Chapter LII: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (49)

MADRAS, n.p. This alternative name of the place, officially called by its founders Fort St. George, first appears about the middle of the 17th century. Its origin has been much debated, but with little result. One derivation, backed by a fictitious legend, derives the name from an imaginary Christian fisherman called _Madarasen_; but this may be pronounced philologically impossible, as well as otherwise unworthy of serious regard.[155] Lassen makes the name to be a corruption of _Manda-rājya_, 'Realm of the Stupid!' No one will suspect the illustrious author of the _Indische Alterthumskunde_ to be guilty of a joke; but it does look as if some malign Bengalee had suggested to him this gibe against the "Benighted"! It is indeed curious and true that, in Bengal, sepoys and the like always speak of the Southern Presidency as _Mandrāj_. In fact, however, all the earlier mentions of the name are in the form of _Madraspatanam_, 'the city of the _Madras_,' whatever the _Madras_ may have been. The earliest maps show _Madraspatanam_ as the Mahommedan settlement corresponding to the present Triplicane and Royapettah. The word is therefore probably of Mahommedan origin; and having got so far we need not hesitate to identify it with _Madrasa_, 'a college.' The Portuguese wrote this _Madaraza_ (see _Faria y Sousa, Africa Portuguesa_, 1681, p. 6); and the European name probably came from them, close neighbours as they were to Fort St. George, at Mylapore or San Thomé. That there was such a _Madrasa_ in existence is established by the quotation from Hamilton, who was there about the end of the 17th century.[156] Fryer's Map (1698, but illustrating 1672-73) represents the Governor's House as a building of Mahommedan architecture, with a dome. This may have been the _Madrasa_ itself. Lockyer also (1711) speaks of a "College," of which the building was "very ancient"; formerly a hospital, and then used apparently as a residence for young writers. But it is not clear whether the name "College" was not given on this last account. [The _Madras Admin. Man._ says: "The origin of this name has been much discussed. _Madrissa_, a Mahommedan school, has been suggested, which considering the date at which the name is first found seems fanciful. _Manda_ is in Sanscrit 'slow.' _Mandarāz_ was a king of the lunar race. The place was probably called after this king" (ii. 91). The _Madras Gloss._ again writes: "Hind. _Madrās_, Can. _Madarāsu_, from Tel. _Mandaradzu_, name of a local Telegu Royer," or ruler. The whole question has been discussed by Mr. Pringle (_Diary Ft. St. Geo._, 1st ser. i. 106 _seqq._). He points out that while the earliest quotation given below is dated 1653, the name, in the form _Madrazpatam_, is used by the President and Council of Surat in a letter dated 29th December, 1640 (_I. O. Records_, O. C. No. 1764); "and the context makes it pretty certain that Francis Day or some other of the factors at the new Settlement must have previously made use of it in reference to the place, or 'rather,' as the Surat letter says, 'plot of ground' offered to him. It is no doubt just possible that in the course of the negotiations Day heard or caught up the name from the Portuguese, who were at the time in friendly relations with the English; but the probabilities are certainly in the opposite direction. The _nayak_ from whom the plot was obtained must almost certainly have supplied the name, or what Francis Day conceived to be the name. Again, as regards Hamilton's mention of a 'college,' Sir H. Yule's remark certainly goes too far. Hamilton writes, 'There is a very Good Hospital in the Town, and the Company's Horse-stables are neat, but the old College where a good many Gentlemen Factors are obliged to lodge, is ill-kept in repair.' This remark taken together with that made by Lockyer ... affords proof, indeed, that there was a building known to the English as the 'College.' But it does not follow that this, or any, building was distinctively known to Musulmans as the '_madrasa_.' The 'old College' of Hamilton may have been the successor of a Musulman '_madrasa_' of some size and consequence, and if this was so the argument for the derivation would be strengthened. It is however equally possible that some old buildings within the plot of territory acquired by Day, which had never been a '_madrasa_,' was turned to use as a College or place where the young writers should live and receive instruction; and in this case the argument, so far as it rests on a mention of 'a College' by Hamilton and Lockyer, is entirely destroyed. Next as regards the probability that the first part of '_Madraspatanam_' is 'of Mahommedan origin.' Sir H. Yule does not mention that date of the maps in which _Madraspatanam_ is shown 'as the Mahommedan settlement corresponding to the present Triplicane and Royapettah'; but in Fryer's map, which represents the fort as he saw it in 1672, the name '_Madirass_'—to which is added 'the Indian Town with flat houses'—is entered as the designation of the collection of houses on the north side of the English town, and the next makes it evident that in the year in question the name of _Madras_ was applied chiefly to the crowded collection of houses styled in turn the 'Heathen,' the 'Malabar,' and the 'Black' town. This consideration does not necessarily disprove the supposed Musulman origin of 'Madras,' but it undoubtedly weakens the chain of Sir H. Yule's argument." Mr. Pringle ends by saying: "On the whole it is not unfair to say that the chief argument in favour of the derivation adopted by Sir H. Yule is of a negative kind. There are fatal objections to whatever other derivations have been suggested, but if the mongrel character of the compound '_Madrasa-patanam_' is disregarded, there is no fatal objection to the derivation from '_madrasa_.'... If however that derivation is to stand, it must not rest upon such accidental coincidences as the use of the word 'College' by writers whose knowledge of Madras was derived from visits made from 30 to 50 years after the foundation of the colony."]

1653.—"Estant desbarquez le R. P. Zenon reçut lettres de MADRASPATAN de
la detention du Rev. P. Ephraim de Neuers par l'Inquisition de Portugal,
pour avoir presché a MADRASPATAN que les Catholiques qui foüetoient et
trampoient dans des puys les images de Sainct Antoine de Pade, et de la
Vierge Marie, estoient impies, et que les Indous à tout le moins honorent
ce qu'ils estiment Sainct...."—_De la Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, 244.

c. 1665.—"Le Roi de Golconde a de grands Revenus.... Les Douanes des
marchandises qui passent sur ses Terres, et celles des Ports de
Masulipatan et de MADRESPATAN, lui rapportent beaucoup."—_Thevenot_, v.
306.

1672.—"... following upon MADRASPATAN, otherwise called _Chinnepatan_,
where the English have a Fort called St. George, chiefly garrisoned by
_Toepasses_ and _Mistices_; from this place they annually send forth
their ships, as also from Suratte."—_Baldaeus_, Germ. ed. 152.

1673.—"Let us now pass the Pale to the Heathen Town, only parted by a
wide Parrade, which is used for a _Buzzar_, or Mercate-place. MADERAS
then divides itself into divers long streets, and they are checquered by
as many transverse. It enjoys some _Choultries_ for Places of Justice;
one Exchange; one _Pagod_...."—_Fryer_, 38-39.

1726.—"The Town or Place, anciently called _Chinapatnam_, now called
MADRASPATNAM, and Fort St. George."—_Letters Patent_, in _Charters of
E.I. Company_, 368-9.

1727.—"Fort St. George or MADERASS, or as the Natives call it, _China
Patam_, is a Colony and City belonging to the _English East India
Company_, situated in one of the most incommodious Places I ever saw....
There is a very good Hospital in the Town, and the Company's
Horse-Stables are neat, but the Old College, where a great many Gentlemen
Factors are obliged to lodge, is kept in ill Repair."—_A. Hamilton_, i.
364, [ed. 1744, ii. 182]. (Also see CHINAPATAM.)

MADRAS, s. This name is applied to large bright-coloured handkerchiefs, of silk warp and cotton woof, which were formerly exported from Madras, and much used by the negroes in the W. Indies as head-dresses. The word is preserved in French, but is now obsolete in England.

c. 1830.—"... We found President Petion, the black Washington, sitting on
a very old ragged sofa, amidst a confused mass of papers, dressed in a
blue military undress frock, white trowsers, and the everlasting MADRAS
handkerchief bound round his brows."—_Tom Cringle_, ed. 1863, p. 425.

1846.—"Et Madame se manifesta! C'était une de ces vieilles dévinées par
Adrien Brauwer dans ses sorcières pour le Sabbat ... coiffée d'un MADRAS,
faisant encore papillottes avec les imprimés, que recevait gratuitement
son maître."—_Balzac, Le Cousin Pons_, ch. xviii.

MADREMALUCO, n.p. The name given by the Portuguese to the Mahommedan dynasty of Berar, called _'Imād-shāhī_. The Portuguese name represents the title of the founder _'Imād-ul-Mulk_, ('Pillar of the State'), otherwise Fath Ullah 'Imād Shāh. The dynasty was the most obscure of those founded upon the dissolution of the Bāhmani monarchy in the Deccan. (See COTAMALUCO, IDALCAN, MELIQUE VERIDO, NIZAMALUCO, SABAIO.) It began about 1484, and in 1572 was merged in the kingdom of Ahmednagar. There is another Madremaluco (or 'Imād-ul-Mulk) much spoken of in Portuguese histories, who was an important personage in Guzerat, and put to death with his own hand the king Sikandar Shāh (1526) (_Barros_, IV. v. 3; _Correa_, ii. 272, 344, &c.; _Couto_, Decs. v. and vi. _passim_).

[1543.—See under COTAMALUCO.]

1553.—"The MADRE MALUCO was married to a sister of the Hidalchan (see
IDALCAN), and the latter treated this brother-in-law of his, and MELEQUE
VERIDO as if they were his vassals, especially the latter."—_Barros_, IV.
vii. 1.

1563.—"The Imademaluco or MADREMALUCO, as we corruptly style him, was a
Circassian (_Cherques_) by nation, and had originally been a Christian,
and died in 1546.... _Imad_ is as much as to say 'prop,' and thus the
other (of these princes) was called _Imadmaluco_, or 'Prop of the
Kingdom.'..."—_Garcia_, f. 36_v_.

Neither the chronology of De Orta here, nor the statement of
Imād-ul-Mulk's Circassian origin, agree with those of Firishta. The
latter says that Fath-Ullah 'Imād Shāh was descended from the heathen of
Bijanagar (iii. 485).

MADURA, n.p., properly _Madurei_, Tam. _Mathurai_. This is still the name of a district in S. India, and of a city which appears in the Tables of Ptolemy as "Μόδουρα βασίλειον Πανδιόνος." The name is generally supposed to be the same as that of _Mathurā_, the holy and much more ancient city of Northern India, from which the name was adopted (see MUTTRA), but modified after Tamil pronunciation.[157] [On the other hand, a writer in _J. R. As. Soc._ (xiv. 578, n. 3) derives _Madura_ from the Dravidian _Madur_ in the sense of 'Old Town,' and suggests that the northern Mathura may be an offshoot from it.] _Madura_ was, from a date, at least as early as the Christian era, the seat of the Pāṇḍya sovereigns. These, according to Tamil tradition, as stated by Bp. Caldwell, had previously held their residence at _Kolkei_ on the Tamraparni, the Κόλχοι of Ptolemy. (See _Caldwell_, pp. 16, 95, 101). The name of _Madura_, probably as adopted from the holier northern Muttra, seems to have been a favourite among the Eastern settlements under Hindu influence. Thus we have _Matura_ in Ceylon; the city and island of _Madura_ adjoining Java; and a town of the same name (_Madura_) in Burma, not far north of Mandalé, _Madeya_ of the maps.

A.D. c. 70-80.—"Alius utilior portus gentis Neacyndon qui vocatur Becare.
Ibi regnabat Pandion, longe ab emporio mediterraneo distante oppido quod
vocatur MODURA."—_Pliny_, vi. 26.

[c. 1315.—"MARDI." See CRORE.]

c. 1347.—"The Sultan stopped a month at Fattan, and then departed for his
capital. I stayed 15 days after his departure, and then started for his
residence, which was at MUTRA, a great city with wide streets.... I found
there a pest raging of which people died in brief space ... when I went
out I saw only the dead and dying."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 200-1.

1311.—"... the royal canopy moved from Bírdhúl ... and 5 days afterwards
they arrived at the city of MATHRA ... the dwelling-place of the brother
of the Ráí Sundar Pándya. They found the city empty, for the Ráí had fled
with the Ránís, but had left two or three elephants in the temple of
Jagnár (Jaganāth)."—_Amír Khusrú_, in _Elliot_, iii. 91.

MADURA FOOT, s. A fungoidal disease of the foot, apparently incurable except by amputation, which occurs in the Madura district, and especially in places where the 'Black soil' prevails. Medical authorities have not yet decided on the causes or precise nature of the disease. See _Nelson, Madura_, Pt. i. pp. 91-94; [_Gribble, Cuddapah_, 193].

MAGADOXO, n.p. This is the Portuguese representation, which has passed into general European use, of _Makdashau_, the name of a town and State on the Somālī coast in E. Africa, now subject to Zanzibar. It has been shown by one of the present writers that Marco Polo, in his chapter on Madagascar, has made some confusion between Magadoxo and that island, mixing up particulars relating to both. It is possible that the name of Madagascar was really given from Makdashau, as Sir R. Burton supposes; but he does not give any authority for his statement that the name of Madagascar "came from Makdishú (Magadoxo) ... whose Sheikh invaded it" (_Comment. on Camões_, ii. 520). [Owen (_Narrative_, i. 357) writes the name _Mukdeesha_, and Boteler (_Narrative_, ii. 215) says it is pronounced by the Arabs _Mākŏdĭsha_. The name is said to be _Magaad-el-Shata_, "Harbour of the Sheep," and the first syllable has been identified with that of _Maqdala_ and is said to mean "door" in some of the Galla dialects (_Notes & Queries_, 9 ser. ii. 193, 310. Also see Mr. Gray's note on _Pyrard_, Hak. Soc. i. 29, and Dr. Burnell on _Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. i. 19.]

c. 1330.—"On departing from Zaila, we sailed on the sea for 15 days, and
then arrived at MAḲDASHAU, a town of great size. The inhabitants possess
a great number of camels, and of these they slaughter (for food) several
hundreds every day."—_Ibn Batuta_, ii. 181.

1498.—"And we found ourselves before a great city with houses of several
stories, and in the midst of the city certain great palaces; and about it
a wall with four towers; and this city stood close upon the sea, and the
Moors call it MAGADOXÓ. And when we were come well abreast of it, we
discharged many bombards (at it), and kept on our way along the coast
with a fine wind on the poop."—_Roteiro_, 102.

1505.—"And the Viceroy (Don Francisco D'Almeida) made sail, ordering the
course to be made for MAGADAXO, which he had instructions also to make
tributary. But the pilots objected saying that they would miss the season
for crossing to India, as it was already the 26th of
August...."—_Correa_, i. 560.

1514.—"... The most of them are Moors such as inhabit the city of Zofalla
... and these people continue to be found in Mazambic, Melinda,
MOGODECIO, Marachilue (read Brava Chilve, _i.e._ _Brava_ and _Quiloa_),
and Mombazza; which are all walled cities on the main land, with houses
and streets like our own; except Mazambich."—_Letter of Giov. da Empoli_,
in _Archiv. Stor. Ital._

1516.—"Further on towards the Red Sea there is another very large and
beautiful town called MAGADOXO, belonging to the Moors, and it has a King
over it, and is a place of great trade and merchandise."—_Barbosa_, 16.

1532.—"... and after they had passed Cape Guardafu, Dom Estevão was going
along in such depression that he was like to die of grief, on arriving at
MAGADOXO, they stopped to water. And the King of the country, hearing
that there had come a son of the Count Admiral, of whom all had ample
knowledge as being the first to discover and navigate on that coast, came
to the shore to see him, and made great offers of all that he could
require."—_Couto_, IV. viii. 2.

1727.—"MAGADOXA, or as the Portuguese call it, MAGADOCIA, is a pretty
large City, about 2 or 3 Miles from the Sea, from whence it has a very
fine Aspect, being adorn'd with many high Steeples and Mosques."—_A.
Hamilton_, i. 12-13, [ed. 1744].

MAGAZINE, s. This word is, of course, not Anglo-Indian, but may find a place here because of its origin from Ar. _makhāzin_, plur. of _al-makhzan_, whence Sp. _almacen_, _almagacen_, _magacen_, Port. _almazem_, _armazem_, Ital. _magazzino_, Fr. _magazin_.

c. 1340.—"The Sultan ... made him a grant of the whole city of Sīrī and
all its houses with the gardens and fields of the treasury (MAKHZAN)
adjacent to the city (of Delhi)."—_Ibn Batuta_, iii. 262.

1539.—"A que Pero de Faria respondea, que lhe desse elle commissão per
mandar nos ALMAZẼS, et que logo proveria no socorro que entendia ser
necessario."—_Pinto_, cap. xxi.

MAHÁJUN, s. Hind. from Skt. _mahā-jan_, 'great person.' A banker and merchant. In Southern and Western India the vernacular word has various other applications which are given in _Wilson_.

[1813.—"MAHAJEN, MAHAJANUM, a great person, a merchant."—_Gloss. to 5th
Rep._ s.v.]

c. 1861.—

"Down there lives a MAHAJUN—my father gave him a bill,
I have paid the knave thrice over, and here I'm paying him still.
He shows me a long stamp paper, and must have my land—must he?
If I were twenty years younger, he should get six feet by three."
_Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree._

1885.—"The MAHAJUN hospitably entertains his victim, and speeds his
homeward departure, giving no word or sign of his business till the time
for appeal has gone by, and the decree is made absolute. Then the storm
bursts on the head of the luckless hill-man, who finds himself loaded
with an overwhelming debt, which he has never incurred, and can never
hope to discharge; and so he practically becomes the MAHAJUN'S slave for
the rest of his natural life."—_Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel_,
339.

MAHANNAH, s. (See MEEANA.)

MAHÉ, n.p. Properly _Māyēl̤i_. [According to the _Madras Gloss._ the Mal. name is _Mayyazhi_, _mai_, 'black,' _azhi_, 'river mouth'; but the title is from the French _Mahé_, being one of the names of Labourdonnais.] A small settlement on the Malabar coast, 4 m. S.E. of Tellicherry, where the French established a factory for the sake of the pepper trade in 1722, and which they still retain. It is not now of any importance.

MAHI, n.p. The name of a considerable river flowing into the upper part of the Gulf of Cambay. ["The height of its banks, and the fierceness of its floods; the deep gullies through which the traveller has to pass on his way to the river, and perhaps, above all, the bad name of the tribes on its banks, explain the proverb: 'When the Mahi is crossed, there is comfort'" (_Imp. Gazetteer_, s.v.).]

c. A.D. 80-90.—"Next comes another gulf ... extending also to the north,
at the mouth of which is an island called _Baiōnēs_ (PERIM), and at the
innermost extremity a great river called MAÏS."—_Periplus_, ch. 42.

MAHOUT, s. The driver and tender of an elephant. Hind. _mahā-wat_, from Skt. _mahā-mātra_, 'great in measure,' a high officer, &c., so applied. The Skt. term occurs in this sense in the _Mahābhārata_ (_e.g._ iv. 1761, &c.). The _Mahout_ is mentioned in the 1st Book of Maccabees as 'the INDIAN.' It is remarkable that we find what is apparently _mahā-mātra_, in the sense of a high officer in Hesychius:

"Μαμάτραι, οἱ στρατηγοὶ παρ' Ἰνδοῖς."—_Hesych._ s.v.

c. 1590.—"_Mast_ elephants (see MUST). There are five and a half servants
to each, viz., first a MAHAWAT, who sits on the neck of the animal and
directs its movements.... He gets 200 _dáms_ per month.... Secondly a
_Bhói_, who sits behind, upon the rump of the elephant, and assists in
battle, and in quickening the speed of the animal; but he often performs
the duties of the MAHAWAT.... Thirdly the _Met'hs_ (see MATE).... A
_Met'h_ fetches fodder, and assists in caparisoning the
elephant...."—_Āīn_, ed. _Blochmann_, i. 125.

1648.—"... and MAHOUTS for the elephants...."—_Van Twist_, 56.

1826.—"I will now pass over the term of my infancy, which was employed in
learning to read and write—my preceptor being a MAHOUHUT, or
elephant-driver—and will take up my adventures."—_Pandurang Hari_, 21;
[ed. 1873, i. 28].

1848.—"Then he described a tiger hunt, and the manner in which the MAHOUT
of his elephant had been pulled off his seat by one of the infuriate
animals."—_Thackeray, Vanity Fair_, ch. iv.

MAHRATTA, n.p. Hind. _Marhaṭā_, _Marhaṭṭā_, _Marhāṭā_ (_Marhaṭī_, _Marahṭī_, _Marhaiṭī_), and _Marāṭhā_. The name of a famous Hindu race, from the old Skt. name of their country, _Mahā-rāshṭra_, 'Magna Regio.' [On the other hand H. A. Acworth (_Ballads of the Marathas_, Intro. vi.) derives the word from a tribal name _Raṭhī_ or _Raṭhā_, 'chariot fighters,' from _raṭh_, 'a chariot,' thus _Mahā-Raṭhā_ means 'Great Warrior.' This was transferred to the country and finally Sanskritised into _Mahā-rāshṭra_. Again some authorities (Wilson, _Indian Caste_, ii. 48; Baden-Powell, _J. R. As. Soc._, 1897, p. 249, note) prefer to derive the word from the _Mhār_ or _Mahār_, a once numerous and dominant race. And see the discussion in the _Bombay Gazetteer_, I. pt. ii. 143 _seq._]

c. 550.—"The planet (Saturn's) motion in Açleshâ causes affliction to
aquatic animals or products, and snakes ... in Pûrva Phalgunî to vendors
of liquors, women of the town, damsels, and the MAHRATTAS...."—_Bṛhat
Saṇhitā_, tr. by _Kern, J.R. As. Soc._ 2nd ser. v. 64.

640.—"De là il prit la direction du Nord-Ouest, traversa une vaste forêt,
et ... il arriva au royaume de _Mo-ho-la-to_ (MAHĀRĀSHṬRA)...."—_Pèl.
Bouddh._ i. 202; [_Bombay Gazetteer_, I. pt. ii. 353].

c. 1030.—"De Dhar, en se dirigeant vers le midi, jusqu'à la rivière de
Nymyah on comte 7 parasanges; de là à MAHRAT-DESSA 18 paras."—_Albirúni_,
in _Reinaud's Fragmens_, 109.

c. 1294-5.—"Alá-ud-dín marched to Elichpúr, and thence to Ghati-lajaura
... the people of that country had never heard of the Mussulmans; the
MAHRATTA land had never been punished by their armies; no Mussulman King
or Prince had penetrated so far."—_Zía-ud-dín Barní_, in _Elliot_, iii.
150.

c. 1328.—"In this Greater India are twelve idolatrous Kings, and more....
There is also the Kingdom of MARATHA which is very great."—_Friar
Jordanus_, 41.

1673.—"They tell their tale in MORATTY; by Profession they are
Gentues."—_Fryer_, 174.

1747.—"Agreed on the arrival of these Ships that We take Five Hundred
(500) Peons more into our Service, that the 50 MORATTA Horses be
augmented to 100 as We found them very usefull in the last
Skirmish...."—_Consn. at Ft. St. David_, Jan. 6 (MS. Record in India
Office).

1748.—"That upon his hearing the MIRATTOES had taken Tanner's Fort
..."—In _Long_, p. 5.

c. 1760.—"... those dangerous and powerful neighbors the MORATTOES; who
being now masters of the contiguous island of Salsette ..."—_Grose_, ii.
44.

" "The name of MORATTOES, or MARATTAS, is, I have reason to think,
a derivation in their country-language, or by corruption, from
_Mar-Rajah_."—_Ibid._ ii. 75.

1765.—"These united princes and people are those which are known by the
general name of MAHARATTORS; a word compounded of _Rattor_ and _Maahah_;
the first being the name of a particular _Raazpoot_ (or _Rajpoot_) tribe;
and the latter, signifying great or mighty (as explained by Mr.
Fraser)...."—_Holwell, Hist. Events_, &c., i. 105.

c. 1769.—Under a mezzotint portrait: "_The Right Honble_ George Lord
Pigot, _Baron_ Pigot _of_ Patshul _in the Kingdom of_ Ireland, _President
and Governor of and for all the Affairs of the United Company of
Merchants of_ England _trading to the_ East Indies, _on the Coast of_
Choromandel, _and_ Orixa, _and of the_ Chingee _and_ MORATTA _Countries_,
&c., &c., &c."

c. 1842.—

"... Ah, for some retreat
Deep in yonder shining Orient, where my life began to beat;
Where in wild MAHRATTA battle fell my father evil starr'd."
—_Tennyson, Locksley Hall._

The following is in the true HOBSON-JOBSON manner:

[1859.—"This term MARHATTA or MÂRHUTTA, is derived from the mode of
warfare adopted by these men. _Mar_ means to strike, and _hutna_, to get
out of the way, _i.e._ those who struck a blow suddenly and at once
retreated out of harm's way."—_H. Dundas Robertson, District Duties
during the Revolt in 1857_, p. 104, note.]

MAHRATTA DITCH, n.p. An excavation made in 1742, as described in the extract from Orme, on the landward sides of Calcutta, to protect the settlement from the Mahratta bands. Hence the term, or for shortness 'The _Ditch_' simply, as a disparaging name for Calcutta (see DITCHER). The line of the Ditch corresponded nearly with the outside of the existing Circular Road, except at the S.E. and S., where the work was never executed. [There is an excavation known by the same name at Madras excavated in 1780. (_Murray, Handbook_, 1859, p. 43).]

1742.—"In the year 1742 the Indian inhabitants of the Colony requested
and obtained permission to dig a ditch at their own expense, round the
Company's bounds, from the northern parts of Sootanatty to the southern
part of Govindpore. In six months three miles were finished: when the
inhabitants ... discontinued the work, which from the occasion was called
the MORATTOE DITCH."—_Orme_, ed. 1803, ii. 45.

1757.—"That the Bounds of _Calcutta_ are to extend the whole Circle of
_Ditch_ dug upon the Invasion of the MARATTES; also 600 yards without it,
for an Esplanade."—_Articles of Agreement sent by Colonel Clive_
(previous to the Treaty with the Nabob of May 14). In _Memoirs of the
Revolution in Bengal_, 1760, p. 89.

1782.—"To the Proprietors and Occupiers of Houses and other Tenements
within the MAHRATTA ENTRENCHMENT."—_India Gazette_, Aug. 10.

[1840.—"Less than a hundred years ago, it was thought necessary to
fortify Calcutta against the horsemen of Berar, and the name of the
MAHRATTA DITCH still preserves the memory of the danger."—_Macaulay,
Essay on Clive._]

1872.—"The Calcutta cockney, who glories in the MAHRATTA
DITCH...."—_Govinda Samanta_, i. 25.

MAHSEER, MASEER, MASAL, &c. Hind. _mahāsir_, _mahāser_, _mahāsaulā_, s. The name is applied to perhaps more than one of the larger species of _Barbus_ (N.O. _Cyprinidae_), but especially to _B. Mosul_ of Buchanan, _B. Tor_, Day, _B. megalepis_, McLelland, found in the larger Himālayan rivers, and also in the greater perennial rivers of Madras and Bombay. It grows at its largest, to about the size of the biggest salmon, and more. It affords also the highest sport to Indian anglers; and from these circumstances has sometimes been called, misleadingly, the 'Indian salmon.' The origin of the name _Mahseer_, and its proper spelling, are very doubtful. It may be Skt. _mahā-śiras_, 'big-head,' or _mahā-śalka_, 'large-scaled.' The latter is most probable, for the scales are so large that Buchanan mentions that playing cards were made from them at Dacca. Mr. H. S. Thomas suggests _mahā-āsya_, 'great mouth.' [The word does not appear in the ordinary dicts.; on the whole, perhaps the derivation from _mahā-śiras_ is most probable.]

c. 1809.—"The MASAL of the Kosi is a very large fish, which many people
think still better than the Rohu, and compare it to the
salmon."—_Buchanan, Eastern India_, iii. 194.

1822.—"MAHASAULA and _Tora_, variously altered and corrupted, and with
various additions may be considered as genuine appellations, amongst the
natives for these fishes, all of which frequent large rivers."—_F.
Buchanan Hamilton, Fishes of the Ganges_, 304.

1873.—"In my own opinion and that of others whom I have met, the MAHSEER
shows more sport for its size than a salmon."—_H. S. Thomas, The Rod in
India_, p. 9.

MAINATO, s. Tam. Mal. _Mainātta_, a washerman or DHOBY (q.v.).

1516.—"There is another sect of Gentiles which they call MAINATOS, whose
business it is to wash the clothes of the Kings, Bramins, and Naires; and
by this they get their living; and neither they nor their sons can take
up any other business."—_Barbosa_, Lisbon ed., 334.

c. 1542.—"In this inclosure do likewise remain all the Landresses, by
them called MAYNATES, which wash the linnen of the City (Pequin), who, as
we were told, are above an hundred thousand."—_Pinto_, in _Cogan_, p.
133. The original (cap. cv.) has _todos os_ MAINATOS, whose sex Cogan has
changed.

1554.—"And the farm (_renda_) of MAINATOS, which farm prohibits any one
from washing clothes, which is the work of a MAINATO, except by
arrangement with the farmer (Rendeiro)...."—_Tombo_, &c., 53.

[1598.—"There are some among them that do nothing els but wash cloathes:
... they are called MAYNATTOS."—_Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. i. 260.

[c. 1610.—"These folk (the washermen) are called MENATES."—_Pyrard de
Laval_, Hak. Soc. ii. 71.]

1644.—(Expenses of Daman) "For two MAYNATOS, three water _boys_ (_bois de
agoa_), one _sombreyro boy_, and 4 torch bearers for the said Captain, at
1 xerafim each a month, comes in the year to 36,000 _rés_ or x^{ns}.
00120.0.00."—_Bocarro_, MS. f. 181.

MAISTRY, MISTRY, sometimes even MYSTERY, s. Hind. _mistrī_. This word, a corruption of the Portuguese _mestre_, has spread into the vernaculars all over India, and is in constant Anglo-Indian use. Properly 'a foreman,' 'a master-workman'; but used also, at least in Upper India, for any artizan, as _rāj-mistrī_ (properly Pers. _rāz_), 'a mason or bricklayer,' _lohār-mistrī_, 'a blacksmith,' &c. The proper use of the word, as noted above, corresponds precisely to the definition of the Portuguese word, as applied to artizans in Bluteau: "Artifice que sabe bem o seu officio. _Peritus artifex.... Opifex, alienorum operum inspector._" In W. and S. India MAISTRY, as used in the household, generally means the cook, or the tailor. (See CALEEFA.)

MASTÈR (Мастеръ) is also the Russian term for a skilled workman, and has given rise to several derived adjectives. There is too a similar word in modern Greek, μαγίστωρ.

1404.—"And in these (chambers) there were works of gold and azure and of
many other colours, made in the most marvellous way; insomuch that even
in Paris whence come the subtle MAESTROS, it would be reckoned beautiful
to see."—_Clavijo_, § cv. (Comp. _Markham_, p. 125).

1524.—"And the Viceroy (D. Vasco da Gama) sent to seize in the river of
the Culymutys four newly-built CATURS, and fetched them to Cochin. These
were built very light for fast rowing, and were greatly admired. But he
ordered them to be burned, saying that he intended to show the Moors that
we knew how to build better CATURS than they did; and he sent for MESTRE
Vyne the Genoese, whom he had brought to build galleys, and asked him if
he could build boats that would row faster than the Malabar paraos (see
PROW). He answered: 'Sir, I'll build you brigantines fast enough to catch
a mosquito....'"—_Correa_, ii. 830.

[1548.—"He ordered to be collected in the smithies of the dockyard as
many smiths as could be had, for he had many MISTERES."—_Ibid._ iv. 663.]

1554.—"To the MESTRÈ of the smith's shop (_ferraria_) 30,000 reis of
salary and 600 reis for maintenance" (see BATTA).—_S. Botelho, Tombo_,
65.

1800.—"... I have not yet been able to remedy the mischief done in my
absence, as we have the advantage here of the assistance of some Madras
DUBASHES and MAISTRIES" (ironical).—_Wellington_, i. 67.

1883.—"... My mind goes back to my ancient Goanese cook. He was only a
MAISTRY, or more vulgarly a BOBBERJEE (see BOBACHEE), yet his sonorous
name recalled the conquest of Mexico, or the doubling of the
Cape."—_Tribes on My Frontier_, 35.

[1900.—"MYSTERY very sick, Mem Sahib, very sick all the night."—_Temple
Bar_, April.]

MAJOON, s. Hind. from Ar. _ma'jūn_, lit. 'kneaded,' and thence what old medical books call 'an electuary' (_i.e._ a compound of medicines kneaded with syrup into a soft mass), but especially applied to an intoxicating confection of hemp leaves, &c., sold in the bazar. [_Burton, Ar. Nights_, iii. 159.] In the Deccan the form is ma'jūm. Moodeen Sheriff, in his Suppt. to the _Pharmac. of India_, writes _maghjūn_. "The chief ingredients in making it are _ganja_ (or hemp) leaves, milk, _ghee_, poppy-seeds, flowers of the thorn-apple (see DATURA), the powder of nux vomica, and sugar" (_Qanoon-e-Islam_, Gloss. lxxxiii).

1519.—"Next morning I halted ... and indulging myself with a MAAJÛN, made
them throw into the water the liquor used for intoxicating fishes, and
caught a few fish."—_Baber_, 272.

1563.—"And this they make up into an electuary, with sugar, and with the
things above-mentioned, and this they call MAJU."—_Garcia_, f. 27_v_.

1781.—"Our ill-favoured guard brought in a dose of MAJUM each, and
obliged us to eat it ... a little after sunset the surgeon came, and with
him 30 or 40 Caffres, who seized us, and held us fast till the operation
(circumcision) was performed."—_Soldier's letter_ quoted in _Hon. John
Lindsay's Journal of Captivity in Mysore, Lives of Lindsays_, iii. 293.

1874.—"... it (Bhang) is made up with flour and various additions into a
sweetmeat or MAJUM of a green colour."—_Hanbury and Flückiger_, 493.

MALABAR, n.p.

A. The name of the sea-board country which the Arabs called the 'Pepper-Coast,' the ancient _Kerala_ of the Hindus, the Λιμύρικη, or rather Διμύρικη, of the Greeks (see TAMIL), is not in form indigenous, but was applied, apparently, first by the Arab or Arabo-Persian mariners of the Gulf. The substantive part of the name, _Malai_, or the like, is doubtless indigenous; it is the Dravadian term for 'mountain' in the Sanskritized form _Malaya_, which is applied specifically to the southern portion of the Western Ghauts, and from which is taken the indigenous term _Malayālam_, distinguishing that branch of the Dravidian language in the tract which we call _Malabar_. This name—_Male_ or _Malai_, _Malīah_, &c.,—we find in the earlier post-classic notices of India; whilst in the great Temple-Inscription of Tanjore (11th century) we find the region in question called _Malai-nāḍu_ (_nāḍu_, 'country'). The affix _bār_ appears attached to it first (so far as we are aware) in the Geography of Edrisi (c. 1150). This (Persian?) termination, _bār_, whatever be its origin, and whether or no it be connected either with the Ar. _barr_, 'a continent,' on the one hand, or with the Skt. _vāra_, 'a region, a slope,' on the other, was most assuredly applied by the navigators of the Gulf to other regions which they visited besides Western India. Thus we have _Zangī-bār_ (mod. ZANZIBAR), 'the country of the Blacks'; _Kalāh-bār_, denoting apparently the coast of the Malay Peninsula; and even according to the dictionaries, _Hindū-bār_ for India. In the Arabic work which affords the second of these examples (_Relation_, &c., tr. by _Reinaud_, i. 17) it is expressly explained: "The word _bār_ serves to indicate that which is both a coast and a kingdom." It will be seen from the quotations below that in the Middle Ages, even after the establishment of the use of this termination, the exact form of the name as given by foreign travellers and writers, varies considerably. But, from the time of the Portuguese discovery of the Cape route, _Malavar_, or _Malabar_, as we have it now, is the persistent form. [Mr. Logan (_Manual_, i. 1) remarks that the name is not in use in the district itself except among foreigners and English-speaking natives; the ordinary name is _Malayālam_ or _Malāyam_, 'the Hill Country.']

c. 545.—"The imports to Taprobane are silk, aloeswood, cloves,
sandalwood.... These again are passed on from Sielediba to the marts on
this side, such as Μαλὲ, where the pepper is grown.... And the most
notable places of trade are these, Sindu ... and then the five marts of
Μαλὲ, from which the pepper is exported, viz., _Parti_, _Mangaruth_,
_Salopatana_, _Nalopatana_, and _Pudopatana_."—_Cosmas_, Bk. xi. In
_Cathay_, &c., p. clxxviii.

c. 645.—"To the south this kingdom is near the sea. There rise the
mountains called MO-LA-YE (_Malaya_), with their precipitous sides, and
their lofty summits, their dark valleys and their deep ravines. On these
mountains grows the white sandalwood."—_Hwen T'sang_, in _Julien_, iii.
122.

851.—"From this place (Maskat) ships sail for India, and run for
Kaulam-MALAI; the distance from Maskat to Kaulam-MALAI is a month's sail
with a moderate wind."—_Relation_, &c., tr. by _Reinaud_, i. 15. The same
work at p. 15 uses the expression "Country of Pepper"
(_Balad-ul-falfal_).

890.—"From Sindán to MALÍ is five days' journey; in the latter pepper is
to be found, also the bamboo."—_Ibn Khurdádba_, in _Elliot_, i. 15.

c. 1030.—"You enter then on the country of Lárán, in which is Jaimúr (see
under CHOUL), then MALIAH, then Kánchí, then Dravira (see
DRAVIDIAN)."—_Al-Birúni_, in _Reinaud, Fragmens_, 121.

c. 1150.—"Fandarina (see PANDARANI) is a town built at the mouth of a
river which comes from MANÍBÁR, where vessels from India and Sind cast
anchor."—_Idrisi_, in _Elliot_, i. 90.

c. 1200.—"Hari sports here in the delightful spring ... when the breeze
from MALAYA is fragrant from passing over the charming _lavanga_"
(cloves).—_Gīta Govinda._

1270.—"MALIBAR is a large country of India, with many cities, in which
pepper is produced."—_Kazwīnī_, in _Gildemeister_, 214.

1293.—"You can sail (upon that sea) between these islands and Ormes, and
(from Ormes) to those parts which are called (MINIBAR), is a distance of
2,000 miles, in a direction between south and south-east; then 300 miles
between east and south-east from MINIBAR to Maabar" (see MABAR).—Letter
of _Fr. John of Montecorvino_, in _Cathay_, i. 215.

1298.—"MELIBAR is a great kingdom lying towards the west.... There is in
this kingdom a great quantity of pepper."—_Marco Polo_, Bk. iii. ch. 25.

c. 1300.—"Beyond Guzerat are Kankan (see CONCAN) and TĀNA; beyond them
the country of MALÍBÁR, which from the boundary of Karoha to Kúlam
(probably from _Gheriah_ to QUILON) is 300 parasangs in
length."—_Rashíduddín_, in _Elliot_, i. 68.

c. 1320.—"A certain traveller states that India is divided into three
parts, of which the first, which is also the most westerly, is that on
the confines of Kerman and Sind, and is called Gūzerāt; the second
MANĪBĀR, or the Land of Pepper, east of Gūzerāt."—_Abulfeda_, in
_Gildemeister_, 184.

c. 1322.—"And now that ye may know how pepper is got, let me tell you
that it groweth in a certain empire, whereunto I came to land, the name
whereof is MINIBAR."—_Friar Odoric_, in _Cathay_, &c., 74.

c. 1343.—"After 3 days we arrived in the country of the MULAIBĀR, which
is the country of Pepper. It stretches in length a distance of two
months' march along the sea-shore."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 71.

c. 1348-49.—"We embarked on board certain junks from Lower India, which
is called MINUBAR."—_John de' Marignolli_, in _Cathay_, 356.

c. 1420-30.—"... Departing thence he ... arrived at a noble city called
Coloen.... This province is called MELIBARIA, and they collect in it the
ginger called by the natives _colombi_, pepper, brazil-wood, and the
cinnamon, called _canella grossa_."—_Conti_, corrected from Jones's tr.
in _India in XVth Cent._ 17-18.

c. 1442.—"The coast which includes Calicut with some neighbouring ports,
and which extends as far as (Kael), a place situated opposite to the
Island of Serendib ... bears the general name of MELĪBĀR."—_Abdurrazzāk_,
_ibid._ 19.

1459.—Fra Mauro's great Map has MILIBAR.

1514.—"In the region of India called MELIBAR, which province begins at
Goa, and extends to Cape Comedis (COMORIN)...."—Letter of _Giov. da
Empoli_, 79. It is remarkable to find this Florentine using this old form
in 1514.

1516.—"And after that the Moors of Meca discovered India, and began to
navigate near it, which was 610 years ago, they used to touch at this
country of MALABAR on account of the pepper which is found
there."—_Barbosa_, 102.

1553.—"We shall hereafter describe particularly the position of this city
of Calecut, and of the country of MALAUAR in which it stands."—_Barros_,
Dec. I. iv. c. 6. In the following chapter he writes MALABAR.

1554.—"_From Diu to the Islands of Dib._ Steer first S.S.E., the pole
being made by five inches, side towards the land in the direction of
E.S.E. and S.E. by E. till you see the mountains of MONÍBÁR."—_The
Mohit_, in _J. As. Soc. Ben._ v. 461.

1572.—

"Esta provincia cuja porto agora
Tomado tendes, MALABAR se chama:
Do culto antiguo os idolos adora,
Que cà por estas partes se derrama."
_Camões_, vii. 32.

By Burton:

"This province, in whose Ports your ships have tane
refuge, the MALABAR by name is known;
its ántique rite adoreth idols vain,
Idol-religion being broadest sown."

Since De Barros MALABAR occurs almost universally.

[1623.—"... MAHABAR Pirates...."—_P. della Valle_, Hak. Soc. i. 121.]

1877.—The form MALIBAR is used in a letter from Athanasius Peter III.,
"Patriarch of the Syrians of Antioch" to the Marquis of Salisbury, dated
Cairo, July 18.

MALABAR, n.p.

B. This word, through circumstances which have been fully elucidated by Bishop Caldwell in his _Comparative Grammar_ (2nd ed. 10-12), from which we give an extract below,[158] was applied by the Portuguese not only to the language and people of the country thus called, but also to the _Tamil_ language and the people speaking Tamil. In the quotations following, those under _A_ apply, or may apply, to the proper people or language of Malabar (see MALAYALAM); those under _B_ are instances of the misapplication to Tamil, a misapplication which was general (see _e.g._ in _Orme_, _passim_) down to the beginning of the last century, and which still holds among the more ignorant Europeans and Eurasians in S. India and Ceylon.

(_A._)

1552.—"A lingua dos Gentios de Canara e MALABAR."—_Castanheda_, ii. 78.

1572.—

"Leva alguns MALABARES, que tomou
Por força, dos que o Samorim mandara."
_Camões_, ix. 14.

[By Aubertin:

"He takes some Malabars he kept on board
By force, of those whom Samorin had sent ..."]

1582.—"They asked of the MALABARS which went with him what he
was?"—_Castañeda_, (tr. by N. L.) f. 37_v_.

1602.—"We came to anchor in the Roade of Achen ... where we found
sixteene or eighteene saile of shippes of diuers Nations, some
_Goserats_, some of _Bengala_, some of _Calecut_, called MALABARES, some
_Pegues_, and some _Patanyes_."—_Sir J. Lancaster_, in _Purchas_, i. 153.

1606.—In _Gouvea_ (_Synodo_, ff. 2_v_, 3, &c.) MALAVAR means the
_Malayālam_ language.

(_B._)

1549.—"Enrico Enriques, a Portuguese priest of our Society, a man of
excellent virtue and good example, who is now in the Promontory of
Comorin, writes and speaks the MALABAR tongue very well indeed."—Letter
of _Xavier_, in Coleridge's _Life_, ii. 73.

1680.—"Whereas it hath been hitherto accustomary at this place to make
sales and alienations of houses in writing in the Portuguese, Gentue, and
MALLABAR languages, from which some inconveniences have arisen...."—_Ft.
St. Geo. Consn._, Sept 9, in _Notes and Extracts_, No. iii. 33.

[1682.—"An order in English Portuguez Gentue & MALLABAR for the
preventing the transportation of this Countrey People and makeing them
slaves in other Strange Countreys...."—_Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo._, 1st
ser. i. 87.]

1718.—"This place (Tranquebar) is altogether inhabited by MALABARIAN
Heathens."—_Propn. of the Gospel in the East_, Pt. i. (3rd ed.), p. 18.

" "Two distinct languages are necessarily required; one is the
_Damulian_, commonly called MALABARICK."—_Ibid._ Pt. iii. 33.

1734.—"Magnopere commendantes zelum, ac studium Missionariorum, qui
libros sacram Ecclesiae Catholicae doctrinam, rerumque sacrarum monumenta
continentes, pro Indorum Christi fidelium eruditione in linguam
MALABARICAM seu Tamulicam transtulere."—_Brief of Pope Clement XII._, in
_Norbert_, ii. 432-3. These words are adopted from Card. Tournon's decree
of 1704 (see _ibid._ i. 173).

c. 1760.—"Such was the ardent zeal of M. Ziegenbalg that in less than a
year he attained a perfect knowledge of the MALABARIAN tongue.... He
composed also a MALABARIAN dictionary of 20,000 words."—_Grose_, i. 261.

1782.—"Les habitans de la côte de Coromandel sont appellés _Tamouls_; les
Européens les nomment improprement MALABARS."—_Sonnerat_, i. 47.

1801.—"From Niliseram to the Chandergerry River no language is understood
but the MALABARS of the Coast."—_Sir T. Munro_, in _Life_, i. 322.

In the following passage the word MALABARS is misapplied still further, though by a writer usually most accurate and intelligent:

1810.—"The language spoken at Madras is the _Talinga_, here called
MALABARS."—_Maria Graham_, 128.

1860.—"The term 'MALABAR' is used throughout the following pages in the
comprehensive sense in which it is applied in the Singhalese Chronicles
to the continental invaders of Ceylon; but it must be observed that the
adventurers in these expeditions, who are styled in the _Mahawanso_
'_damilos_,' or Tamils, came not only from ... 'Malabar,' but also from
all parts of the Peninsula as far north as Cuttack and
Orissa."—_Tennent's Ceylon_, i. 353.

MALABAR-CREEPER, s. _Argyreia malabarica_, Choisy.

[MALABAR EARS, s. The seed vessels of a tree which Ives calls _Codaga palli_.

1773.—"From their shape they are called MALABAR-EARS, on account of the
resemblance they bear to the ears of the women of the Malabar coast,
which from the large slit made in them and the great weight of ornamental
rings put into them, are rendered very large, and so long that sometimes
they touch the very shoulders."—_Ives_, 465.

MALABAR HILL, n.p. This favourite site of villas on Bombay Island is stated by Mr. Whitworth to have acquired its name from the fact that the Malabar pirates, who haunted this coast, used to lie behind it.

[1674.—"On the other side of the great Inlet, to the Sea, is a great
Point abutting against Old Woman's Island, and is called MALABAR-HILL ...
the remains of a stupendous Pagod, near a Tank of Fresh Water, which the
Malabars visited it mostly for."—_Fryer_, 68 _seq._]

[MALABAR OIL, s. "The ambiguous term 'MALABAR OIL' is applied to a mixture of the oil obtained from the livers of several kinds of fishes frequenting the Malabar Coast of India and the neighbourhood of Karachi."—_Watt, Econ. Dict._ v. 113.]

MALABAR RITES. This was a name given to certain heathen and superstitious practices which the Jesuits of the Madura, Carnatic, and Mysore Missions permitted to their converts, in spite of repeated prohibitions by the Popes. And though these practices were finally condemned by the Legate Cardinal de Tournon in 1704, they still subsist, more or less, among native Catholic Christians, and especially those belonging to the (so-called) Goa Churches. These practices are generally alleged to have arisen under Father de' Nobili ("Robertus de Nobilibus"), who came to Madura about 1606. There can be no doubt that the aim of this famous Jesuit was to present Christianity to the people under the form, as it were, of a Hindu translation!

The nature of the practices of which we speak may be gathered from the following particulars of their prohibition. In 1623 Pope Gregory XV., by a constitution dated 31st January, condemned the following:—1. The investiture of Brahmans and certain other castes with the sacred thread, through the agency of Hindu priests, and with Hindu ceremonies. For these Christian ceremonies were to be substituted; and the thread was to be regarded as only a civil badge. 2. The ornamental use of sandalwood paste was permitted, but not its superstitious use, _e.g._, in mixture with cowdung ashes, &c., for ceremonial purification. 3. Bathing as a ceremonial purification. 4. The observance of caste, and the refusal of high-caste Christians to mix with low-caste Christians in the churches was disapproved.

The quarrels between Capuchins and Jesuits later in the 17th century again brought the Malabar Rites into notice, and Cardinal de Tournon was sent on his unlucky mission to determine these matters finally. His decree (June 23, 1704) prohibited:—1. A mutilated form of baptism, in which were omitted certain ceremonies offensive to Hindus, specifically the use of '_saliva, sal, et insufflatio_.' 2. The use of Pagan names. 3. The Hinduizing of Christian terms by translation. 4. Deferring the baptism of children. 5. Infant marriages. 6. The use of the Hindu _tali_ (see TALEE). 7. Hindu usages at marriages. 8. Augury at marriages, by means of a coco-nut. 9. The exclusion of women from churches during certain periods. 10. Ceremonies on a girl's attainment of puberty. 11. The making distinctions between Pariahs and others. 12. The assistance of Christian musicians at heathen ceremonies. 13. The use of ceremonial washings and bathings. 14. The use of cowdung-ashes. 15. The reading and use of Hindu books.

With regard to No. 11 it may be observed that in South India the distinction of castes still subsists, and the only Christian Mission in that quarter which has really succeeded in abolishing caste is that of the Basel Society.

MALABATHRUM, s. There can be very little doubt that this classical export from India was the dried leaf of various species of Cinnamomum, which leaf was known in Skt. as _tamāla-pattra_. Some who wrote soon after the Portuguese discoveries took, perhaps not unnaturally, the _pān_ or betel-leaf for the _malabathrum_ of the ancients; and this was maintained by Dean Vincent in his well-known work on the _Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients_, justifying this in part by the Ar. name of the betel, _tambūl_, which is taken from Skt. _tāmbūla_, betel; _tāmbūla-pattra_, betel-leaf. The _tamāla-pattra_, however, the produce of certain wild spp. of Cinnamomum, obtained both in the hills of Eastern Bengal and in the forests of Southern India, is still valued in India as a medicine and aromatic, though in no such degree as in ancient times, and it is usually known in domestic economy as TEJPĀT, or corruptly _tezpāt_, _i.e._ 'pungent leaf.' The leaf was in the Arabic Materia Medica under the name of _sādhaj_ or _sādhajī Hindī_, as was till recently in the English Pharmacopœia as _Folium indicum_, which will still be found in Italian drug-shops. The matter is treated, with his usual lucidity and abundance of local knowledge, in the _Colloquios_ of Garcia de Orta, of which we give a short extract. This was evidently unknown to Dean Vincent, as he repeats the very errors which Garcia dissipates. Garcia also notes that confusion of _Malabathrum_ and _Folium indicum_ with spikenard, which is traceable in Pliny as well as among the Arab pharmacologists. The ancients did no doubt apply the name _Malabathrum_ to some other substance, an unguent or solid extract. Rheede, we may notice, mentions that in his time in Malabar, oils in high medical estimation were made from both leaves and root of the "wild cinnamon" of that coast, and that from the root of the same tree a _camphor_ was extracted, having several of the properties of real camphor and more fragrance. (See a note by one of the present writers in _Cathay_, &c., pp. cxlv.-xlvi.) The name _Cinnamon_ is properly confined to the tree of Ceylon (_C. Zeylanicum_). The other _Cinnamoma_ are properly _Cassia barks_. [See _Watt. Econ. Dict._ ii. 317 _seqq._]

c. A.D. 60.—"Μαλάβαθρον ἔνιοι ὑπολάμβάνουσιν εἶναι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς νάρδου
φύλλον, πλανώμενοι ὑπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὀσμὴν, ἐμφερειας, ... ἴδιον γαρ ἐστι
γένος φυόμενον ἐν τοῖς Ἰνδικοῖς τέλμασι, φύλλον ὃν ἐπινηχόμενον
ὕδατι."—_Dioscorides, Mat. Med._ i. 11.

c. A.D. 70.—"We are beholden to Syria for Malabathrum. This is a tree
that beareth leaves rolled up round together, and seeming to the eie
withered. Out of which there is drawn and pressed an Oile for perfumers
to use.... And yet there commeth a better kind thereof from India.... The
rellish thereof ought to resemble Nardus at the tongue end. The perfume
or smell that ... the leafe yeeldeth when it is boiled in wine, passeth
all others. It is straunge and monstrous which is observed in the price;
for it hath risen from one denier to three hundred a pound."—_Pliny_,
xii. 26, in _Ph. Holland_.

c. A.D. 90.—"... Getting rid of the fibrous parts, they take the leaves
and double them up into little balls, which they stitch through with the
fibres of the withes. And these they divide into three classes.... And
thus originate the three qualities of MALABATHRUM, which the people who
have prepared them carry to India for sale."—_Periplus_, near the end.
[Also see _Yule, Intro. Gill, River of Golden Sand_, ed. 1883, p. 89.]

1563.—"_R._ I remember well that in speaking of betel you told me that it
was not _folium indu_, a piece of information of great value to me; for
the physicians who put themselves forward as having learned much from
these parts, assert that they are the same; and what is more, the modern
writers ... call betel in their works _tembul_, and say that the Moors
give it this name....

"_O._ That the two things are different as I told you is clear, for
Avicenna treats them in two different chapters, viz., in 259, which
treats of _folium indu_, and in 707, which treats of _tambul_ ... and the
_folium indu_ is called by the Indians TAMALAPATRA, which the Greeks and
Latins corrupted into MALABATHRUM," &c.—_Garcia_, ff. 95_v_, 96.

c. 1690.—"Hoc Tembul seu Sirium, licet vulgatissimum in India sit folium,
distinguendum est a _Folio Indo_ seu MALABATHRO, Arabibus _Cadegi Hindi_,
in Pharmacopoeis, et Indis, _Tamala-patra_ et _folio Indo_ dicto,... A
nostra autem natione intellexi MALABATHRUM nihil aliud esse quam folium
canellae, seu cinnamomi sylvestris."—_Rumphius_, v. 337.

c. 1760.—"... quand l'on considère que les Indiens appellent notre
feuille Indienne TAMALAPATRA on croit d'apercevoir que le mot Grec
μαλάβατρον en a été anciennement dérivé."—(_Diderot_) _Encyclopédie_, xx.
846.

1837.—(MALATROON is given in Arabic works of Materia Medica as the Greek
of _Sādhaj_, and _tuj_ and _tej-pat_ as the Hindi synonymes). "By the
latter names may be obtained everywhere in the bazars of India, the
leaves of _Cinn. Tamala_ and of _Cinn. albiflorum_."—_Royle, Essay on
Antiq. of Hindoo Medicine_, 85.