Indian Antiquary Vol 61

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

Page 39

FEBRUARY, 1932)
NOTES ON HOBSON-JOBSON
NOTES ON HOBSON-JOBSON. BY PROFESSOR 8. H. HODIVALA, M.A.
(Continued from Vd. LX, page 214.) Pescarla.--Yule gives no illustrative quotation from an English author, so the following example may bear citation -
[c. 1585.) “The best pearles come from the iland of Baharim in the Persian Sea, the woorser from the Piscaria neere the isle of Ceylon, and from Aynam (Hainan), a great iland on the southernmost coast of China."-R. Fitch, in Early Travels in India, ed. Foster, p. 47.
Peshkhana. Bernier is the earliest writer quoted in illustration of this word. The following is an earlier use of the term.
[c. 1590.) “The King (Akbar) ordered the camp to be made in the traditional Mongol style. The ancient custom is that the royal pavilion (which they call the Pescqhannae or
chief house') should be placed in a pleasant open place if such can be found."--Monserrate, Commentary, trans. Hoyland, p. 75.
Pie.-c. 1380.] "When the Sultan [Firûz Tughlaq) had issued these many varieties of coins, it occurred to his benignant mind that a very poor person might buy an article in the market, and a half or a quarter jital might be due to him in change, but if the shopkeeper had no dangs (quarters), no change could be given, and the purchaser would incur a loss. ... The Sultan accordingly gave directions for the issueing of a half jítal, called adhd, and a quarter vital, called bikch, so that the requirements of the indigent might be supplied."-Tarikh-srimizsháhi in Elliot and Dowson, III, 358. The name of this quarter jital is written as n. bikh, in the printed text, and Thomas has, in his Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli, tried to make some meaning out of it by saying that it signifies a coin to be given away in charity to beggars (Hind. bhikh); but this is obviously far-fetched, and I venture to suggest with some confidence that app is a copyist's error for paika, one-fourth, i.e., the quarter or fourth part,' just as adhd signifies the moiety' or 'half.'
The earliest example of the use of pie' (pál) itself that I have come across is to be found in the Dabistân, trans. Shea and Troyer, II, 216.
Piece-goods.-This entry contains a long and most interesting catalogue of the more or less obsolete names of various kinds of fabrics made in India in olden times, and the authors have been obliged to leave many of them unexplained.
Anna batohies ' seems to be a miswriting of Anna Katchies, cf. 'Aunne Ketchies,' a few lines lower down , also Catta Ketchies,'.Putton Ketchies.' In all these names Ketchies stands for Hamilton's Catcha,'' a kind of coarse cloth.' [See also Foster, English Factories (1642-5), p. 252; (1646-50), pp. 13, 100, 106.) The different varieties are perhaps so called from the names of the towns where they were made or from which they came, viz., Aunne, i.e., Unå, near Diu in Kathidwar, Cuttack in Orissa, and Pattan, about 60 miles north-west of Ahmadabad now in the Gaikwad's territory,-the Anhilwad-Patan of the historians, which is in Gujarat (not Cutch, as Yule says).
Chundraconaes.' Yule conjecturally derives from Chandrakhana, 'moonchecks, but this name also, like 'Arrahs,' Nunsarees,'Chinechuras,' eto., more probably owes its origin to a town, viz., Chandrakona, a well-known weaving centre in Midnapur, Bengal.
So 'Callawapores' are probably from Kalûpur, the name of an old but still existing suburb of Ahmadabad, and Chittabullies' from some town called Chitapur or Jaitapur or Chintapalli-common Indian toponyms. In Dysucksoya,'' Kissorsoys,' Sicktersoya,'' soys' seems to be a corrupt form of sáhi or sãi, 'in the style of,' ' in the manner or fashion of.' These textiles were so called after persons named Dysuck (Dalsukh or Dilsukh ?), Kishor, Sickter, Sickber (Sukhbir or Sakhvir ?). Cf. Zafarkhani, Farbatkhani, Kaimkhani, etc. Yule connects Nunsarees with a place named Nansari in Bhandara district (C. P.), but there can be little doubt that these fabrics were made at Navsari about eighteen miles south of Sarat, which was long famous as a weaving-centre--the 'Nassaria ' of Jourdain, who says that it