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became sulky, and would not supply her husband or his family (mankind) with food. Prit'hu, in consequence, beat and wounded her: on which she assumed the form of a cow, and complained to the gods; who, having heard both sides of the question, allowed him and his children to treat her in a similar manner whenever she again became stubborn and sulky. As a form of Lakshmi, Prit'hivi is the Indian Ceres. Daily sacrifices are offered to her. The Hindoos divide the earth into ten parts, to each of which a deity is assigned. PUCHESEE, the game of "twentyfive," much in vogue among the Hindoos.

PUCKALLY, a man who, in the Indian peninsula, carries water in leathern bags or skins, on a bullock. He is called a Bheestie in other parts of India.

PUGGREE, the turban of the native

of India. The variety of this headgear is infinite. It consists of all sorts of materials, and is of every kind of colour. Folds of white muslin are, however, the most usual material, but there is no describing the diversity of form given to them. The banyans of Western India wear ample turbans with a projecting peak; the baboo of Eastern India twists his puggree into the semblance of a barber's basin inverted; the sircars, keranees, shraffs, and rajahs wear small turbans of inelegant cushion shapes on the crown of their heads. None of them, indeed, conform to English notions of Oriental elegance. In Turkey alone is the tastefully-folded turban, with its flowing ends, to be seen. PUGGREE BUND, turban wearers, a term employed by the natives of Bengal to distinguish the people of the country from the Europeans or Topee Wallas (hat men). PULICAT, a town in India, in the province of Central or Middle Carnatic, situated on the sea-coast, about twenty-five miles north from Madras.

It formerly belonged to the Dutch, who established themselves in it in the year 1609. The town stands on the bank of a lake, of about forty miles in length and six in breadth, which communicates by means of a canal with Madras.

PULSEE, one of the numerous subdivisions of Hindoo castes. They chiefly profess the healing art in Western India, and are, in their medical capacity, called Josees. They have a small dispensary in their own houses, and although they scarcely believe in European medicines, and know little or nothing about anatomy and chemistry, preferring the use of "simples" and jungle roots, their services are much in demand among the natives and Eurasians.

PUMPLENOSE (citrus decumanus). There seems no doubt with botanists that Java is the native country of this fine fruit, of which the best varieties almost rival a good orange, and its easy growth and abundant bearing make it in fact pretty nearly the orange of the inter-tropical country, or where, from want of elevation or peculiarity of soil or climate, the orange is difficult to rear. This is the case in Calcutta, which is supplied with oranges from the Sylhet Hills. In the West Indies this fruit is called the shaddock, and is said to be so named after the captain of the ship who brought it from the East, which seems probable, for it is not mentioned in the writings of the early Spanish authors. The varieties of the fruit are numerous, and of all degrees of flavour, from that of a rich sugary orange, melting in the mouth, to a tough half-sour and half-dry taste, which prejudices many against the fruit. It is a singularity that the trees which bear very fine ones one year, will give but indifferent ones the next; but this may be owing to the utter want of all care and culture which our treefruits invariably experience. A tree which gives fruit is, to the native of

Bengal, something so ready-made to his hand, that he does not seem even to suspect it can be improved. In Upper India, where, through their Tartar, Persian, and Afghan neighbours and conquerors, they have some ideas of gardening, and even books upon it, much more attention is paid to these matters, but the climate there becomes too severe for the Pumplenose. There can be no doubt from the richness of flavour of the finer sorts, that they are susceptible of vast improvement. The sherbet prepared from them is a most grateful drink to the sick, and the fruit itself, if good ones can be had, is an invaluable sea stock. PUN, Hindostanee. A handful of cowries, equivalent to twenty gundas. Five puns, or 400 cowries, constitute one anna, the sixteenth part of a rupee. PUNAH-BE-KHODAH! 'May Heaven protect us!" PUNCHAIT, or PUNCHAYET, five assembled. An assembly or jury of five persons to whom a cause is referred for investigation and decision. An ancient Hindoo establishment.

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Persian.

PUNDIT, a learned Brahmun. PUNGANOOR, a fortified town in India, in the province of Balaghat, situated about fifty miles north-west from Vellore, in Lat. 13 deg. 21 min. N., Long. 78 deg. 3 min. E. It is the residence of a Polygar, generally styled the Punganoor Rajah, who holds the town and a small adjoining district under tribute to the British.

PUNJAB. See LAHORE.

PUNJAH, land in India that cannot be easily watered by artificial means, depending chiefly on the falling rains for irrigation, and, therefore, unfit for the cultivation of rice. PUNKAH, a fan. The heat of the climate of India renders the constant use of a fan so indispensable, that in European houses there is usually a permanent one fixed in all the principal apartments, and kept in

motion by one of the bearers of the establishment. This description of punkah is formed of a thin kind of canvass stretched over an oblong frame work of from six to ten feet in length, and three feet in width, and suspended from the ceiling of the room to within four feet of the table. A rope attached to the centre of the punkah, and carried high above the heads of the occupants of the apartment, passes through an aperture in the wall, outside of which the servant sits and pulls the punkah. The agitation of the machine keeps the room, which would otherwise, at times, be insupportable, pleasantly cool. Many persons take much pride in their punkahs, decorating them with gold mouldings and ornaments, or painting them in distemper to correspond with the walls, and finishing them with a fluted linen fringe. The hand punkahs, which are of various dimensions, are formed of the leaf of the cocoa-nut tree (see TALIPOT), or of kuss-kuss, silk, or talc, but the latter are more for ornament, on occasion of bridal processions, nautches, &c., than for any useful purpose.

PŪRĀNAS, Hindoo mythological

poems.

PURDAHS, curtains made of Kurwah (or guzzy), or both mixed in perpendicular stripes of eight or ten inches wide each; some are of shalloon, perpet, or very coarse broad cloth. Those purdahs which are made of Kurwah, or other cotton stuff, are generally quilted with cotton, or are composed of many folds, or have coarse blankets inlaid between their outer coatings. Their best use is certainly to deaden sounds; hence, they are advantageously suspended outside the doors of sleeping or other retired apartments; when by closing the doors, privacy and quiet may usually be effected. The presence of a purdah usually indicates the exclusion of males; and that the apartments, within that entrance,

are devoted to the accommodation of ladies. PURHARIAHS, or Hill People, of mountainous districts in India. These people are in some places more immediately distinguished by the designation of Dangahs; they are of small stature, extremely poor, rather squalid, but capable of undergoing great fatigue. They are wonderfully adroit in the exercise of the bow; and, after performing the little labour needful for the cultivation of the valleys, generally repair, at certain seasons, to the military and civil stations in the neighbouring districts of Rhamgur, &c., where they serve as dawk bearers. Some thousands of them have of late years emigrated to Mauritius, Demerara, Trinidad, and other West India colonies, where they are found of great utility on the sugar plantations. PURRAMPOKE, land in India utterly unproductive, such as sites of towns and villages; beds of rivers, and, in some cases, of tanks; roads and extensive tracts of stony and rocky ground where no plough can go. PURVOE, the sircar of Western India, Bombay, the Deccan, &c. See SIRCAR.

PURWASTEE, favour, protection. You purwastee a native when you cast the shield of protection over his misdeeds, or advance him in life. It is a word constantly in the mouths of dependents in India, but more particularly used when they have any great favour to ask. PUSSEREE, a five seer weight, in very general use in India. PUTTEE, the name of a low caste of

people who till the land in Tanjore, and are considered the slaves of the soil.

PUTTOO, a species of coarser and thicker manufacture of the refuse shawl goat-wool, mixed with the long hairs. It is always of the colour of the hare's skin, and extremely

warm.

PUTTUN, a town in India, in the

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PUTTUN-SOMNATH, a place in India, in the province of Guzerat, on the south-west coast of the peninsula, in Lat. 20 deg. 53 min. N., Long. 70 deg. 35 min. E., is noted on account of its celebrity as a place of pilgrimage for the Hindoos. There was formerly a temple here, in which was an idol of very great repute. Mahmood, of Ghuznee, allured by the report of its riches, attacked and captured the town in 1024, and destroyed the idol. The Brahmuns entreated him to spare the image, and even offered a very large sum of money for its ransom, but Mahmood was deaf to their solicitations. The idol was broken in pieces, when, to the agreeable surprise of the Mahomedans, an immense store of precious stones, as well as of money, was found concealed inside it. The idol was, in fact, the treasury of the Brahmuns, who had, therefore, good reason for the great love they professed towards it. The gates of the temple were carried to Ghuznee as trophies, but in the year 1842 the British troops brought them back to India. PYCAUST, Hindostanee. An inferior or under-tenant. The term applied to lands, means cultivated by an under-tenant or peasant belonging to another village. PYCAUST RYOTS, Hindostanee. Under-tenants or cultivators. Those who cultivate lands in a village to which they do not belong, and hold their lands upon a more indefinite tenure than the khode khosht ryots, the pottahs, or leases under which they hold, being generally granted with a limitation in point of time. PYJAMAS, trousers, generally applied to loose and capacious panta

loons, supported by a tape or silk cord drawn round the waist. Many of these (composed either of silk, long-cloth, or gingham) are made to cover the feet entirely, and so protect them from the attacks of musquitoes. PYKE, a foot messenger. A person employed in India as a night watch in a village, and as a runner or messenger on the business of the

revenue.

QUEDAH. See MALAYAH. QUI-HYE! QUI-HI! or KOEE-HYE! "Who is there?" or "Who waits?" In domestic establishments in Bengal, where no bells are used, a servant sits outside the room in which his master or mistress may be, and is summoned to the presence by the foregoing exclamations. Hence, the Europeans who reside in Bengal are called Qui-hyes, to distinguish them from the residents of Bombay, Madras, or Ceylon.

QUILON (KOOLLUM), a town in India, in the province of Travancore, situated on the coast, in Lat. 8 deg. 53 min. N., Long. 76 deg. 39 min. E. This was formerly the principal town of the province, and is still a place of considerable native trade.

R.

RACKI, arrack, or indeed spirits of

any kind. The word is in use in Persia and Asia Minor. RADHUMPORE, in the province of Guzerat, in Hindostan, situated in Lat. 23 deg. 40 min. N., Long. 71 deg. 31 min. E., the residence of a Mahomedan chieftain, the descendant of the last Mahomedan governors of the province of Guzerat. RAHDAHS, Persian. Guards or keep

ers of the road; a sort of police established at particular stations for the purpose of collecting duties, pre

serving the peace, and protecting travellers against thieves and robbers. RAHDARREE, Hindostanee. Keeping the roads. The term applied to duties, means those collected at different stations in the interior of the country from passengers, and on account of grain and other necessaries of life, by the Zemindars and other officers of government, being a branch of the Sayer.

RAHU, in Hindoo mythology, is by some called the son, and by others the grandson of Kasyapa, and is the planet of the ascending node. He is also variously represented on a lion, a flying dragon, an owl, and a tortoise. He is worshipped in misfortune, and to avert the approach of evil spirits, malignant diseases, earthquakes, comets, &c., and especially during an eclipse. He is represented without a head, which is supposed to belong to his other portion.

RAJAH, king, prince, chieftain, nobleman. A title in ancient times given to chiefs of the second or military Hindoo tribe only.

RAJAMUNDRY, a district in India, in the Northern Circars, lying along both sides of the Godavery river, and from its being so well watered, is the most fruitful of all the Circars. About thirty-five miles from the sea the Godavery divides into two branches, and forms a triangular or three-cornered island, called Nagur, or Nagrum, containing about 500 square miles of ground, and very fertile. The Rajamundry forests in the hills along the southern bank of the Godavery abound with teak. The other principal productions of this district are sugar and rice. RAJAMUNDRY (Raja-muhundree), a town in India, the capital of the district of the same name, in the province of Northern Circars, situated on the northern bank of the Godavery river, in Lat. 16 deg. 59 min. N., Long. 81 deg. 53 min. E., about fifty miles from the sea. It is a large

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master mason or head mason; the man to whom the instructions are given on the occasion of building a house or other edifice. RAJPOOTS, natives of the peninsula

of Guzerat, commonly known under the name of Kattiwar. They are divided into several tribes, standing in power and wealth thus:-1. Jharejah; 2. Jhalla; 3. Goil; and 4. Jetwah. The Jharejahs, who are the most powerful and numerous of the Rajpoot tribes, are a branch of the family of Rao of Cutch, who in consequence of intestine feuds, left their country about A.D. 800, and having crossed the Runn at the head of the Gulf of Cutch, established themselves upon the ruins of the Jetwah Rajpoots and a few petty Mahomedan authorities which at that time existed in Halar. The character of the Rajpoot of Kattiwar is composed of the extremes of praiseworthy and objectionable qualities. He is hospitable to strangers, and will defend them at the expense of his life and property. Indolent and effeminate to an extreme degree, he will, in cases of emergency, or when his own interest is involved, be roused to an incredible exertion of energy and activity. As an enemy he is often cruel. Impatient of an insult or injury, though seldom or ever offering one, he is, upon the whole, an inoffensive character; but what may, perhaps, be considered the most admirable ingredient in the composition of his mind, is a certain pride of family, which raises him above the level of his neighbours,

and which, united with a passionate love of liberty and attachment to each other, forms a character, which, if it does not call for admiration from its virtues, is probably entitled to it on the score of novelty. In stature, he may be considered to exceed the natives of the Deccan, being generally tall, but not of a robust frame. The complexion of the respectable Rajpoot is generally fair; contour of the face, long; nose, aquiline; and eyes, large, but devoid of animation; the general expression of the face is pleasing. The Rajpoot women of high rank are often of an intriguing disposition, and always meddle in the affairs of their husband. Every rajah has several wives, each of whom has a separate establishment of friends, relations, servants, lands, and every thing else. Each is jealous of the influence of the others over their lord, who, by the time he is forty years old, is generally a victim of opium, tobacco, or spirituous liquors, and other exciting drugs. If one of the wives has offspring, the others practise deceit upon the family, and every woman of spirit has a son. Dissension and discord prevail, and it has become almost as rare an event for

a rajah to leave this world in peace and quiet, as it is for a Rajpoot guddee to be filled by a person, the purity of whose birth is perfectly ascertained. This melancholy picture of the morals of Rajpoot ladies is confined solely to the higher classes; and the female sex in Kattiwar, generally speaking, are modest, chaste, and faithful to their lords, and kind and hospitable to strangers. As a proof of the former, there are few or no women of easy virtue in the villages, and those in the large towns are frequently natives of other countries. The word Rajpoot literally signifies son of a rajah or king.

RAMA CHANDRA, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, in the Hindoo mythology. In this avatar Vishnu

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