Chapter BATÁRA to BATTA of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BATÁRA to BATTA

BATÁRA, s. This is a term applied to divinities in old Javanese inscriptions, &c., the use of which was spread over the Archipelago. It was regarded by W. von Humboldt as taken from the Skt. avatara (see AVATAR); but this derivation is now rejected. The word is used among R. C. Christians in the Philippines now as synonymous with ‘God’; and is applied to the infant Jesus (Blumentritt, Vocabular). [Mr. Skeat (Malay Magic, 86 seqq.) discusses the origin of the word, and prefers the derivation given by Favre and Wilkin, Skt. bhattara, ‘lord.’ A full account of the “Petara, or Sea Dyak gods,” by Archdeacon J. Perham, will be found in Roth, Natives of Sarawak, I. 168 seqq.]

BATAVIA, n.p. The famous capital of the Dutch possessions in the Indies; occupying the site of the old city of Jakatra, the seat of a Javanese kingdom which combined the present Dutch Provinces of Bantam, Buitenzorg, Krawang, and the Preanger Regencies.

1619.—“On the day of the capture of Jakatra, 30th May 1619, it was certainly time and place to speak of the Governor-General’s dissatisfaction that the name of Batavia had been given to the Castle.”—Valentijn, iv. 489.

The Governor-General, Jan Pietersen Coen, who had taken Jakatra, desired to have called the new fortress New Hoorn, from his own birth-place, Hoorn, on the Zuider Zee. c. 1649.—“While I stay’d at Batavia, my Brother dy’d; and it was pretty to consider what the Dutch made me pay for his Funeral.”—Tavernier (E.T.), i. 203.

BATCUL, BATCOLE, BATECALA, &c., n.p. Bhatkal. A place often named in the older narratives. It is on the coast of Canara, just S. of Pigeon Island and Hog Island, in lat. 13° 59’, and is not to be confounded (as it has been) with BEITCUL.

1328.—“…there is also the King of Batigala, but he is of the Saracens.”—Friar Jordanus, p. 41.

1510.—The “Bathecala, a very noble city of India,” of Varthema (119), though misplaced, must we think be this place and not Beitcul.

1548.—“Trelado (i.e. ‘Copy’) do Contrato que o Gouernador Gracia de Saa fez com a Raynha de Batecalaa por não aver Reey e ela reger o Reeyno.”—In S. Botelho, Tombo, 242.

1599.—“…part is subject to the Queene of Baticola, who selleth great store of pepper to the Portugals, at a towne called Onor…”—Sir Fulke Greville to Sir Fr. Walsingham, in Bruce’s Annals, i. 125.

1618.—“The fift of March we anchored at Batachala, shooting three Peeces to give notice of our arriuall…”—Wm. Hore, in Purchas, i. 657. See also Sainsbury, ii. p. 374.

[1624.—“We had the wind still contrary, and having sail’d three other leagues, at the usual hour we cast anchor near the Rocks of Baticala.”—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 390.]

1727.—“The next Sea-port, to the Southward of Onoar, is Batacola, which has the restigia of a very large city….”—A. Hamilton, i. 282.

[1785.—“Byte Koal.” See quotation under DHOW.]

BATEL, BATELO, BOTELLA, s. A sort of boat used in Western India, Sind, and Bengal. Port. batell, a word which occurs in the Roteiro de V. da Gama, 91 [cf. PATTELLO].

[1686.—“About four or five hundred houses burnt down with a great number of their Bettilos, Boras and boats.”—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. 55.]

1838.—“The Botella may be described as a Dow in miniature…It has invariably a square flat stern, and a long grab-like head.”—Vaupell, in Trans. Bo. Geog. Soc. vii. 98.

1857.—“A Sindhi battéla, called Rahmatí, under the Tindal Kasim, laden with dry fish, was about to proceed to Bombay.”—Lutfullah, 347. See also Burton, Sind Revisixed (1877), 32, 33.

[1900.—“The Sheikh has some fine war-vessels, called batils.”—Bent, Southern Arabia, 8.]

BATTA, s. Two different words are thus expressed in Anglo-Indian colloquial, and in a manner confounded.

a. H. bhata or bhata: an extra allowance made to officers, soldiers, or other public servants, when in the field, or on other special grounds; also subsistence money to witnesses, prisoners, and the like. Military Batta, originally an occasional allowance, as defined, grew to be a constant addition to the pay of officers in India, and constituted the chief part of the excess of Indian over English military emoluments. The question of the right to batta on several occasions created great agitation among the officers of the Indian army, and the measure of economy carried out by Lord William Bentinck when Governor-General (G. O. of the Gov.-Gen. in Council, 29th November 1828) in the reduction of full batta to half batta,