Chapter BAHIRWUTTEEA to BALCONY of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BAHIRWUTTEEA to BALCONY

BAHIRWUTTEEA, S. Guj. bahirwatu. A species of outlawry in Guzerat; bahirwatia, the individual practising the offence. It consists “in the Rajpoots or Grassias making their ryots and dependants quit their native village, which is suffered to remain waste; the Grassia with his brethren then retires to some asylum, whence he may carry on his depredations with impunity. Being well acquainted with the country, and the redress of injuries being common cause with the members of every family, the Bahirwutteea has little to fear from those who are not in the immediate interest of his enemy, and he is in consequence enabled to commit very extensive mischief.”—Col. Walker, quoted in Forbes, Ras Mala, 2nd ed., p. 254–5. Col. Walker derives the name from bahir, ‘out,’ and wat, ‘a road.’ [Tod, in a note to the passage quoted below, says “this term is a compound of bar (bahir) and wuttan (watan), literally ex patriâ.”]

[1829.—“This petty chieftain, who enjoyed the distinctive epithet of outlaw (bar wattia), was of the Sonigurra clan.”…—Pers. Narr., in Annals of Raj. (Calcutta reprint), i. 724.]

The origin of most of the brigandage in Sicily is almost what is here described in Kattiwar.

BAIKREE, S. The Bombay name for the Barking-deer. It is GuzaratI bekri; and acc. to Jerdon and [Blandford, Mammalia, 533] Mahr. bekra or bekar, but this is not in Molesworth’s Dict. [Forsyth (Highlands of C. I., p. 470) gives the Gond and Korku names as Bherki, which may be the original].

1879.—“Any one who has shot baikri on the spurs of the Ghats can tell how it is possible unerringly to mark down these little beasts, taking up their position for the day in the early dawn.”—Overl. Times of India, Suppt. May 12, 7b.

BAJRA, S. H. bajra and bajri (Penicillaria spicata, Willden.). One of the tall millets forming a dry crop in many parts of India. Forbes calls it bahjeree (Or. Mem. ii. 406; [2nd ed. i. 167), and bajeree (i. 23)].

1844.—“The ground (at Maharajpore) was generally covered with bajree, full 5 or 6 feet high.”—Lord Ellenborough, in Ind. Admin. 414.

BAKIR-KHANI, S. P.—H. baqirkhani; a kind of cake almost exactly resembling pie-crust, said to owe its name to its inventor, Bakir Khan.

[1871.—“The best kind (of native cakes) are baka kanah and ‘sheer mahl’ (Sheer-maul).”—Riddell, Ind. Domest. Econ. 386.]

BALÁCHONG, BLACHONG, S. Malay balachan; [acc. to Mr Skeat the standard Malay is blachan, in full belachan.] The characteristic condiment of the Indo-Chinese and Malayan races, composed of prawns, sardines, and other small fish, allowed to ferment in a heap, and then mashed up with salt. [Mr Skeat says that it is often, if not always, trodden out like grapes.] Marsden calls it ‘a species of caviare,’ which is hardly fair to caviare. It is the ngapi (Ngapee) of the Burmese, and trasi of the Javanese, and is probably, as Crawfurd says, the Roman garum. One of us, who has witnessed the process of preparing ngapi on the island of Negrais, is almost disposed to agree with the Venetian Gasparo Balbi (1583), who says “he would rather smell a dead dog, to say nothing of eating it” (f. 125v). But when this experience is absent it may be more tolerable.

1688.—Dampier writes it Balachaun, ii. 28.

1727.—“Bankasay is famous for making Ballichang, a Sauce made of dried Shrimps, Cod-pepper, Salt, and a Sea-weed or Grass, all well mixed and beaten up to the Consistency of thick Mustard.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 194. The same author, in speaking of Pegu, calls the like sauce Prock (44), which was probably the Talain name. It appears also in Sonnerat under the form Prox (ii. 305).

1784.—“Blachang…is esteemed a great delicacy among the Malays, and is by them exported to the west of India…. It is a species of caviare, and is extremely offensive and disgusting to persons who are not accustomed to it.”—Marsden’s H. of Sumatra, 2nd ed. 57.

[1871.—Riddell (Ind. Domest. Econ. p. 227) gives a receipt for Ballachong, of which the basis is prawns, to which are added