Chapter KHALSA to KHOT of K by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

indulging in reminiscences of the days when he had been attached to Lord Lake’s camp, in the beginning of the last century, extolled the sahibs of those times above their successors, observing (in his native Hindustani): “In those days I think the Sahibs all came from London khass; now a great lot of Liverpoolwalas come to the country!”

There were in the Palaces of the Great Mogul and other Mahommedan Princes of India always two Halls of Audience, or Durbar, the Dewan-i-’Am, or Hall of the Public, and the Dewan- i-Khass, the Special or Royal Hall, for those who had the entrée, as we say.

In the Indian Vocabulary, 1788, the word is written Coss.
KHASYA, n.p. A name applied to the oldest existing race in the cis- Tibetan Himalaya, between Nepal and the Ganges, i.e. in the British Districts of Kumaun and Garhwal. The Khasyas are Hindu in religion and customs, and probably are substantially Hindu also in blood; though in their aspect there is some slight suggestion of that of their Tibetan neighbours. There can be no ground for supposing them to be connected with the Mongoloïd nation of Kasias (see COSSYA) in the mountains south of Assam.

[1526.—“About these hills are other tribes of men. With all the investigation and enquiry I could make. … All that I could learn was that the men of these hills were called Kas. It struck me that as the Hindustanis frequently confound shin and sin and as Kashmir is the chief … city in those hills, it may have taken its name from that circumstance.”—Leyden’s Baber, 313.]

1799.—“The Vakeel of the rajah of Comanh (i.e. Kumaun) of Almora, who is a learned Pandit, informs me that the greater part of the zemindars of that country are C’hasas. … They are certainly a very ancient tribe, for they are mentioned as such in the Institutes of MENU; and their great ancestor C’HASA or C’HASYA is mentioned by Sanchoniathon, under the name of CASSIUS. He is supposed to have lived before the Flood, and to have given his name to the mountains he seized upon.”—Wilford (Wilfordizing!), in As. Res. vi. 456.

1824.—“The Khasya nation pretend to be all Rajpoots of the highest caste … they will not even sell one of their little mountain cows to a stranger. … They are a modest, gentle, respectful people, honest in their dealings.”—Heber, i. 264.

KHELAT, n.p. The capital of the Biluch State upon the western frontier of Sind, which gives its name to the State itself. The name is in fact the Ar. kal’a, ‘a fort.’ (See under KILLADAR.) The terminal t of the Ar. word (written kal’at) has for man y centuries been pronounced only when the word is the first half of a compound name meaning ‘Castle of —.’ No doubt this was the case with the Biluch capital, though in its case the second part has been completely dropt out of use. Khelát (Kal’at)-i-Ghilji is an example where the second part remains, though sometimes dropt.

KHIRÁJ, s. Ar. kharaj (usually pron. in India khiraj), is properly a tribute levied by a Musulman lord upon conquered unbelievers, also land-tax; in India it is almost always used for the land-revenue paid to Government; whence a common expression (also Ar.) la khiraj, treated as one word, lukhiraj, ‘rent- free.’

[c. 1590.—“In ancient times a capitation tax was imposed, called khiráj.”—Ain, edition Jarrett, ii. 55. “Some call the whole produce of the revenue khiráj.”—Ibid. ii. 57.]

1653.—“Le Sultan souffre les Chrétiens, les Iuifs, et les Indou sur ses terres, auec toute liberté de leur Loy, en payant cinq Reales d’Espagne ou plus par an, et ce tribut s’appelle Karache. …”—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, edition 1657, page 48.

1784.—“… 136 beegahs, 18 of which are Lackherage land, or land paying no rent.”—In Seton-Karr, i. 49.

KHOA, s. Hind. and Beng. khoa, a kind of concrete, of broken brick, lime, &c., used for floors and terrace-roofs.

KHOT, s. This is a Mahrati word, khot, in use in some parts of the Bombay Presidency as the designation of persons holding or farming villages on a peculiar tenure called khoti, and coming under the class legally defined as ‘superior holders.’

The position and claims of the khots have been the subject of much debate and difficulty, especially with regard to the rights and duties of the tenants under them, whose position takes various forms; but to go into these questions would carry us much more deeply into local technicalities than would be consistent with the scope of this work, or the knowledge of the editor. Practically it would seem that the khot is, in the midst of provinces where ryotwarry is the ruling system, an exceptional person, holding much the position of a petty zemindar in Bengal (apart from any question of permanent settlement); and that most of the difficult questions touching khoti have arisen from this its exceptional character in Western India.

The khot occurs especially in the Konkan, and was found in existence when, in the early part of the last century, we occupied territory that had been subject to the Mahratta power.