, especially as recreating at the Hill stations, whilst the husbands are at their duties in the plains.

We do not know the origin of the phrase. In the _Slang Dictionary_ it is explained: "An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress." But no such opprobrious meanings attach to the Indian use. In _Notes and Queries_, 6th ser. viii. 414, will be found several communications on this phrase. [Also see _ibid._ x. 436, 526; xi. 178; 8th ser. iv. 37, 75.] We learn from these that in _Moor's Suffolk Words and Phrases_, GRACE-WIDOW occurs with the meaning of an unmarried mother. Corresponding to this, it is stated also, is the N.S. (?) or Low German _gras-wedewe_. The Swedish _Gräsänka_ or _-enka_ also is used for 'a low dissolute married woman living by herself.' In Belgium a woman of this description is called _haecke-wedewe_, from _haecken_, 'to feel strong desire' (to 'hanker'). And so it is suggested _gräsenka_ is contracted from _grädesenka_, from _gradig_, 'esuriens' (greedy, in fact). In Danish Dict. _graesenka_ is interpreted as a woman whose betrothed lover is dead. But the German _Stroh-Wittwe_, 'straw-widow' (which Flügel interprets as 'mock widow'), seems rather inconsistent with the suggestion that _grass-widow_ is a corruption of the kind suggested. A friend mentions that the masc. _Stroh-Wittwer_ is used in Germany for a man whose wife is absent, and who therefore dines at the eating-house with the young fellows. [The _N.E.D._ gives the two meanings: 1. An unmarried woman who has cohabited with one or more men; a discarded mistress; 2. A married woman whose husband is absent from her. "The etymological notion is obscure, but the parallel forms disprove the notion that the word is a 'corruption' of _grace-widow_. It has been suggested that in sense 1. _grass_ (and G. _stroh_) may have been used with opposition to bed. Sense 2. may have arisen as an etymologizing interpretation of the compound after it had ceased to be generally understood; in Eng. it seems to have first appeared as Anglo-Indian." The French equivalent, _Veuve de Malabar_, was in allusion to Lemierre's tragedy, produced in 1770.]

1878.—"In the evening my wife and I went out house-hunting; and we
pitched upon one which the newly incorporated body of Municipal
Commissioners and the Clergyman (who was a GRASS-WIDOWER, his wife being
at home) had taken between them."—_Life in the Mofussil_, ii. 99-100.

1879.—The Indian newspaper's "typical official rises to a late
breakfast—probably on herrings and soda-water—and dresses tastefully for
his round of morning calls, the last on a GRASS-WIDOW, with whom he has a
_tête-à-tête_ tiffin, where 'pegs' alternate with champagne."—_Simla
Letter_ in _Times_, Aug. 16.

1880.—"The GRASS-WIDOW in Nephelococcygia."—_Sir Ali Baba_, 169.

" "Pleasant times have these Indian GRASS-WIDOWS!"—_The World_,
Jan. 21, 13.

GRASSIA, s. _Grās_ (said to mean 'a mouthful') is stated by Mr. Forbes in the _Rās Mālā_ (p. 186) to have been in old times usually applied to alienations for religious objects; but its prevalent sense came to be the portion of land given for subsistence to cadets of chieftains' families. Afterwards the term _grās_ was also used for the blackmail paid by a village to a turbulent neighbour as the price of his protection and forbearance, and in other like meanings. "Thus the title of _grassia_, originally an honourable one, and indicating its possessor to be a cadet of the ruling tribe, became at last as frequently a term of opprobrium, conveying the idea of a professional robber" (_Ibid._ Bk. iv. ch. 3); [ed. 1878, p. 568].

[1584.—See under COOLY.]