Chapter COLUMBO ROOT to COMORIN of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

ii. 78), and Cambays by Forrest (Voyage to Mergui, 79). In the Government List of Native Words (Ceylon, 1869) the form used in the Island is actually Kambaya. A picture of the dress is given by Tennent (Ceylon, i. 612). It is now usually of white, but in mourning black is used.

1615.—“Tansho Samme, the Kinges kinsman, brought two pec. Cambaia cloth.”— Cock’s Diary, i. 15.

[1674–5.—“Cambaja Brawles.”—Invoice in Birdwood, Report on Old Recs., p. 42.]

1726.—In list of cloths purchased at Porto Novo are “Cambayen.”—Valentijn, Chorom. 10.

[1727.—“Cambaya Lungies.” See quotation under LOONGHEE.]

COMMERCOLLY, n.p. A small but well-known town of Lower Bengal in the Nadiya District; properly Kumar-khali [‘Prince’s Creek’]. The name is familiar in connection with the feather trade (see ADJUTANT).

COMMISSIONER,s. In the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies this is a grade in the ordinary administrative hierarchy; it does not exist in Madras, but is found in the Punjab, Central Provinces, &c. The Commissioner is over a Division embracing several Districts or Zillahs, and stands between the Collectors and Magistrates of these Districts on the one side, and the Revenue Board (if there is one) and the Local Government on the other. In the Regulation Provinces he is always a member of the Covenanted Civil Service; in Non-Regulation Provinces he may be a military officer; and in these the District officers immediately under him are termed ‘Deputy Commissioners.’

COMMISSIONER, CHIEF. A high official, governing a Province inferior to a Lieutenant-Governorship, in direct subordination to the Governor-General in Council. Thus the Punjab till 1859 was under a Chief Commissioner, as was Oudh till 1877 (and indeed, though the offices are united, the Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. Provinces holds also the title of Chief Commissioner of Oudh). The Central Provinces, Assam, and Burma are other examples of Provinces under Chief Commissioners.

COMORIN, CAPE, n.p. The extreme southern point of the Peninsula of India; a name of great antiquity. No doubt Wilson’s explanation is perfectly correct; and the quotation from the Periplus corroborates it. He says: “Kumari, … a young girl, a princess; a name of the goddess Durga, to whom a temple dedicated at the extremity of the Peninsula has long given to the adjacent cape and coast the name of Kumari, corrupted to Comorin. …” The Tamil pronunciation is Kumâri.

c. 80–90.—“Another place follows called [Greek Text] Komar, at which place is (***) and a port;¹ and here those who wish to consecrate the remainder of their life come and bathe, and there remain in celibacy. The same do women likewise. For it is related that the goddess there tarried a while and bathed.”— Periplus, in Müller’s Geog. Gr. Min. i. 300.

c. 150.—“ [Greek Text] Komaria akron kai poliV”— Ptol. [viii. 1 § 9].

1298.—“Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you may see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far.”—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. 23.

c. 1330.—“The country called Ma’bar is said to commence at the Cape Kumhari, a name applied both to a town and a mountain.”—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 185.

[1514.—“Comedis.” See quotation under MALABAR.]

1572.—

“Ves corre a costa celebre Indiana
Para o Sul até o cabo Comori
Ja chamado Cori, que Taprobana
(Que ora he Ceilão) de fronte tem de si.”

Camões, v. 107.

Here Camões identifies the ancient [Greek Text] Kwru or [Greek Text] KwliV with Comorin. These are in Ptolemy distinct, and his Kory appears to be the poi nt of the Island of Ramesvaram from which the passage to Ceylon was shortest. This, as Kolis, appears in various forms in other georgraphers as the extreme seaward point of India, and in the geographical poem of Dionysius it is described as towering to a stupendous height above the waves. Mela regards Colis as the turning point of the Indian coast, and even in Ptolemy’s Tables his Kory is further south than Komaria, and is the point of departure from which he discusses distances to the further East (see Ptolemy, Bk. I. capp. 13, 14; also see Bishop Caldwell’s Comp. Grammar, Introd., p. 103). It is thus intelligible how comparative geographers of the