Chapter PADRE to PAGODA of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

Fra Paolino, p. 79 and p. 57, quoted under c. below). And it is very interesting to observe that, in a paper on “Coorg Superstitions,” Mr. Kittel notices parenthetically that Bhadra Kali (i.e. Durga) is “also called Pogodi, Pavodi, a tadbhava of Bagavati” (Ind. Antiq. ii. 170)—an incidental remark that seems to bring us very near the possible origin of pagode. It is most probable that some form like pogodi or pagode was current in the mouths of foreign visitors before the arrival of the Portuguese; but if the word was of Portuguese origin there may easily have been some confusion in their ears between Bagavati and but-kadah which shaped the new word. It is no sufficient objection to say that bhagavati is not a term applied by the natives to a temple; the question is rather what misunderstanding and mispronunciation by foreigners of a native term may probably have given rise to the term?—(H. Y.)

Since the above was written, Sir Walter Elliot has kindly furnished a note, of which the following is an extract:—

“I took some pains to get at the origin of the word when at Madras, and the conclusion I came to was that it arose from the term used generally for the object of their worship, viz., Bhagavat, ‘god’; bhagavati, ‘goddess.’

“Thus, the Hindu temple with its lofty gopuram or propylon at once attracts attention, and a stranger enquiring what it was, would be told, ‘the house or place of Bhagavat.’ The village divinity throughout the south is always a form of Durga, or, as she is commonly called, simply ‘Devi’ (or Bhagavati, ‘the goddess’).…In like manner a figure of Durga is found on most of the gold Huns (i.e. pagoda coins) current in the Dakhan, and a foreigner inquiring what such a coin was, or rather what was the form stamped upon it, would be told it was ‘the goddess,’ i.e., it was ‘Bhagavati.’”

As my friend, Dr. Burnell, can no longer represent his own view, it seems right here to print the latest remarks of his on the subject that I can find. They are in a letter from Tanjore, dated March 10, 1880:—

“I think I overlooked a remark of yours regarding my observation that the e in Pagode was pronounced, and that this was a difficulty in deriving it from Bhagavat. In modern Portuguese e is not sounded, but verses show that it was in the 16th century. Now, if there is a final vowel in Pagoda, it must come from Bhagavati; but though the goddess is and was worshipped to a certain extent in S. India, it is by other names (Amma, &c.). Gundert and Kittel give ‘Pogodi’ as a name of a Durga temple, but assuredly this is no corruption of Bhagavati, but Pagoda! Malayalam and Tamil are full of such adopted words. Bhagavati is little used, and the goddess is too insignificant to give rise to pagoda as a general name for a temple.

“Bhagavat can only appear in the S. Indian languages in its (Skt.) nominative form bhagavan (Tamil paguvan). As such, in Tamil and Malayalam it equals Vishnu or Siva, which would suit. But pagoda can’t be got out of bhagavan; and if we look to the N. Indian forms, bhagavant, &c., there is the difficulty about the e, to say nothing about the nt.”

The use of the word by Barbosa at so early a date as 1516, and its application to a particular class of temples must not be overlooked.

a.—

1516.—“There is another sect of people among the Indians of Malabar, which is called Cujaven [Kushavan, Logan, Malabar, i. 115].…Their business is to work at baked clay, and tiles for covering houses, with which the temples and Royal buildings are roofed.…Their idolatry and their idols are different from those of the others; and in their houses of prayer they perform a thousand acts of witchcraft and necromancy; they call their temples pagodes, and they are separate from the others.”—Barbosa, 135. This is from Lord Stanley of Alderley’s translation from a Spanish MS. The Italian of Ramusio reads: “nelle loro orationi fanno molte strigherie e necromãtie, le quali chiamano Pagodes, differenti assai dall’ altre” (Ramusio, i. f. 308v.). In the Portuguese MS. published by the Lisbon Academy in 1812, the words are altogether absent; and in interpolating them from Ramusio the editor has given the same sense as in Lord Stanley’s English.

1516.—“In this city of Goa, and all over India, there are an infinity of ancient buildings of the Gentiles, and in a small island near this, called Dinari, the Portuguese, in order to build the city, have destroyed an ancient temple called Pagode, which was built with marvellous art, and with ancient figures wrought to the greatest perfection in a certain black stone, some of which remain standing, ruined and shattered, because these Portuguese care nothing about them. If I can come by one of these shattered images I will send it to your Lordship, that you may perceive how much in old times sculpture was esteemed in every part of the world.”—Letter of Andrea Corsali to Giuliano de’Medici, in Ramusio, i. f. 177.

1543.—“And with this fleet he anchored at Coulão (see QUILON) and landed there with all his people. And the Governor (Martim Afonso de Sousa) went thither because of information he had of a pagode which was quite near in the interior, and which, they said, contained much treasure.…And the people of the country