Chapter BEHAR to BENAMEE of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BEHAR to BENAMEE

BEHAR, n.p. H. Bihar. That provi nce of the Mogul Empi re which lay on the Ganges immediately above Bengal, was so called, and still retains the name and character of a province, under the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal, and embracing the ten modern districts of Patna, Saran, Gaya, Shahabad, Tirhut, Champaran, the Santal Parganas, Bhagalpur, Monghyr, and Purniah. The name was taken from the old city of Bihar, and that derived its title from being the site of a famous Vihara in Buddhist times. In the later days of Mahommedan rule the three provinces of Bengal, Behar and Orissa were under one Subadar, viz. the Nawab, who resided latterly at Murshidabad.

[c. 1590.—“Sarkar of Behar; containing 46 Mahals…”—Ain (tr. Jarrett), ii. 153.]

[1676.—“Translate of a letter from Shausteth Caukne (Shaista Khan)…in answer to one from Wares Cawne, Great Chancellor of the Province of Bearra about the English.”—In Birdwood, Rep. 80].

The following is the first example we have noted of the occurrence of the three famous names in combination:

1679.—“On perusal of several letters relating to the procuring of the Great Mogul’s Phyrmaund for trade, custome free, in the Bay of Bengall, the Chief in Council at Hugly is ordered to procure the same, for the English to be Customs free in Bengal, Orixa and Bearra…”—Ft. St. Geo. Cons., 20th Feb. in Notes and Exts., Pt. ii. p. 7.

BEHUT, n.p. H. Behat. One of the names, and in fact the proper name, of the Punjab river which we now call Jelum (i.e. Jhilam) from a town on its banks: the Hydaspes or Bidaspes of the ancients. Both Behat and the Greek name are corruptions, in different ways, of the Skt. name Vitasta. Sidi ’Ali (p. 200) calls it the river of Bahra. Bahra o r Bhera was a district on the river, and the town and tahsil still remain, in Shahpur Dist. [It “is called by the natives of Kasmir, where it rises, the Bedasta, which is but a slightly-altered form of its Skt. name, the Vitasta, which means ‘wide-spread.’”—McCrindle, Invasion of India, 93 seqq.]

BEIRAMEE, BYRAMEE, also BYRAMPAUT, s. P. bairam, bairami. The name of a kind of cotton stuff which appears frequently during the flourishing period of the export of these from India; but the exact character of which we have been unable to ascertain. In earlier times, as appears from the first quotation, it was a very fine stuff. [From the quotation dated 1609 below, they appear to have resembled the fine linen known as “Holland” (for which see Draper’s Dict. s.v.).]

c. 1343.—Ibn Batuta mentions, among presents sent by Sultan Mahommed Tughlak of Delhi to the great Kaan, “100 suits of raiment called bairamiyah, i.e. of a cotton stuff, which were of unequalled beauty, and were each worth 100 dinars [rupees].”—iv. 2.

[1498.—“20 pieces of white stuff, very fine, with gold embroidery which they call Beyramies.”—Correa, Hak. Soc. 197.]

1510.—“Fifty ships are laden every year in this place (Bengala) with cotton and silk stuffs…that is to say bairam.”—Varthema, 212.

[1513.—“And captured two Chaul ships laden with beirames.”—Albuquerque, Cartas, p. 166.]

1554.—“From this country come the muslins called Candaharians, and those of Daulatabad, Berupatri, and Bairami.”—Sidi ’Ali, in J.A.S.B., v. 460.

„ “And for 6 beirames for 6 surplices, which are given annually…which may be worth 7 pardaos.”—S. Botelho, Tombo, 129.

[1609.—“A sort of cloth called Byramy resembling Holland cloths.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 29.]

[1610.—“Bearams white will vent better than the black.”—Ibid. i. 75].

1615.—“10 pec. byrams nill (see ANILE) of 51 Rs. per corg.…”—Cocks’s Diary, i. 4.

[1648.—“Beronis.” Quotation from Van Twist, s. v. GINGHAM.]

[c. 1700.—“50 blew byrampants” (read byrampauts, H. pat, ‘a length of cloth’).—In Notes and Queries, 7th Ser. ix. 29.]

1727.—“Some Surat Baftaes dyed blue, and some Berams dyed red, which are both coarse cotton cloth.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 125.

1813.—“Byrams of sorts,” among Surat piece-goods, in Milburn, i. 124.

BEITCUL, n.p. We do not know how this name should be properly written. The place occupies the isthmus connecting Carwar Head in Canara with the land, and lies close to the Harbour of Carwar, the inner part of which is Beitcul Cove.

1711.—“Ships may ride secure from the South West Monsoon at Batte Cove (qu. BATTECOLE?), and the River is navigable for the largest, after they have once got in.”—Lockyer, 272.

1727.—“The Portugueze