Chapter JAMES AND MARY to JANGOMAY of J by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

JAMES AND MARY to JANGOMAY

JAMES AND MARY, n.p. The name of a famous sand-bank in the Hoogly R. below Calcutta, which has been fatal to many a ship. It is mentioned under 1748, in the record of a survey of the river quoted in Long, p. 10. It is a common allegation that the name is a corruption of the Hind. words jal mari, with the supposed meaning of ‘dead water.’ But the real origin of the name dates, as Sir G. Birdwood has shown, out of India Office records, from the wreck of a vessel called the “Royal James and Mary,” in September 1694, on that sand-bank (Letter to the Court, from Chuttanuttee, Dec. 19, 1694). [Report on Old Records, 90.] This shoal appears by name in a chart belonging to the English Pilot, 1711.

JAMMA, s. P.—H. jama, a piece of native clothing. Thus, in composition, see PYJAMMAS. Also stuff for clothing, &c., e.g. mom - jama, wax-cloth. [“The jama may have been brought by the Aryans from Central Asia, but as it is still now seen it is thoroughly Indian and of ancient date” (Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. 187 seq.]

[1813.—“The better sort (of Hindus) wear … a jama, or long gown of white calico, which is tied round the middle with a fringed or embroidered sash.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 52].

JAMOON, s. Hind. jamun, jaman, jamli, &c. The name of a poor fruit common in many parts of India, and apparently in E. Africa, the Eugenia jambolana, Lamk. (Calyptranthes jambolana of Willdenow, Syzygium jambolanum of Decand.) This seems to be confounded with the Eugenia jambos, or Rose- apple (see JAMBOO, above), by the author of a note on Leyden’s Baber which Mr. Erskine justly corrects (Baber’s own account is very accurate), by the translators of Ibn Batuta, and apparently, as regards the botanical name, by Sir R. Burton. The latter gives jamli as the Indian, and zam as the Arabic name. The name jambu appears to be applied to this fruit at Bombay, which of course promotes the confusion spoken of. In native practice the stones of this fruit have been alleged to be a cure for diabetes, but European trials do not seem to have confirmed this. c. 13^**.—“The inhabitants (of Mombasa) gather also a fruit which they call jamun, and which resembles an olive; it has a stone like the olive, but has a very sweet taste.”—Ibn Batuta, ii. 191. Elsewhere the translators write tchoumoûn (iii. 128, iv. 114, 229), a spelling indicated in the original, but surely by some error.

c. 1530.—“Another is the jaman. … It is on the whole a fine looking tree. Its fruit resembles the black grape, but has a more acid taste, and is not very good.”—Baber, 325. The note on this runs: “This, Dr. Hunter says, is the Eugenia Jambolana, the rose-apple (Eugenia jambolana, but not the rose-apple, which is now called Eugenia jambu.—D.W.). The jâman has no resemblance to the rose-apple; it is more like an oblong sloe than anything else, but grows on a tall tree.”

1563.—“I will eat of those olives,—, at least they look like such; but they are very astringent (ponticas) as if binding,—, and yet they do look like ripe Cordova olives.

“O. They are called jambolones, and grow wild in a wood that looks like a myrtle grove; in its leaves the tree resembles the arbutus; but like the jack, the people of the country don’t hold this fruit for very wholesome.”—Garcia, f. 111y.

1859.—“The Indian jamli.… It is a noble tree, which adorns some of the coast villages and plantations, and it produces a damson-like fruit, with a pleasant sub-acid flavour.”—Burton, in J.R.G.S. ix. 36.

JANCADA, s. This name was given to certain responsible guides in the Nair country who escorted travellers from one inhabited place to another, guaranteeing their security with their own lives, like the Bhats of Guzerat. The word is Malayal. channadam (i.e. changngadam, [the Madras Gloss. writes channatam, and derives it from Skt. sanghata, ‘union’]), with the same spelling as that of the word given as the origin of jangar or jangada, ‘a raft.’ These jancadas or jangadas seem also to have been placed in other confidential and dangerous charges. Thus:

1543.—“This man who so resolutely died was one of the jangadas of the Pagode. They are called jangades because the kings and lords of those lands, according to a custom of theirs, send as guardians of the houses of the Pagodes in their territories, two men as captains, who are men of honour and good cavaliers. Such guardians are called jangadas, and have soldiers of guard under them, and are as it were the Counsellors and Ministers of the affairs of the pagodes, and they receive their maintenance from the establishment and its revenues. And sometimes the king changes them and appoints others.”—Correa, iv. 328.

c. 1610.—“I travelled with another Captain … who had with him these Jangai, who are the Nair guides, and who are found at the gates of towns to act as escort to those who require them.…