Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 189

SETTEMBER, 1929
NOTES ON HOBSON-JOBSON
173
ATúnicipalities. It is really a Persian word, as chang significs in that language "tho claw of a bird, the paw, the expanded hand or the fingers somewhat hookod." Indeed changighalla, the tax on corn, is mentioned in the Futahat-;-Firúrslihi-written in the fourteenth century-as one of the 23 "frivolous, unlawful and unjust cesses" which Firûz Shah Tughlaq says he ordered to be abolished (Elliot and Dowson, IIT, 377).
Changi or chungi thus is equivalent to 'handful,' and is synonymous with the mutthi of Gujarat, etc.
Khot-It is said in the note on this word that it occurs especially in the Konkan and is apparently traceable to the time of the 'Adilshahi dynasty of Bijapur. It is true that its use seems confined in our own times to a small part of the Bombay Presidency, and this would appear to have misled the authors into thinking that it is a purely Mahrati word.' But this supposition can be hardly correct, as the word occurs repeatedly in almost all the senses attributed to it (viz., "a hereditary zemindar with proprietary rights, a patel or hoad. man of the village, a revenue farmer without hereditary rights, etc.") in the Tarikh-i-Firúzslâhi of Barni (c. 1358). Witness the following: Speaking of the regulations of 'Alau'd-din Khalji for depressing the Hindus, he writes :
"There was to be one rule for the payment of tribute applicable to all, from the khilta to the balâhar and the heaviest tribute was not to fall upon the poorest ... Half (of the produce) was to be paid without any diminution, and this rule was to apply to Lehtitas and baldhars without the slightest distinction. The khatas were also to be deprived of all their peculiar privileges ... They (scil. these regulations) were so strictly carried out that the chaudharis and khúts and mugaddims were not able to ride on horseback, to find weapons, to get fine clothes, or to indulge in betel... the people were brought to such a state of obedience that one revenue officer would string twenty Khuts, muqaddims, or chauharis together by the neck, and enforce payment by blows." Op. cit, in Elliot and Dowson, III, 182, 183. See also 184 and 185; Bibl. Ind., Text, 287, 288, 291. I ought perhaps to say that the word balahar has been explained by Sir H. Elliot (Supplementary Glossary, ed. Beames, II, 249) as "a low casto village servant, a village guide or messenger."
The learned Blochmann and Major Fuller who translated several portions of Barni's history were both puzzled by this word, as they did not know that the word is still used for a certain class of landlords in Bombay. Indeed Blochmann thought that it was a raru Arabic word signifying a 'fine strong man.' There can be little doubt that Blochmann was wrong, and that by khals and baldhars we are to understand "landlords and tenants." See Elliot and Dowson, III (Appendix), 623.
Kuttaur.--[c. 1030.] "They [the Hindus fasten the buthara, i.e.. tho dagger, at the waist on the right side " instead of on the left, as the Muhammadans do).
Albertini's India, Trans. Sachau, I, 181. See also ibid., I, 120.
Lemon.-" In his note on this word, Yule says that it has "come into European languages through the Ar. leimún, and is, according to Hehn, of Indian origin." The following extracts conclusively show that Helm was right and that the Arabs became acquainted with the lemon only in the tenth century.
[c. 951.] “The land of Mausura [in Sindh) also produces a fruit of the size of the apple, which is called Laimún andilisestceedingly sour."
Kitabu.l-aqalis of Istakchrt Tr. in Elliot and Dowson, History of India, I, 27. See also Ibn Haukal,Adhidiu--bflad [c. 976] Ibid., p. 35.
And Idrisi, who wrote in the twelfth century, repeats what Istakhri had said before him, and writes :
[c. 1154.]“The country (scil. Manşûra) producos dates and sugarcanes in abundance. There are hardly any other fruits, if we except one, & sort of fruit called laiman, as big as an apple and of a very sour taste, and another which resembles the peach 'both in shape and taste."