Chapter LARRY-BUNDER to LASCAR of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LARRY-BUNDER to LASCAR

LARRY-BUNDER, n.p. The name of an old seaport in the Delta of the Indus, which succeeded Daibul (see DIUL-SIND) as the chief haven of Sind. We are doubtful of the proper orthography. It was in later Mahommedan times called Lahori - bandar, probably from presumed connection with Lahore as the port of the Punjab (Elliot, i. 378). At first sight M‘Murdo’s suggestion that the original name may have been Lari-bandar, from Lar, the local name of the southern part of Sind, seems probable. M‘Murdo, indeed, writing about 1820, says that the name Lari-Bandar was not at all familiar to natives; but if accustomed to the form Lahori-bandar they might not recognize it in the other. The shape taken however by what is apparently the same name in our first quotation is adverse to M’Murdo’s suggestion.

1030.—“This stream (the Indus) after passing (Alor) … divides into two streams; one empties itself into the sea in the neighbourhood of the city of Luharani, and the other branches off to the East, to the borders of Kach, and is known by the name of Sind Sagar, i.e. Sea of Sind.”—Al-Biruni, in Elliot, i. 49.

c. 1333.—“I travelled five days in his compan y with Ala-ul-Mulk, and we arrived at the seat of his Government, i.e. the town of Lahari, a fine city situated on the shore of the great Se a, and near which the River Sind enters the sea. Thus two great waters join near it; it possesses a grand haven, frequented by the people of Yemen, of Fars (etc). … The Amir Ala-ul-Mulk … told me that the revenue of this place amounted to 60 laks a year.”—Ibn Batuta, iii. 112.

1565.—“Blood had not yet been spilled, when suddenly, news came from Thatta, that the Firingis had passed Lahori-bandar, and attacked the city.”—Táríkh- i-Táhiri, in Elliot, i. 277.

[1607.—“Then you are to saile for Lawrie in the Bay of the River Syndus.”—Birdwood, First Letter-book, 251.

[1611.—“I took … Larree, the port town of the River Sinda.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 162.]

1613.—“In November 1613 the Expedition arrived at Laurebunder, the port of Sinde, with Sir Robert Shirley and his company.”—Sainsbury, i. 321.

c. 1665.—“Il se fait aussi beaucoup de trafic au Loure-bender, qui est à trois jours de Tatta sur la mer, où la rade est plus excellente pour Vaisseaux, qu’en quelque autre lieu que ce soit des Indes.”—Thevenot, v. 159.

1679.—“… If Suratt, Baroach, and Bundurlaree in Scinda may be included in the same Phyrmaund to be customs free … then that they get these places and words inserted.”—Ft. St. Geo. Consns., Feb. 20. In Notes and Exts., No. 1. Madras, 1871.

1727.—“It was my Fortune … to come to Larribunder, with a Cargo from Mallebar, worth above £10,000.”—A. Hamilton, i. 116; [ed. 1744, i. 117, Larribundar].

1739.—“But the Castle and town of Lohre Bender, with all the country to the eastward of the river ATTOK, and of the waters of the SCIND, and NALA SUNKHRA, shall, as before, belong to the Empire of Hindostan.”—H. of Nadir, in Hanway, ii. 387.

1753.—“Le bras gauche du Sind se rend à Laheri, où il s’épanche en un lac; et ce port, qui est celui de Tattanagar, communément est nommé Laûrébender.”—D’Anville, p. 40.

1763.—“Les Anglois ont sur cette côte encore plusieurs petits établissement (sic) où ils envoyent des premiers Marchands, des sous- Marchands, ou des Facteurs, comme en Scindi, à trois endroits, à Tatta, une grande ville et la résidence du Seigneur du païs, à Lar Bunder, et à Schah-Bunder.”—Niebuhr, Voyage, ii. 8.

1780.—“The first place of any note, after passing the bar, is Laribunda, about 5 or 6 leagues from the sea.”—Dunn’s Oriental Navigator, 5th ed. p. 96.

1813.—“Laribunder. This is commonly called Scindy River, being the principal branch of the Indus, having 15 feet water on the bar, and 6 or 7 fathoms inside; it is situated in latitude about 24° 30’ north. … The town of Laribunder is about 5 leagues from the sea, and vessels of 200 tons used to proceed up to it.”—Milburn, i. 146.

1831.—“We took the route by Durajee and Meerpoor. … The town of Lahory was in sight from the former of these places, and is situated on the same, or left bank of the Pittee.”—A. Burnes, 2nd. ed. i. 22.

LASCAR, s. The word is originally, from Pers. lashkar, ‘an army,’ ‘a camp.’ This is usually derived from Ar. al’askar, but it would rather seem that Ar. ’askar, ‘an army’ is taken from this Pers. word: whence lashkari, ‘one belonging to an army, a soldier.’ The word lascár or láscár (both these pronunciations are in vogue) appears to have been corrupted, through the Portuguese use of lashkari in the forms lasquarin, lascari, &c., either by the Portuguese themselves, or by the Dutch and English who took up the word from them, and from these laskar has passed back again into native use in this corrupt shape. The early Portuguese writers have the forms we have just named in the sense of ‘soldier’; but lascar is never so used now. It is in general the equivalent of khalasi, in the various senses of that word (see CLASSY), viz. (1) an inferior class of artilleryman (‘gun-lascar’); (2) a tent-pitcher, doing other work which the class are accustomed to do; (3) a sailor. The last is the most common Anglo-Indian use, and has passed into the English language. The use of lascar in the modern sense by Pyrard de Laval shows that this use