Indian Antiquary Vol 60

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

Page 105

MAY, 1931)
NOTES ON ROBSON-JOBSON
times the houses fall downe and are spoyled."-The Voyage of J. H. Van Linschoten, Old Eng. Trans. of 1598, ed. A. C. Burnell, I, 302.
And Mundy has the identical comparison :
[1632.] “Of the latter (scil. rats) there are a sort called Goose (i.e., ghus), that are as bigg as a prettie pigg of 10 or 12 dayes old."-The Travels of Peter Mundy, ed. Sir R. C. Temple, IT, 307.
Banyan.--The earliest reference to this caste in a foreign writer is, I think, in Mas'udi:
[c. 916.) "J'étais à Cambaye dans l'année 303, alors qu'un brahme nommé Bania [ Wų in the original] y régnait au nom du Balhara, souverain de Mankir. Ce Bania traitait avec la plus grande faveur les Musulmans et les sectateurs d'autres religions qui arri. vaient dans son pays."-Prairies d'Or, Text and trans. by B. de Meynard, I, 254.
I venture to suggest with some confidence that Bania was not the name of the governor, but the designation of his caste. When Mas'adi says that he was a Brahman, what he really means is that he was a respectable Hindu of the Brahmanical persuasion. The Arab traveller here speaks of him just as a European in the seventeenth century would have done, as the Bunya.' He had heard his fellow-countrymen speak of him as Wania' or Banya' and imagined it was his name, as he did not know its real signification.
Banyan day.-The earliest example in Yule is from Ovington (1690). Here is one of still earlier date:
[1634.) They [i.e., Commanders of the Company's ships) are to deliver lists of their men and the number of their messes and accordingly a computated proporcion of what they may spend in such diett for Banyan daies (so called) as this place affords and the Company allowed."-English Factories in India, ed. Foster, 1634-36, p. 38.
Banyan-fight.-As Yule's solitary illustration is derived from the English padre Ovington (1690), the following notice of the same trait from an earlier author may be interesting :
(1666.] “The men are great clowns. they make a great noise when they have any quarrel, but what passion soever they seem to be in, and what bitter words so ever they utter, they never come to blows." -Thévenot, Travels into the Levant, Part III, p. 51. (Eng. Trans. of 1687.) 'Banyan-fight' is a literal translation of a Gujarati expression Vaniyani laddt, which is still in everybody's mouth..
Banyan Tree. The old Arab travellers also appear to have been greatly struck by this wonder of the vegetable kingdom.' Mas'udi has an elaborate description, which is unfortunately too long to quote, but which begins thus: [c. 916.) " On trouve dans ce pays un arbre que l'on peut compter au nombre des merveilles de la nature et des prodiges du règne végétal."-Prairies d'or, ed, and trans. by Barbier de Meynard (ch. xviii), II, 81.
And Alberûnî writes:
[c. 1030.J." At the junction of the two rivers, YamunA and Ganges, there is a great tree called Prayaga, [sic in the translation), a tree of the species vata. It is peculiar to this kind of tree that its branches sønd forth two species of twigs, some directed upward... and others directed downward, like roots, but without leaves. If such a twig enters into the soil, it is like a supporting column to the branch whence it has grown. Nature has arranged this on purpose, since the branches of this tree are of an enormous extent (and require to be supported). Here the Brahmans and Kshatriyas are in the habit of committing suicide by climbing up the tree and throwing themselves into the Ganges."- Alberuni's India, trans. Sachau, II, 170.
Barbiers. [1631.] "Captain Morton, immediately after leaving Bantam, fell sick of the barbiers and died on November 21." - English Factories in India, ed. Foster (1630-1633), p. 182.
This is probably the earliest mention of the disease by an English writer and is older than that from Fryer (1673) quoted by Yule.