Chapter LXIV: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (61)

PARABYKE, s. Burmese _pārabeik_; the name given to a species of writing book which is commonly used in Burma. It consists of paper made from the bark of a spec. of _daphne_, which is agglutinated into a kind of pasteboard and blackened with a paste of charcoal. It is then folded, screen-fashion, into a note-book and written on with a steatite pencil. The same mode of writing has long been used in Canara; and from La Loubère we see that it is or was used also in Siam. The Canara books are called _kaḍatam_, and are described by Col. Wilks under the name of _cudduttum_, _carruttum_, or _currut_ (_Hist. Sketches_, Pref. I. xii.). They appear exactly to resemble the Burmese _para-beik_, except that the substance blackened is cotton cloth instead of paper. "The writing is similar to that on a slate, and may be in like manner rubbed out and renewed. It is performed by a pencil of the _balapum_ [Can. _balapa_] or _lapis ollaris_; and this mode of writing was not only in ancient use for records and public documents, but is still universally employed in Mysoor by merchants and shopkeepers, I have even seen a bond, regularly witnessed, entered in the _cudduttum_ of a merchant, produced and received in evidence.

"This is the word _kirret_, translated 'palm-leaf' (of course conjecturally) in Mr. Crisp's translation of Tippoo's regulations. The Sultan prohibited its use in recording the public accounts; but altho' liable to be expunged, and affording facility to permanent entries, it is a much more durable material and record than the best writing on the best paper.... It is probable that this is the linen or cotton cloth described by Arrian, from Nearchus, on which the Indians wrote." (_Strabo_, XV. i. 67.)

1688.—"The Siamese make Paper of old Cotton rags, and likewise of the
bark of a Tree named _Ton coi_ ... but these Papers have a great deal
less Equality, Body and Whiteness than ours. The Siameses cease not to
write thereon with China Ink. Yet most frequently they black them, which
renders them smoother, and gives them a greater body; and then they write
thereon with a kind of _Crayon_, which is made only of a clayish earth
dry'd in the Sun. Their Books are not bound, and consist only in a very
long Leaf ... which they fold in and out like a Fan, and the way which
the Lines are wrote, is according to the length of the folds...."—_De la
Loubère, Siam_, E.T. p. 12.

1855.—"Booths for similar goods are arrayed against the corner of the
palace palisades, and at the very gate of the Palace is the principal
mart for the stationers who deal in the PARA-BEIKS (or black books) and
steatite pencils, which form the only ordinary writing materials of the
Burmese in their transactions."—_Yule, Mission to Ava_, 139.

PARANGHEE, s. An obstinate chronic disease endemic in Ceylon. It has a superficial resemblance to syphilis; the whole body being covered with ulcers, while the sufferer rapidly declines in strength. It seems to arise from insufficient diet, and to be analogous to the _pellagra_ which causes havoc among the peasants of S. Europe. The word is apparently FIRINGHEE, 'European,' or (in S. India) 'Portuguese'; and this would point perhaps to association with syphilis.

PARBUTTY, s. This is a name in parts of the Madras Presidency for a subordinate village officer, a writer under the PATEL, sometimes the village-crier, &c., also in some places a superintendent or manager. It is a corruption of Telug. and Canarese _pārapatti_, _pārupatti_, Mahr. and Konkani, _pārpatya_, from Skt. _pravṛitti_, 'employment.' The term frequently occurs in old Port. documents in such forms as _perpotim_, &c. We presume that the Great Duke (audax omnia _perpeti_!) has used it in the Anglicised form at the head of this article; for though we cannot find it in his Despatches, Gurwood's _Explanation of Indian Terms_ gives "PARBUTTY, writer to the Patell." [See below.]

1567.—"... That no unbeliever shall serve as scrivener, SHROFF
(_xarrafo_), MOCUDDUM, NAIQUE (see NAIK), PEON, PARPATRIM, collector
(_saccador_), constable (? _corrector_), interpreter, procurator, or
solicitor in court, nor in any other office or charge by which they may
in any way whatever exercise authority over Christians...."—_Decree 27 of
the Sacred Council of Goa_, in _Arch. Port. Orient._ fasc. 4.

1800.—"In case of failure in the payment of these instalments, the crops
are seized, and sold by the PARPUTTY or accomptant of the
division."—_Buchanan's Mysore_, ii. 151-2. The word is elsewhere
explained by Buchanan, as "the head person of a _Hobly_ in Mysore." A
_Hobly_ [Canarese and Malayāl. _hobali_] is a sub-division of a TALOOK
(i. 270).

[1803.—"Neither has any one a right to compel any of the inhabitants,
much less the particular servants of the government, to attend him about
the country, as the soubahdar (see SOUBADAR) obliged the PARBUTTY and
pateel (see PATEL) to do, running before his horse."—_Wellington, Desp._
i. 323. (_Stanf. Dict._).]

1878.—"The staff of the village officials ... in most places comprises
the following members ... the crier (PARPOTI)...."—_Fonseca, Sketch of
Goa_, 21-22.

PARDAO, s. This was the popular name among the Portuguese of a gold coin from the native mints of Western India, which entered largely into the early currency of Goa, and the name of which afterwards attached to a silver money of their own coinage, of constantly degenerating value.

There could hardly be a better word with which to associate some connected account of the coinage of Portuguese India, as the _pardao_ runs through its whole history, and I give some space to the subject, not with any idea of weaving such a history, but in order to furnish a few connected notes on the subject, and to correct some flagrant errors of writers to whose works I naturally turned for help in such a special matter, with little result except that of being puzzled and misled, and having time occupied in satisfying myself regarding the errors alluded to. The subject is in itself a very difficult one, perplexed as it is by the rarity or inaccessibility of books dealing with it, by the excessive rarity (it would seem) of specimens, by the large use in the Portuguese settlements of a variety of native coins in addition to those from the Goa mint,[208] by the frequent shifting of nomenclature in the higher coins and constant degeneration of value in the coins that retained old names. I welcomed as a hopeful aid the appearance of Dr. Gerson D'Acunha's _Contributions to the Study of Indo-Chinese Numismatics_. But though these contributions afford some useful facts and references, on the whole, from the rarity with which they give data for the intrinsic value of the gold and silver coins, and from other defects, they seem to me to leave the subject in utter chaos. Nor are the notes which Mr. W. de G. Birch appends, in regard to monetary values, to his translation of Alboquerque, more to be commended. Indeed Dr. D'Acunha, when he goes astray, seems sometimes to have followed Mr. Birch.

The word _pardao_ is a Portuguese (or perhaps an indigenous) corruption of Skt. _pratāpa_, 'splendour, majesty,' &c., and was no doubt taken, as Dr. D'Acunha says, from the legend on some of the coins to which the name was applied, _e.g._ that of the Raja of Ikkeri in Canara: _Sri_ PRATĀPA _krishṇa-rāya_.

A little doubt arises at first in determining to what coin the name _pardao_ was originally attached. For in the two earliest occurrences of the word that we can quote—on the one hand Abdurrazzāk, the Envoy of Shāh Rukh, makes the _partāb_ (or _pardāo_) half of the _Varāha_ ('boar,' so called from the Boar of Vishnu figured on some issues), _hūn_, or what we call PAGODA;—whilst on the other hand, Ludovico Varthema's account seems to identify the _pardao_ with the pagoda itself. And there can be no doubt that it was to the pagoda that the Portuguese, from the beginning of the 16th century, applied the name of _pardao d'ouro_. The money-tables which can be directly formed from the statements of Abdurrazzāk and Varthema respectively are as follows:[209]

ABDURRAZZAK (A.D. 1443).

3 Jitals (copper) = 1 Tar (silver).
6 Tars = 1 Fanam (gold).
10 Fanams = 1 PARTĀB.
2 PARTĀBS = 1 Varāha.

And the _Varāha_ weighed about 1 _Mithḳāl_ (see MISCALL), equivalent to 2
_dīnārs Kopekī_.

VARTHEMA (A.D. 1504-5).

16 Cas (see CASH) = 1 Tare (silver).
16 Tare = 1 Fanam (gold).
20 Fanams = 1 PARDAO.

And the PARDAO was a gold ducat, smaller than the seraphim (see XERAFINE)
of Cairo (gold dīnār), but thicker.

The question arises whether the _varāha_ of Abdurrazzāk was the double pagoda, of which there are some examples in the S. Indian coinage, and his _partāb_ therefore the same as Varthema's, _i.e._ the pagoda itself; or whether his _varāha_ was the pagoda, and his _partāb_ a half-pagoda. The weight which he assigns to the _varāha_, "about one _mithḳāl_," a weight which may be taken at 73 grs., does not well suit either one or the other. I find the mean weight of 27 different issues of the (single) _hūn_ or pagoda, given in Prinsep's _Tables_, to be 43 grs., the maximum being 45 grs. And the fact that both the Envoy's _varāha_ and the Italian traveller's _pardao_ contain 20 fanams is a strong argument for their identity.[210]

In further illustration that the PARDAO was recognised as a half _hūn_ or pagoda, we quote in a foot-note "the old arithmetical tables in which accounts are still kept" in the south, which Sir Walter Elliot contributed to Mr. E. Thomas's excellent _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi, illustrated_, &c.[211]

Moreover, Dr. D'Acunha states that in the "New Conquests," or provinces annexed to Goa only about 100 years ago, "the accounts were kept until lately in _sanvoy_ and _nixane_ pagodas, each of them being divided into 2 PRATÁPS...." &c. (p. 46, _note_).

As regards the value of the _pardao d'ouro_, when adopted into the Goa currency by Alboquerque, Dr. D'Acunha tells us that it "was equivalent to 370 _reis_, or 1_s._ 6½_d._[212] English." Yet he accepts the identity of this _pardao d'ouro_ with the _hūn_ current in Western India, of which the Madras pagoda was till 1818 a living and unchanged representative, a coin which was, at the time of its abolition, the recognised equivalent of 3½ rupees, or 7 shillings. And doubtless this, or a few pence more, was the intrinsic value of the _pardao_. Dr. D'Acunha in fact has made his calculation from the _present_ value of the (imaginary) _rei_. Seeing that a _milrei_ is now reckoned equal to a dollar, or 50_d._, we have a single _rei_ = 1/20_d._, and 370 _reis_ = 1_s._ 6½_d._ It seems not to have occurred to the author that the _rei_ might have degenerated in value as well as every other denomination of money with which he has to do, every other in fact of which we can at this moment remember anything, except the pagoda, the Venetian sequin, and the dollar.[213] Yet the fact of this degeneration everywhere stares him in the face. Correa tells us that the _cruzado_ which Alboquerque struck in 1510 was the just equivalent of 420 _reis_. It was indubitably the same as the _cruzado_ of the mother country, and indeed A. Nunez (1554) gives the same 420 _reis_ as the equivalent of the _cruzado d'ouro de Portugal_, and that amount also for the Venetian sequin, and for the _sultani_ or Egyptian gold dīnār. Nunez adds that a gold coin of Cambaya, which he calls MADRAFAXAO (q.v.), was worth 1260 to 1440 _reis_, according to variations in weight and exchange. We have seen that this must have been the gold-mohr of Muzaffar-Shāh II. of Guzerat (1511-1526), the weight of which we learn from E. Thomas's book.

From the Venetian sequin (content
of pure gold 52.27 grs.
value 111_d._[214]) the value of the
_rei_ at 111/420_d._ will be 0.264_d._

From the Muzaffar Shāhi mohr
(weight 185 grs. value, if pure
gold, 392.52_d._) value of _rei_ at
1440 0.272_d._

Mean value of _rei_ in 1513 0.268_d._
_i.e._ more than five times its present value.

Dr. D'Acunha himself informs us (p. 56) that at the beginning of the 17th century the Venetian was worth 690 to 720 _reis_ (mean 705 _reis_), whilst the pagoda was worth 570 to 600 _reis_ (mean 585 _reis_).

These statements, as we know the intrinsic value of the sequin, and the approximate value of the pagoda, enable us to calculate the value of the _rei_ of about 1600 at ... 0.16_d._ Values of the _milrei_ given in Milburn's _Oriental Commerce_, and in Kelly's _Cambist_, enable us to estimate it for the early years of the last century. We have then the progressive deterioration as follows:

Value of _rei_ in the beginning of the 16th century 0.268_d._
Value of _rei_ in the beginning of the 17th century 0.16_d._
Value of _rei_ in the beginning of the 19th century 0.06 to 0.066_d._
Value of _rei_ at present 0.06_d._

Yet Dr. D'Acunha has valued the coins of 1510, estimated in _reis_, at the rate of 1880. And Mr. Birch has done the same.[215]

The Portuguese themselves do not seem ever to have struck gold _pardaos_ or pagodas. The gold coin of Alboquerque's coinage (1510) was, we have seen, a _cruzado_ (or _manuel_), and the next coinage in gold was by Garcia de Sá in 1548-9, who issued coins called _San Thomé_, worth 1000 _reis_, say about £1, 2_s._ 4_d._; with halves and quarters of the same. Neither, according to D'Acunha, was there silver money of any importance coined at Goa from 1510 to 1550, and the coins then issued were silver San Thomés, called also _patacões_ (see PATACA). Nunez in his _Tables_ (1554) does not mention these by either name, but mentions repeatedly _pardaos_, which represented 5 silver _tangas_, or 300 _reis_, and these D'Acunha speaks of as silver _coins_. Nunez, as far as I can make out, does not speak of them as coins, but rather implies that in account so many tangas of silver were reckoned as a _pardao_. Later in the century, however, we learn from Balbi (1580), Barrett[216] (1584), and Linschoten (1583-89), the principal currency of Goa consisted of a silver coin called _xerafin_ (see XERAFINE) and _pardao-xerafin_, which was worth 5 _tangas_, each of 60 _reis_. (So these had been from the beginning, and so they continued, as is usual in such cases. The scale of sub-multiples remains the same, whilst the value of the divisible coin diminishes. Eventually the lower denominations become infinitesimal, like the _maravedis_ and the _reis_, and either vanish from memory, or survive only as denominations of account). The data, such as they are, allow us to calculate the _pardao_ or _xerafin_ at this time as worth 4_s._ 2_d._ to 4_s._ 6_d._

A century later, Fryer's statement of equivalents (1676) enables us to use the stability of the Venetian sequin as a gauge; we then find the _tanga_ gone down to 6_d._ and the _pardao_ or _xerafin_ to 2_s._ 6_d._ Thirty years later Lockyer (1711) tells us that one rupee was reckoned equal to 1½ _perdo_. Calculating the Surat Rupee, which may have been probably his standard, still by help of the Venetian (p. 262) at about 2_s._ 3_d._, the _pardao_ would at this time be worth 1_s._ 6_d._ It must have depreciated still further by 1728, when the Goa mint began to strike rupees, with the effigy of Dom João V., and the half-rupee appropriated the denomination of _pardao_. And the half-rupee, till our own time, has continued to be so styled. I have found no later valuation of the Goa Rupee than that in _Prinsep's Tables_ (Thomas's ed. p. 55), the indications of which, taking the Company's Rupee at 2_s._, would make it 21_d._ The _pardao_ therefore would represent a value of 10½_d._, and there we leave it.

[On this Mr. Whiteway writes: "Should it be intended to add a note to this, I would suggest that the remarks on coinage commencing at page 67 of my _Rise of the Portuguese Power in India_ be examined, as although I have gone to Sir H. Yule for much, some papers are now accessible which he does not appear to have seen. There were two _pardaos_, the _pardao d'ouro_ and the _pardao de tanga_, the former of 360 _reals_, the latter of 300. This is clear from the _Foral_ of Goa of Dec. 18, 1758 (India Office MSS. _Conselho Ultramarino_), which passage is again quoted in a note to Fasc. 5 of the _Archiv. Port. Orient._ p. 326. Apparently _patecoons_ were originally coined in value equal to the _pardao d'ouro_, though I say (p. 71) their value is not recorded. The _patecoon_ was a silver coin, and when it was tampered with, it still remained of the nominal value of the _pardao d'ouro_, and this was the cause of the outcry and of the injury the people of Goa suffered. There were monies in Goa which I have not shown on p. 69. There was the _tanga branca_ used in revenue accounts (see _Nunez_, p. 31), nearly but not quite double the ordinary _tanga_. This money of account was of 4 _barganims_ (see BARGANY) each of 24 _bazarucos_ (see BUDGROOK), that is rather over 111 reals. The whole question of coinage is difficult, because the coins were continually being tampered with. Every ruler, and they were numerous in those days, stamped a piece of metal at his pleasure, and the trader had to calculate its value, unless as a subject of the ruler he was under compulsion."]

1444.—"In this country (Vijayanagar) they have three kinds of money, made
of gold mixed with alloys: one called _varahah_ weighs about one
_mithkal_, equivalent to two dinars _kopeki_; the second, which is called
PERTAB, is the half of the first; the third, called _fanom_, is
equivalent in value to the tenth part of the last-mentioned coin. Of
these different coins the _fanom_ is the most useful...."—_Abdurrazzāk_,
in _India in the XVth Cent._ p. 26.

c. 1504-5; pubd. 1510.—"I departed from the city of Dabuli aforesaid, and
went to another island, which ... is called Goga (Goa) and which pays
annually to the King of Decan 19,000 gold ducats, called by them PARDAI.
These pardai are smaller than the seraphim of Cairo, but thicker, and
have two devils stamped on one side, and certain letters on the
other."—_Varthema_, pp. 115-116.

" "... his money consists of a PARDAO, as I have said. He also
coins a silver money called tare (see TARA), and others of gold, twenty
of which go to a _pardao_, and are called fanom. And of these small ones
of silver, there go sixteen to a fanom...."—_Ibid._ p. 130.

1510.—"Meanwhile the Governor (Alboquerque) talked with certain of our
people who were goldsmiths, and understood the alligation of gold and
silver, and also with goldsmiths and money-changers of the country who
were well acquainted with that business. There were in the country
PARDAOS of gold, worth in gold 360 _reys_, and also a money of good
silver which they call _barganym_ (see BARGANY) of the value of 2
_vintems_, and a money of copper which they call _bazaruqos_ (see
BUDGROOK), of the value of 2 _reis_. Now all these the Governor sent to
have weighed and assayed. And he caused to be made _cruzados_ of their
proper weight of 420 _reis_, on which he figured on one side the cross of
Christ, and on the other a sphere, which was the device of the King Dom
Manuel; and he ordered that this _cruzado_ should pass in the place (Goa)
for 480 _reis_, to prevent their being exported ... and he ordered silver
money to be struck which was of the value of a BARGANY; on this money he
caused to be figured on one side a Greek Α, and on the other side a
sphere, and gave the coin the name of _Espera_; it was worth 2 _vintems_;
also there were half _esperas_ worth one _vintem_ and he made _bazarucos_
of copper of the weight belonging to that coin, with the A and the
sphere; and each _bazaruco_ he divided into 4 coins which they called
_cepayquas_ (see SAPECA), and gave the _bazarucos_ the name of _leaes_.
And in changing the cruzado into these smaller coins it was reckoned at
480 _reis_."—_Correa_, ii. 76-77.

1516.—"There are current here (in Baticala—see BATCUL) the PARDAOS, which
are a gold coin of the kingdom, and it is worth here 360 _reis_, and
there is another coin of silver, called _dama_, which is worth 20
_reis_...."—_Barbosa_, Lisbon ed. p. 293.

1516.—"There is used in this city (Bisnagar) and throughout the rest of
the Kingdom much pepper, which is carried hither from Malabar on oxen and
asses; and it is all bought and sold for PARDAOS, which are made in some
places of this Kingdom, and especially in a city called Hora (?), whence
they are called _horãos_."—_Barbosa_, Lisbon ed. p. 297.

1552.—"Hic Sinam mercatorem indies exspecto, quo cum, propter atroces
poenas propositas iis qui advenam sine fide publica introduxerint,
PIRDAIS ducentis transegi, ut me in Cantonem trajiciat."—_Scti. Franc.
Xaverii Epistt._, Pragae, 1667, IV. xiv.

1553.—

"_R._ Let us mount our horses and take a ride in the country, and as we
ride you shall tell me what is the meaning of _Nizamoxa_ (see
NIZAMALUCO), as you have frequently mentioned such a person.

"_O._ I can tell you that at once; it is the name of a King in the
Bagalat (read Balagat, BALAGHAUT), whose father I often attended, and the
son also not so often. I received from him from time to time more than
12,000 PARDAOS; and he offered me an income of 40,000 _pardaos_ if I
would pay him a visit of several months every year, but this I did not
accept."—_Garcia_, f. 33_v_.

1584.—"For the money of Goa there is a kind of money made of lead and tin
mingled, being thicke and round, and stamped on the one side with the
spheare or globe of the world, and on the other side two arrows and five
rounds;[217] and this kind of money is called _Basaruchi_, and 15 of them
make a vinton of naughty money, and 5 _vintons_ make a tanga, and 4
_vintenas_ make a tanga of base money ... and 5 _tangas_ make a seraphine
of gold[218] (read 'of silver'), which in marchandize is worth 5 tangas
good money: but if one would change them into _basaruchies_, he may have
5 tangas, and 16 basaruchies, which matter they call _cerafaggio_, and
when the bargain of the PARDAW is gold, each _pardaw_ is meant to be 6
tangas good money,[219] but in murchandize, the vse is not to demaund
_pardawes_ of gold in Goa, except it be for jewels and horses, for all
the rest they take of seraphins of silver, per aduiso.... The ducat of
gold is worth 9 _tangas_ and a halfe good money, and yet not stable in
price, for that when the ships depart from Goa to Cochin, they pay them
at 9 _tangas_ and 3 fourth partes, and 10 _tangas_, and that is the most
that they are worth...."—_W. Barret_, in _Hakl._ ii. 410. I retain this
for the old English, but I am sorry to say that I find it is a mere
translation of the notes of Gasparo Balbi, who was at Goa in 1580. We
learn from Balbi that there were at Goa _tangas_ not only of good money
worth 75 _basarucchi_, and of bad money worth 60 _basarucchi_, but also
of another kind of bad money used in buying wood, worth only 50
_basarucchi_!

1598.—"The principall and commonest money is called PARDAUS XERAPHIINS,
and is silver, but very brasse (read 'base'), and is coyned in Goa. They
have Saint Sebastian on the one side, and three or four arrows in a
bundle on the other side, which is as much as three Testones, or three
hundred _Reijs_ Portingall money, and riseth or falleth little lesse or
more, according to the exchange. There is also a kind of money which is
called TANGAS, not that there is any such coined, but are so named onely
in telling, five Tangas is one PARDAW or XERAPHIN, badde money, for you
must understande that in telling they have two kinds of money, good and
badde.... Wherefore when they buy and sell, they bargain for good or
badde money," &c.—_Linschoten_, ch. 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 241, and for
another version see XERAPHINE].

" "They have a kind of money called PAGODES which is of Gold, of
two or three sortes, and are above 8 TANGAS in value. They are Indian and
Heathenish money, with the feature of a Devill upon them, and therefore
they are called Pagodes. There is another kind of gold money, which is
called _Venetianders_; some of Venice, and some of Turkish coine, and are
commonly (worth) 2 PARDAWE XERAPHINS. There is yet another kind of golde
called S. Thomas, because Saint Thomas is figured thereon and is worth
about 7 and 8 _Tangas_: There are likewise Rialles of 8 which are brought
from Portingall, and are _Pardawes de Reales_.... They are worth at their
first coming out 436 Reyes of Portingall; and after are raysed by
exchaunge, as they are sought for when men travell for China.... They use
in Goa in their buying and selling a certaine maner of reckoning or
telling. There are _Pardawes Xeraphins_, and these are silver. They name
likewise _Pardawes_ of Gold, and those are not in kinde or in coyne, but
onely so named in telling and reckoning: for when they buy and sell
Pearles, stones, golde, silver and horses, they name but so many
_Pardawes_, and then you must understand that one _Pardaw_ is sixe
_Tangas_: but in other ware, when you make not your bargaine before hand,
but plainely name Pardawes, they are _Pardawes Xeraphins_ of 5 _Tangas_
the peece. They use also to say a _Pardaw_ of _Lariins_ (see LARIN), and
are five Lariins for every Pardaw...."—_Ibid._; [Hak. Soc. i. 187].

This extract is long, but it is the completest picture we know of the Goa
currency. We gather from the passage (including a part that we have
omitted) that in the latter part of the 16th century there were really no
national _coins_ there used intermediate between the _basaruccho_, worth
at this time 0.133_d._, and the PARDAO XERAFIN worth 50_d._[220] The
_vintens_ and _tangas_ that were nominally interposed were mere names for
certain quantities of basaruccos, or rather of _reis_ represented by
basaruccos. And our interpretation of the statement about pardaos of gold
in a note above is here expressly confirmed.

[1599.—"PERDAW." See under TAEL.]

c. 1620.—"The gold coin, struck by the rāīs of Bijanagar and Tiling, is
called _hūn_ and PARTĀB."—_Firishta_, quoted by _Quatremère_, in _Notices
et Exts._ xiv. 509.

1643.—"... estant convenu de prix auec luy à sept PERDOS et demy par mois
tant pour mon viure que pour le logis...."—_Mocquet_, 284.

PARELL, n.p. The name of a northern suburb of Bombay where stands the residence of the Governor. The statement in the _Imperial Gazetteer_ that Mr. W. Hornby (1776) was the first Governor who took up his residence at Parell requires examination, as it appears to have been so occupied in Grose's time. The 2nd edition of Grose, which we use, is dated 1772, but he appears to have left India about 1760. It seems probable that in the following passage Niebuhr speaks of 1763-4, the date of his stay at Bombay, but as the book was not published till 1774, this is not absolutely certain. Evidently Parell was occupied by the Governor long before 1776.

"Les Jesuites avoient autrefois un beau couvent aupres du Village de
PARELL au milieu de l'Isle, mais il y a déjà plusieurs années, qu'elle
est devenue la maison de campagne du Gouverneur, et l'Eglise est
actuellement une magnifique salle à manger et de danse, qu'on n'en trouve
point de pareille en toutes les Indes."—_Niebuhr, Voyage_, ii. 12.

[Mr. Douglas (_Bombay and W. India_, ii. 7, note) writes: "High up and outside the dining-room, and which was the chapel when Parel belonged to the Jesuits, is a plaque on which is printed:—'Built by Honourable Hornby, 1771.'"]

1554.—_Parell_ is mentioned as one of 4 aldeas, "PARELL, Varella, Varell,
and Siva, attached to the _Kasbah_ (_Caçabe_—see CUSBAH) of
Maim."—_Botelho, Tombo_, 157, in _Subsidios_.

c. 1750-60.—"A place called PARELL, where the Governor has a very
agreeable country-house, which was originally a Romish chapel belonging
to the Jesuits, but confiscated about the year 1719, for some foul
practices against the English interest."—_Grose_, i. 46; [1st ed. 1757,
p. 72].

PARIAH, PARRIAR, &c., s.

A. The name of a low caste of Hindus in Southern India, constituting one of the most numerous castes, if not _the_ most numerous, in the Tamil country. The word in its present shape means properly 'a drummer.' Tamil _pa_R_ai_ is the large drum, beaten at certain festivals, and the hereditary beaters of it are called (sing.) _pa_R_aiyan_, (pl.) _pa_R_aiyar_. [Dr. Oppert's theory (_Orig. Inhabitants_, 32 _seq._) that the word is a form of _Pahaṛiyā_, 'a mountaineer' is not probable.] In the city of Madras this caste forms one fifth of the whole population, and from it come (unfortunately) most of the domestics in European service in that part of India. As with other castes low in caste-rank they are also low in habits, frequently eating carrion and other objectionable food, and addicted to drink. From their coming into contact with and under observation of Europeans, more habitually than any similar caste, the name _Pariah_ has come to be regarded as applicable to the whole body of the lowest castes, or even to denote out-castes or people without any caste. But this is hardly a correct use. There are several castes in the Tamil country considered to be lower than the _Pariahs_, _e.g._ the caste of shoemakers, and the lowest caste of washermen. And the _Pariah_ deals out the same disparaging treatment to these that he himself receives from higher castes. The Pariahs "constitute a well-defined, distinct, ancient caste, which has 'subdivisions' of its own, its own peculiar usages, its own traditions, and its own jealousy of the encroachments of the castes which are above it and below it. They constitute, perhaps, the most numerous caste in the Tamil country. In the city of Madras they number 21 per cent. of the Hindu people."—_Bp. Caldwell, u. i._, p. 545. Sir Walter Elliot, however, in the paper referred to further on includes under the term _Paraiya_ all the servile class not recognised by Hindus of caste as belonging to their community.

A very interesting, though not conclusive, discussion of the ethnological position of this class will be found in Bp. Caldwell's _Dravidian Grammar_ (pp. 540-554). That scholar's deduction is, on the whole, that they are probably Dravidians, but he states, and recognises force in, arguments for believing that they may have descended from a race older in the country than the proper Dravidian, and reduced to slavery by the first Dravidians. This last is the view of Sir Walter Elliot, who adduces a variety of interesting facts in its favour, in his paper on the _Characteristics of the Population of South India_.[221]

Thus, in the celebration of the Festival of the Village Goddess, prevalent all over Southern India, and of which a remarkable account is given in that paper, there occurs a sort of Saturnalia in which the Pariahs are the officiating priests, and there are several other customs which are most easily intelligible on the supposition that the Pariahs are the representatives of the earliest inhabitants and original masters of the soil. In a recent communication from this venerable man he writes: 'My brother (Col. C. Elliot, C.B.) found them at Raipur, to be an important and respectable class of cultivators. The Pariahs have a sacerdotal order amongst themselves.' [The view taken in the _Madras Gloss._ is that "they are distinctly Dravidian without fusion, as the Hinduized castes are Dravidian with fusion."]

The mistaken use of _pariah_, as synonymous with out-caste, has spread in English parlance over all India. Thus the lamented Prof. Blochmann, in his _School Geography of India_: "Outcasts are called PARIAHS." The name first became generally known in Europe through Sonnerat's _Travels_ (pub. in 1782, and soon after translated into English). In this work the PARIAS figure as the lowest of castes. The common use of the term is however probably due, in both France and England, to the appearance in the Abbé Raynal's famous _Hist. Philosophique des Établissements dans les Indes_, formerly read very widely in both countries, and yet more perhaps to its use in Bernardin de St. Pierre's preposterous though once popular tale, _La Chaumière Indienne_, whence too the misplaced halo of sentiment which reached its acme in the drama of Casimir Delavigne, and which still in some degree adheres to the name. It should be added that Mr. C. P. Brown says expressly: "The word _Paria_ is unknown" (in _our_ sense?) "to all natives, unless as learned from us."

B. See PARIAH-DOG.

1516.—"There is another low sort of Gentiles, who live in desert places,
called PAREAS. These likewise have no dealings with anybody, and are
reckoned worse than the devil, and avoided by everybody; a man becomes
contaminated by only looking at them, and is excommunicated.... They live
on the _imane_ (_iname_, _i.e._ YAMS), which are like the root of _iucca_
or _batate_ found in the West Indies, and on other roots and wild
fruits."—_Barbosa_, in _Ramusio_, i. f. 310. The word in the Spanish
version transl. by Lord Stanley of Alderley is _Pareni_, in the
Portuguese of the Lisbon Academy, _Parcens_. So we are not quite sure
that _Pareas_ is the proper reading, though this is probable.

1626.—"... The PAREAS are of worse esteeme."—(_W. Methold_, in) _Purchas,
Pilgrimage_ 553.

" "... the worst whereof are the abhorred PIRIAWES ... they are in
publike Justice the hateful executioners, and are the basest, most
stinking, ill-favored people that I have seene."—_Ibid._ 998-9.

1648.—"... the servants of the factory even will not touch it (beef) when
they put it on the table, nevertheless there is a caste called PAREYAES
(they are the most contemned of all, so that if another Gentoo touches
them, he is compelled to be dipt in the water) who eat it freely."—_Van
de Broecke_, 82.

1672.—"The PARREAS are the basest and vilest race (accustomed to remove
dung and all uncleanness, and to eat mice and rats), in a word a
contemned and stinking vile people."—_Baldaeus_ (Germ. ed.), 410.

1711.—"The Company allow two or three Peons to attend the Gate, and a
PARREAR Fellow to keep all clean."—_Lockyer_, 20.

" "And there ... is such a resort of basket-makers, Scavengers,
people that look after the buffaloes, and other PARRIARS, to drink Toddy,
that all the Punch-houses in Madras have not half the noise in
them."—_Wheeler_, ii. 125.

1716.—"A young lad of the Left-hand Caste having done hurt to a PARIAH
woman of the Right-Hand Caste (big with child), the whole caste got
together, and came in a tumultuous manner to demand justice."—_Ibid._
230.

1717.—"... BARRIER, or a sort of poor people that eat all sort of Flesh
and other things, which others deem unclean."—_Phillips, Account_, &c.,
127.

1726.—"As for the separate generations and sorts of people who embrace
this religion, there are, according to what some folks say, only 4; but
in our opinion they are 5 in number, viz.:

α. The Bramins.

β. The Settreas.

γ. The Weynyas or Veynsyas.

δ. The Sudras.

ε. The PERRIAS, whom the High-Dutch and Danes call BARRIARS."—_Valentijn,
Chorom._ 73.

1745.—"Les PARREAS ... sont regardés comme gens de la plus vile
condition, exclus de tous les honneurs et prérogatives. Jusques-là qu'on
ne sçauroit les souffrir, ni dans les Pagodes des Gentils, ni dans les
Eglises des Jesuites."—_Norbert_, i. 71.

1750.—"_K._ Es ist der Mist von einer Kuh, denselben nehmen die
PARREYER-Weiber, machen runde Kuchen daraus, und wenn sie in der Sonne
genug getrocken sind, so verkauffen sie dieselbigen (see OOPLAH). _Fr._ O
Wunder! Ist das das Feuerwerk, das ihr hier halt?"—_Madras_, &c.,
_Halle_, p. 14.

1770.—"The fate of these unhappy wretches who are known on the coast of
Coromandel by the name of PARIAS, is the same even in those countries
where a foreign dominion has contributed to produce some little change in
the ideas of the people."—_Raynal, Hist._ &c., see ed. 1783, i. 63.

" "The idol is placed in the centre of the building, so that the
PARIAS who are not admitted into the temple may have a sight of it
through the gates."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. p. 57.

1780.—"If you should ask a common _cooly_, or porter, what cast he is of,
he will answer, 'the same as master, PARIAR-_cast_.'"—_Munro's
Narrative_, 28-9.

1787.—"... I cannot persuade myself that it is judicious to admit PARIAS
into battalions with men of respectable casts...."—_Col. Fullarton's View
of English Interests in India_, 222.

1791.—"Le _masalchi_ y courut pour allumer un flambeau; mais il revient
un peu après, pris d'haleine, criant: 'N'approchez pas d'ici; il y a un
PARIA!' Aussitôt la troupe effrayée cria: 'Un PARIA! Un PARIA!' Le
docteur, croyant que c'était quelque animal féroce, mit la main sur ses
pistolets. 'Qu'est ce que qu'un PARIA?' demanda-t-il à son
porte-flambeau."—_B. de St. Pierre, La Chaumière Indienne_, 48.

1800.—"The PARRIAR, and other impure tribes, comprising what are called
the _Punchum Bundum_, would be beaten, were they to attempt joining in a
Procession of any of the gods of the Brahmins, or entering any of their
temples."—_Buchanan's Mysore_, i. 20.

c. 1805-6.—"The Dubashes, then all powerful at Madras, threatened loss of
cast and absolute destruction to any Brahmin who should dare to unveil
the mysteries of their language to a PARIAR _Frengi_. This reproach of
_Pariar_ is what we have tamely and strangely submitted to for a long
time, when we might with a great facility have assumed the respectable
character of _Chatriya_."—_Letter of Leyden_, in _Morton's Memoir_, ed.
1819, p. lxvi.

1809.—"Another great obstacle to the reception of Christianity by the
Hindoos, is the admission of the PARIAS in our Churches...."—_Ld.
Valentia_, i. 246.

1821.—

"Il est sur ce rivage une race flêtrie,
Une race étrangère au sein de sa patrie.
Sans abri protecteur, sans temple hospitalier,
Abominable, impie, horrible au peuple entier.
Les PARIAS; le jour à regret les éclaire,
La terre sur son sein les porte avec colère.
* * * * *
Eh bien! mais je frémis; tu vas me fuir peut-être;
Je suis un PARIA...."
_Casimir Delavigne, Le Paria_, Acte 1. Sc. 1.

1843.—"The Christian PARIAH, whom both sects curse, Does all the good he
can and loves his brother."—_Forster's Life of Dickens_, ii. 31.

1873.—"The Tamilas hire a PARIYA (_i.e._ drummer) to perform the
decapitation at their Badra Kâli sacrifices."—_Kittel_, in _Ind. Ant._
ii. 170.

1878.—"L'hypothèse la plus vraisemblable, en tout cas la plus heureuse,
est celle qui suppose que le nom propre et spécial de cette race [i.e. of
the original race inhabiting the Deccan before contact with northern
invaders] était le mot 'PARIA'; ce mot dont l'orthographe correcte est
PAREIYA, derivé de _par'ei_, 'bruit, tambour,' et à très-bien pu avoir le
sens de 'parleur, doué de la parole'"(?)—_Hovelacque et Vinson, Études de
Linguistique_, &c., Paris, 67.

1872.—

"Fifine, ordained from first to last,
In body and in soul
For one life-long debauch,
The PARIAH of the north,
The European _nautch._"
_Browning, Fifine at the Fair._

Very good rhyme, but no reason. See under NAUTCH.

The word seems also to have been adopted in Java, _e.g._:

1860.—"We Europeans ... often ... stand far behind compared with the poor
PARIAHS."—_Max Havelaar_, ch. vii.

PARIAH-ARRACK, s. In the 17th and 18th centuries this was a name commonly given to the poisonous native spirit commonly sold to European soldiers and sailors. [See FOOL'S RACK.]

1671-72.—"The unwholesome liquor called PARRIER-ARRACK...."—_Sir W.
Langhorne_, in _Wheeler_, iii. 422.

1711.—"The Tobacco, Beetle, and PARIAR ARACK, on which such great profit
arises, are all expended by the Inhabitants."—_Lockyer_, 13.

1754.—"I should be very glad to have your order to bring the ship up to
Calcutta ... as ... the people cannot here have the opportunity of
intoxicating and killing themselves with PARIAR ARRACK."—In _Long_, 51.

PARIAH-DOG, s. The common ownerless yellow dog, that frequents all inhabited places in the East, is universally so called by Europeans, no doubt from being a low-bred casteless animal; often elliptically 'PARIAH' only.

1789.—"... A species of the common cur, called a PARIAR-DOG."—_Munro,
Narr._ p. 36.

1810.—"The nuisance may be kept circling for days, until forcibly
removed, or until the PARIAH DOGS swim in, and draw the carcase to the
shore."—_Williamson, V. M._ ii. 261.

1824.—"The other beggar was a PARIAH DOG, who sneaked down in much bodily
fear to our bivouac."—_Heber_, ed. 1844, i. 79.

1875.—"Le Musulman qui va prier à la mosquée, maudit les PARIAS
honnis."—_Rev. des Deux Mondes_, April, 539.

[1883.—"PARAYA DOGS are found in every street."—_T. V. Row, Man. of
Tanjore Dist._ 104.]

PARIAH-KITE, s. The commonest Indian kite, _Milvus Govinda_, Sykes, notable for its great numbers, and its impudence. "They are excessively bold and fearless, often snatching morsels off a dish _en route_ from kitchen to hall, and even, according to Adams, seizing a fragment from a man's very mouth" (_Jerdon_). Compare quotation under BRAHMINY KITE.

[1880.—"I had often supposed that the scavenger or PARIAH KITES (_Milvus
govinda_), which though generally to be seen about the tents, are not
common in the jungles, must follow the camp for long distances, and
to-day I had evidence that such was the case...."—_Ball, Jungle Life_,
655.]

PARSEE, n.p. This name, which distinguishes the descendants of those emigrants of the old Persian stock, who left their native country, and, retaining their Zoroastrian religion, settled in India to avoid Mahommedan persecution, is only the old form of the word for a Persian, viz., _Pārsī_, which Arabic influences have in more modern times converted into _Fārsī_. The Portuguese have used both _Parseo_ and _Perseo_. From the latter some of our old travellers have taken the form _Persee_; from the former doubtless we got _Parsee_. It is a curious example of the way in which different accidental mouldings of the same word come to denote entirely different ideas, that Persian, in this form, in Western India, means a Zoroastrian fire-worshipper, whilst _Pathi_ (see PANTHAY), a Burmese corruption of the same word, in Burma means a Mahommedan.

c. 1328.—"There be also other pagan-folk in this India who worship fire;
they bury not their dead, neither do they burn them, but cast them into
the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there expose them totally
uncovered to the fowls of heaven. These believe in two First Principles,
to wit, of Evil and of Good, of Darkness and of Light."—_Friar Jordanus_,
21.

1552.—"In any case he dismissed them with favour and hospitality, showing
himself glad of the coming of such personages, and granting them
protection for their ships as being (PARSEOS) Persians of the Kingdom of
Ormuz."—_Barros_, I. viii. 9.

" "... especially after these were induced by the Persian and
Guzerati Moors (_Mouros_, PARSEOS _e Guzarates_) to be converted from
heathen (_Gentios_) to the sect of Mahamed."—_Ibid._ II. vi. i.

[1563.—"There are other herb-sellers (_mercadores de boticas_) called
Coaris, and in the Kingdom of Cambay they call them ESPARCIS, and we
Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not, only Hindus who came from
Persia and have their own writing."—_Garcia_, p. 213.]

1616.—"There is one sect among the Gentiles, which neither burne nor
interre their dead (they are called PARCEES) who incircle pieces of
ground with high stone walls, remote from houses or Road-wayes, and
therein lay their Carcasses, wrapped in Sheetes, thus having no other
Tombes but the gorges of rauenous Fowles."—_Terry_, in _Purchas_, ii.
1479.

1630.—"Whilst my observation was bestowed on such inquiry, I observed in
the town of Surrat, the place where I resided, another Sect called the
PERSEES...."—_Lord, Two Forraigne Sects_.

1638.—"Outre les Benjans il y a encore vne autre sorte de Payens dans le
royaume de _Gusuratte_, qu'ils appellent PARSIS. Ce sont des Perses de
Fars, et de Chorasan."—_Mandelslo_ (Paris, 1659), 213.

1648.—"They (the PERSIANS of India, _i.e._ _Parsees_) are in general a
fast-gripping and avaricious nation (not unlike the Benyans and the
Chinese), and very fraudulent in buying and selling."—_Van Twist_, 48.

1653.—"Les Ottomans appellent _gueuure_ vne secte de Payens, que nous
connaissons sous le nom d'adorateurs du feu, les Persans sous celuy
d'_Atechperés_, et les Indous sous celuy de PARSI, terme dont ils se
nomment eux-mesmes."—_De la Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, p. 200.

1672.—"Non tutti ancora de' Gentili sono d'vna medesima fede. Alcuni
descendono dalli PERSIANI, li quali si conoscono dal colore, ed adorano
il fuoco.... In Suratte ne trouai molti...."—_P. F. Vincenzo Maria,
Viaggio_, 234.

1673.—"On this side of the Water are people of another Offspring than
those we have yet mentioned, these be called PARSEYS ... these are
somewhat white, and I think nastier than the Gentues...."—_Fryer_, 117.

" "The PARSIES, as they are called, are of the old Stock of the
Persians, worship the Sun and Adore the Elements; are known only about
Surat."—_Ibid._ p. 197.

1689.—"... the PERSIES are a Sect very considerable in
India...."—_Ovington_, 370.

1726.—"... to say a word of a certain other sort of Heathen who have
spread in the City of Suratte and in its whole territory, and who also
maintain themselves in Agra, and in various places of Persia, especially
in the Province of Kerman, at Yezd, and in Ispahan. They are commonly
called by the Indians PERSEES or PARSIS, but by the Persians _Gaurs_ or
_Gebbers_, and also _Atech Peres_ or adorers of Fire."—_Valentijn_, iv.
(_Suratte_) 153.

1727.—"The PARSEES are numerous about Surat and the adjacent Countries.
They are a remnant of the ancient Persians."—_A. Hamilton_, ch. xiv; [ed.
1744, i. 159].

1877.—"... en se levant, le PARSI, après s'être lavé les mains et la
figure avec l'urine du taureau, met sa ceinture en disant: Souverain soit
Ormuzd, abattu soit Ahrimān."—_Darmesteter, Ormuzd et Ahriman_, p. 2.

PARVOE, PURVO, s. The popular name of the writer-caste in Western India, _Prabhū_ or _Parbhū_, 'lord or chief' (Skt. _prabhu_), being an honorific title assumed by the caste of _Kāyath_ or _Kāyastha_, one of the mixt castes which commonly furnished writers. A Bombay term only.

1548.—"And to the PARVU of the _Tenadar Mor_ 1800 reis a year, being 3
_pardaos_ a month...."—_S. Botelho, Tombo_, 211.

[1567.—See _Paibus_ under CASIS.

[1676-7.—"... the same guards the PURVOS y^t look after y^e Customes for
the same charge can receive y^e passage boats rent...."—_Forrest, Bombay
Letters, Home Series_, i. 125.

[1773.—"_Conucopola_ (see CONICOPOLY).... At Bombay he is stiled PURVO,
and is of the Gentoo religion."—_Ives_, 49 _seq._]

1809.—"The Bramins of this village speak and write English; the young men
are mostly PARVOES, or writers."—_Maria Graham_, 11.

1813.—"These writers at Bombay are generally called PURVOES; a faithful
diligent class."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ i. 156-157; [2nd ed. i. 100].

1833.—"Every native of India on the Bombay Establishment, who can write
English, and is employed in any office, whether he be a Brahman,
Goldsmith, Parwary, Portuguese, or of English descent, is styled a
PURVOE, from several persons of a caste of Hindoos termed _Prubhoe_
having been among the first employed as English writers at
Bombay."—_Mackintosh on the Tribe of Ramoosies_, p. 77.

PASADOR, s. A marlin-spike. Sea-Hind., from Port. _passador_.—_Roebuck._

PASEI, PACEM, n.p. The name of a Malay State near the N.E. point of Sumatra, at one time predominant in those regions, and reckoned, with Malacca and Majapahit (the capital of the Empire of Java), the three greatest cities of the Archipelago. It is apparently the _Basma_ of Marco Polo, who visited the coast before Islam had gained a footing.

c. 1292.—"When you quit the kingdom of Ferlec you enter upon that of
BASMA. This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a
language of their own; but they are just like beasts, without laws or
religion."—_Marco Polo_, Bk. iii. ch. 9.

1511.—"Next day we departed with the plunder of the captured vessel,
which also we had with us; we took our course forward until we reached
another port in the same island Trapobana (Sumatra), which was called
PAZZE; and anchoring in the said port we found at anchor there several
junks and ships from divers parts."—_Empoli_, p. 53.

1553.—"In the same manner he (Diogo Lopes) was received in the kingdom of
PACEM ... and as the King of Pedir had given him a cargo of pepper ... he
did not think well to go further ... in case ... they should give news of
his coming at Malaca, those two ports of Pedir and PACEM being much
frequented by a multitude of ships that go there for cargoes."—_Barros_,
II. iv. 31.

1726.—"Next to this and close to the East-point of Sumatra is the once
especially famous city PASI (or PACEM), which in old times, next to
Magapahit and Malakka, was one of the three greatest cities of the East
... but now is only a poor open village with not more than 4 or 500
families, dwelling in poor bamboo cottages."—_Valentijn_, (v.) _Sumatra_,
10.

1727.—"And at PISSANG, about 10 Leagues to the Westward of Diamond Point,
there is a fine deep River, but not frequented, because of the treachery
and bloody disposition of the Natives."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 125; [ed.
1744].

PĀT, s. A can or pot. Sea-Hind. from English.—_Roebuck._

PATACA, PATACOON, s. Ital. _patacco_; Provenc. _patac_; Port. _pataca_ and _patação_; also used in Malayālam. A term, formerly much diffused, for a dollar or piece of eight. Littré connects it with an old French word _patard_, a kind of coin, "du reste, origine inconnue." But he appears to have overlooked the explanation indicated by Volney (_Voyage en Egypte_, &c., ch. ix. note) that the name _abūṭāḳa_ (or corruptly _bāṭāḳa_, see also _Dozy & Eng._ s.v.) was given by the Arabs to certain coins of this kind with a scutcheon on the reverse, the term meaning 'father of the window, or niche'; the scutcheon being taken for such an object. Similarly, the pillar-dollars are called in modern Egypt _abū medfa_', 'father of a cannon'; and the Maria Theresa dollar _abū ṭēra_, 'father of the bird.' But on the Red Sea, where only the coinage of one particular year (or the modern imitation thereof, still struck at Trieste from the old die), is accepted, it is _abū nuḳāṭ_, 'father of dots,' from certain little points which mark the right issue.

[1528.—"Each of the men engaged in the attack on Purakkat received no
less than 800 gold PATTAKS (ducats) as his share."—_Logan, Malabar_, i.
329.

[1550.—"And afterwards while Viceroy Dom Affonso Noronha ordered silver
coins to be made, which were patecoons (PATECOES)."—_Arch. Port.
Orient._, Fasc. ii. No. 54 of 1569.]

PATCH, s. "Thin pieces of cloth at Madras" (_Indian Vocabulary_, 1788). Wilson gives PATCH as a vulgar abbreviation for Telug. _pach'chadamu_, 'a particular kind of cotton cloth, generally 24 cubits long and 2 broad; two cloths joined together.'

[1667.—"Pray if can procuer a good Pallenkeen bambo and 2 PATCH of ye
finest with what colours you thinke hansome for my own wear, chockoloes
and susaes (see SOOSIE)."—In _Yule, Hedges' Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii.
cclxii.]

PATCHARÉE, PATCHERRY, PARCHERRY, s. In the Bengal Presidency, before the general construction of 'married quarters' by Government, _patcharée_ was the name applied in European corps to the cottages which used to form the quarters of married soldiers. The origin of the word is obscure, and it has been suggested that it was a corruption of Hind. _pichch'hārī_, 'the rear,' because these cottages were in rear of the barracks. But we think it most likely that the word was brought, with many other terms peculiar to the British soldier in India, from Madras, and is identical with a term in use there, _parcherry_ or _patcherry_, which represents the Tam. _pa_R_ash'shēri_, _paraiççeri_, 'a Pariah village,' or rather the quarter or outskirts of a town or village where the Pariahs reside. Mr. Whitworth (s.v. _Patcherry_) says that "in some native regiments the term denotes the married sepoys' quarters, possibly because Pariah sepoys had their families with them, while the higher castes left them at home." He does not say whether Bombay or Madras sepoys are in question. But in any case what he states confirms the origin ascribed to the Bengal Presidency term _Patcharée_.

1747.—"PATCHEREE POINT, mending Platforms and Gunports ... (Pgs.) 4 : 21
: 48."—_Accounts from Ft. St. David_, under Feb. 21. MS. Records, in
India Office.

1781.—"Leurs maisons (c.-à-d. des _Parias_) sont des cahutes où un homme
peut à peine entrer, et elles forment de petits villages qu'on appelle
PARETCHERIS."—_Sonnerat_, ed. 1782, i. 98.

1878.—"During the greater portion of the year extra working gangs of
scavengers were kept for the sole purpose of going from PARCHERRY to
PARCHERRY and cleaning them."—_Report of Madras Municipality_, p. 24.

c. 1880.—"Experience obtained in Madras some years ago with reconstructed
PARCHERRIES, and their effect on health, might be imitated possibly with
advantage in Calcutta."—_Report by Army Sanitary Commission._