Indian Antiquary Vol 61

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

Page 40

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( FEBRUARY, 1932
made "greate store of baftas” (Journal, p. 128). See also Foster, English Factories (1618-21), pp. 89. 92, 95, also the 1634-36 Volume, pp. 118, 146, 164.
Similarly, 'Laccowries' appear to have been made at Lakkhaur (the Lukhawar of the Indian Atlas), about thirty miles south of Patna. See Foster, English Factories (1618-21), pp. 192, 197 ; Mundy, Travels, II, 154, 155, 362, 363.
Nicanees,' which appear to have been striped calicos,' might be nishánis, from nishan mark,'' sign.'
Pollock-saug.--Yule says it is called 'Country Spinach also. According to Fallon, pdlak is derived from Sanskrit pdlanka, a potherb, while Abul Fayl gives the following description of sûg: "It is made of spinach and other greens, and is one of the most pleasant dishes." -Ain, trans. Blochmann, I, 59. But this seems to be a secondary meaning of the Hindi ság, for it is really the Sans, sháka, green potherbs of all sorts, greens' and shaka is the ordinary Gujarati word for ' vegetables.'
It would seem as if Abul Façl's recipe is for making Pollock såg,' and that his såg is an abbreviated form of that word.
Pommelo, Pampelmoose. -- [1679.) See quotation from Bombay under Conbalingua.
Yule says that this fruit "probably did not come to India till the seventeenth century; it is not mentioned in the Ain." The botanical name of the Pummelo is given by him as Citrus decumang. But the Citrus decumang is mentioned in the Baburnama, if Erskine's and Mrs. Beveridge's interpretation of that emperor's description of the sadāphal is to be relied on.
“The sadâpal,” he writes, "is another orange-like fruit. This is pear-shaped, colours like the quince, ripens sweet, but not to the sickly-sweetness of the orange (naranj)."Trans. A. S. Beveridge, p. 512.
This learned lady further points out that "Firminger (p. 223) has Citrus decumane pyri. formis, suiting Babur's ' pear-shaped.' "-Ibid., note.
Now the sada phal is mentioned in the Ain also. Only Yule was unable to recognise it because he relied on the translation of Blochmann, who has rendered sada phal by 'custard apples,'trans. p. 66. (See Ain, Bibl. Ind., text, I, p. 70.) There can be no doubt that Babur's sada phal is not the custard apple. It was a fruit of the orange kind. Abul Fazl does not describe the sada phal, but he says explicitly that those fruits "are to be had throughout the whole year"; and as this did not suit his interpretation of it as 'custard apple, Blochmann suggested that it was "a mistake of the MSS!”
I may add that the sadāphal-whatever it may be, and the word does seem to be applied to more than one kind of fruit-is mentioned also in Siraj's Tarikh-i-Firüzsháhí, text, 128, 1.2, as growing in the gardens planted by Sultân Firûz Tughlaq in his new city of Hişâr Firûza about 1360 A.D. In short, if the sada phal of Babur was the Citrus decumana, the fruit must have been known in India long before the seventeenth century.
Punch.-1632.] "Is glad that Colley has such good company as Cartwright; hopes they will keep a good house together and drincke punch by no allowance.'” Robert Adams at Armagon to Thomas Colley at Pettapoli, 28 September, 1632, in English Factories in India (1630-1633), p. 229. Sir William Foster notes that "this appears to be the earliest known mention of this famous drink.”
Peter Mundy describes a somewhat similar drink called 'Charebockhra':
[1629-30.] “Our stronge Drinck is Racke, like stronge water, next a kinde of beer made of Course Sugar and other ingredients . . . . There is sometimes used a composition of Racke, water, sugar and Juice of Lirres called Charebockhra."-Travels of Peter Mundy, ed. Temple, II, 28. The word must be the Persian chihar bahra (ype - four portions or parts, '6
6 In Hindi, sag ( Sans. : ) is the generio term for pot-herb, pdlak is a particular kind of pot-herb, viz., garden spinach, Spinacia oleracea, Linn.-C. E. A. W. O., JOINT-EDITOR.
Or rather the Hind, chdr bakhrd (var. bakhru).-C. E. A W.O., JOINT-EDITOR.