Chapter COWRY to CRANGANORE of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

COWRY to CRANGANORE

COWRY, s. Used in S. India for the yoke to carry burdens, the Bangy (q.v.) of N. India. In Tamil, &c., kavadi, [kavu, ‘to carry on the shoulder,’ tadi, ‘pole’].

[1853.—“Cowrie baskets…a circular ratan basket, with a conical top, covered with green oil-cloth, and secured by a brass padlock.”—Campbell, Old Forest Ranger, 3rd ed. 178.]

COWTAILS, s. The name formerly in ordinary use for what we now more euphoniously call chowries (q.v.). c. 1664.—“These Elephants have then also…certain Cow-tails of the great Tibet, white and very dear, hanging at their Ears like great Mustachoes.…”—Bernier, E.T., 84; [ed. Constable, 261].

1665.—“Now that this King of the Great Tibet knows, that Aureng-Zebe is at Kachemire, and threatens him with War, he hath sent to him an Ambassador, with Presents of the Countrey, as Chrystal, and those dear White Cow-tails.…”—Ibid. 135; [ed. Constable, 422].

1774.—“To send one or more pair of the cattle which bear what are called cowtails.”—Warren Hastings, Instruction to Bogle, in Markham’s Tibet, 8.

“There are plenty of cowtailed cows(!), but the weather is too hot for them to go to Bengal.”—Bogle, ibid. 52. ‘Cowtailed cows’ seem analogous to the ‘dismounted mounted infantry’ of whom we have recently heard in the Suakin campaign.

1784.—In a ‘List of Imports probable from Tibet,’ we find “Cow Tails.”—In Seton-Karr, i. 4.

„ “From the northern mountains are imported a number of articles of commerce.…The principal…are…musk, cowtails, honey.…”—Gladwin’s Ayeen Akbery (ed. 1800) ii. 17; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 172].

CRAN, s. Pers. kran. A modern Persian silver coin, worth-about a franc, being the tenth part of a Tomaun.

1880.—“A couple of mules came clattering into the courtyard, driven by one muleteer. Each mule carried 2 heavy sacks…which jingled pleasantly as they were placed on the ground. The sacks were afterwards opened in my presence, and contained no less than 35,000 silver krans. The one muleteer without guard had brought them across the mountains, 170 miles or so, from Tehran.”—MS. Letter from Col. Bateman-Champain, R.E.

[1891.—“I on my arrival took my servants’ accounts in tomauns and kerans, afterwards in kerans and shaies, and at last in kerans and puls.”—Wills, Land of the Lion, 63.]

CRANCHEE, s. Beng. H. karanchi. This appears peculiar to Calcutta, [but the word is also used in N. India]. A kind of ricketty and sordid carriage resembling, as Bp. Heber says below, the skeleton of an old English hackney-coach of 1800–35 (which no doubt was the model), drawn by wretched ponies, harnessed with rope, and standing for native hire in various parts of the city.

1823.—“…a considerable number of ‘caranchies,’ or native carriages, each drawn by two horses, and looking like the skeletons of hackney coaches in our own country.”—Heber, i. 28 (ed. 1844).

1834.—“As Lady Wroughton guided her horse through the crowd to the right, a kuranchy, or hackney-coach, suddenly passed her at full speed.”—The Baboo, i. 228.

CRANGANORE, n.p. Properly (according to Dr. Gundert), Kodunrilur, more generally Kodungalur; [the Madras Gloss. gives Mal. Kotannallur, kota, ‘west,’ kovil, ‘palace,’ ur, ‘village’]. An ancient city and port of Malabar, identical with the Muyiri-kkodu of an ancient copper-plate inscription,¹ with the [Greek Text] MouziriV of Ptolemy’s Tables and the Periplus, and with the Muziris primum emporium Indiae of Pliny (Bk. vi. cap. 23 or 26) [see Logan, Malabar, i. 80]. “The traditions of Jews, Christians, Brahmans, and of the Kérala Ulpatti (legen dary History of Malabar) agree in making Kodungalur the residence of the Perumals (ancient sovereigns of Malabar), and the first resort of Western shipping” (Dr. Gundert in Madras Journal, vol. xiii. p. 120). It was apparently the earliest settlement of Jew and Christian immigrants. It is prominent in all the earlier narratives of the 16th century, especially in connection with the Malabar Christians; and it was the site of one of the seven churches alleged in the legends of the latter to have been founded by St. Thomas.² Cranganor was already in decay when the Portuguese arrived. They eventually established themselves there with a strong fort (1523), which the Dutch took from them in 1662. This fort was dismantled by Tippoo’s troops in 1790, and there is now hardly a trace