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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1885.
got their own antidote for their winter cold. Directly connected with the braziers are the There is no necessity for me to go there." hand-warmers, which were already known
It has been suggested that the Kašmirt learnt to the Romans under the name of trulla, and the use of the kängar from the Italians in the long preceded the foot-warmers. These chaufferetinue of the Mughal Emperors,' who frequent-mains were kept warm either by hot ashes ly visited the valley during the summer months or by a spirit lamp. First used in the Middle 1587–1753 A. D. On this point nothing trust- Ages by the clergy during their functions in worthy has been procured as yet from the natives. church, ladies adopted them in the course of Enquiry has been made from high and low, rich time as a counterpart to the pears made of and poor, but no person can tell anything, fact agate, which served to cool the hands and to or fiction, as to who originated, or whence was keep them dry. One of these agate pears is imported, this popular and necessary article.
mentioned in an inventory of Gabrielle d'Estrée The following extract from the Queen for
in 1599." March 1885 and the plate attached hereto will
With regard to the derivation of the word throw a good deal of light on the probable there are two plausible conjectures :European origin of this now national utensil of
(1.) That the word kangar comes from two the KAśmiris. The first three figures are from
Kasmiri words káni (kánih and sometimes the Queen, the fourth is a sketch of a Kasmiri
kaunjih), which means a switch used for kangri drawn by Mr. J. Griffiths, from & making baskets, and gar a maker for fastener. specimen in the Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School
Hence the two words together káni-gar would of Art at Bombay, and the fifth is half-size
mean a binder or fastener of switches. But this reproduction of an ordinary earthenware and
combination might mean also switches bound wicker-work kangri in the possession of one
together, because it often happens in Kasmiri of the Editors of this Journal.
that the thing made is called after the maker "In Italy, Spain, and in the East the brazier
and vice versa ; and the kangar is nothing but
a basket with a little earthenware basin inside. (brasero) as a heating apparatus was, and in many places is still, preferred to the fireplace.
From kánigar we easily get kängar. A These charcoal-holders could be employed any
shortening like this is very common in Khámîri, where and carried from room to room. They
e.g., rangi-gar is shortened into rangar, a dyer, were made in a great variety of shapes, and
and bungi-gar is shortened into bangar, a
worker or trader in hemp. their surfaces received every kind of ornamentation; medallions with figures and complex
(ii) Another, and perhaps a better, suggestion, bas-reliefs, emblazoned escutcheons, &c.
is that the word comes direct from Sanskrit.
The grounds were sometimes guilloche with delicate
Ku 5 (kad and ká) as a prefix implies deterior foliage, borrowed by the Venetians from the
ation, depreciation, littleness, and angára 375FR chasings and inlayings of the Orientals. Bra
means charcoal heated or not heated, while ziers remained in use in France as late as the angári TTT is a portable fire place. Hence seventeenth century. They were frequently ká tangåra orangári +37FR or writt wonld arranged on columnar tripods, with the fire-irons mean a little heated charcoal, or a small portable attached to them, or made portable and fitted fire-place. This, perhaps, could easily come to with bars on the movable top, to rest the feet be pronounced kängára or káigdri, according to upon. Sometimes braziers and fire-dogs were the Sanskrit habit, e.g. ka tagni makes kágni, a combined. Combinations of this kind are still little fire, and ká+aksha makes káksha, to wink, to be found in old Normandy farmhouses, where etc. Sanskrit scholars may, perhaps, be able to the top basin is used to keep dishes warm. throw more light upon this point.
It will be enquired, “Then, what did the people Gaxetteer, I hear, has a short article on this subject. If do for warmth before the annexation of the province this story is true then they would not have required the to the Mughal Empire p' The Khamiria have story kangar--indeed, they would have found it extremely in that the Emperor Akbar, enraged at the brave and pro- convenient, except as a charcoal-burner, as it is wed in longed resistance offered by them to his general qisim Italy, or as the chaufo-pied of Switzerland and other Khán, determined to anman and degrade the people of parts of the Continent of Europe. this country. And so he ordered them on pain of death
[If the Italians really introduced the kdngar into to wear p Merane, which has effeminated them and hindered Kaimir they would be as likely not to have introduced them in battle and in all manly exercises. Before Akbar's their own name for the article. This is a point worth conquest they all wore coats and vents and trousers. Bate's observing in this connection.-ED.]
