Chapter CHOW-CHOW to CHOWRY of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

the chaoni, his standing camp at Gagrown, when this event occurred.”—Tod, Annals (Calcutta reprint), ii. 611.]

CHOWRINGHEE, n.p. The name of a road and quarter of Calcutta, in which most of the best European houses stand; Chaurangi.

1789.—“The houses…at Chowringee also will be much more healthy.”—Seton-Karr, ii. 205.

1790.—“To dig a large tank opposite to the Cheringhee Buildings.”—Ibid. 13.

1791.—“Whereas a robbery was committed on Tuesday night, the first instant, on the Chowringhy Road.”—Ibid. 54.

1792.—“For Private Sale. A neat, compact and new built garden house, pleasantly situated at Chouringy, and from its contiguity to Fort William, peculiarly well calculated for an officer; it would likewise be a handsome provision for a native lady, or a child. The price is 1500 sicca rupees.”—Ibid. ii. 541.

1803.—“Chouringhee, an entire village of palaces, runs for a considerable length at right angles with it, and altogether forms the finest view I ever beheld in any city.”—Ld. Valentia, i. 236.

1810.—“As I enjoyed Calcutta much less this time…I left it with less regret. Still, when passing the Chowringhee road the last day, I—

‘Looked on stream and sea and plain
As what I ne’er might see again.’”

Elphinstone, in Life, i. 231.

1848.—“He wished all Cheltenham, al. Chowringhee, all Calcutta, could see him in that position, waving his hand to such a beauty, and in company with such a famous buck as Rawdon Crawley, of the Guards.”—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, i. 237.

CHOWRY, s.

(a.) See CHOULTRY.

(b.) H. chanwar, chaunri; from Skt. chamara, chamara. The bushy tail of the Tibetan Yak (q.v.), often set in a costly decorated handle to use as a fly-flapper, in which form it was one of the insignia of ancient Asiatic royalty. The tail was also often attached to the horse-trappings of native warriors; whilst it formed from remote times the standard of nations and nomad tribes of Central Asia. The Yak-tails and their uses are mentioned by Aelian, and by Cosmas (see under YAK). Allusions to the chamara, as a sign of royalty, are frequent in Skt. books and inscriptions, e.g. in the Poet Kalidasa (see transl. by Dr. Mill in J. As. Soc. Beng. i. 342; the Amarakosha, ii. 7, 31, &c.). The common Anglo- Indian expression in the 18th century appears to have been “Cow-tails” (q.v.). And hence Bogle in his Journal, as published by Mr. Markham, calls Yaks by the absurd name of “cow-tailed cows,” though “horse-tailed cows” would have been more germane!

c. A.D. 250.— [Greek Text] “Bown de genh duo, dromikouV te kai allouV agriouV deinwV ek toutwn ge twn bown kai taV muiosobaV poiountai, kai to men swma pammelaneV eisin oide taV de ouras ecousi leukaV iscurwV.”—Aelian. de Nat. An. xv. 14.

A.D. 634-5.—“…with his armies which were darkened by the spotless chamaras that were waved over them.”—Aihole Inscription.

c. 940.—“They export from this country the hair named al-zamar (or al-chamar) of which those fly-flaps are made, with handles of silver or ivory, which attendants held over the heads of kings when giving audience.”—Mas’udi, i. 385. The expressions of Mas’udi are aptly illustrated by the Assyrian and Persepolitan sculptures. (See also Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. 18; Nic. Conti, p. 14, in India in the XVth Century).

1623.—“For adornment of their horses they carried, hung to the cantles of their saddles, great tufts of a certain white hair, long and fine, which they told me were the tails of certain wild oxen found in India.”—P. della Valle, ii. 662; [Hak. Soc. ii. 260].

1809.—“He also presented me in trays, which were as usual laid at my feet, two beautiful chowries.”—Lord Valentia, i. 428.

1810.—“Near Brahma are Indra and Indranee on their elephant, and below is a female figure holding a chamara or chowree.”—Maria Graham, 56.

1827.—“A black female slave, richly dressed, stood behind him with a chowry, or cow’s tail, having a silver handle, which she used to keep off the flies.”—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter, ch. x.

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