Chapter PAMBRE to PANDARÁNI of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

PAMBRE to PANDARÁNI

[PAMBRE, s. An article of dress which seems to have been used for various purposes, as a scarf, and perhaps as a turban. Mr. Yusuf Ali (Monograph on Silk Fabrics, 81) classes it among ‘fabrics which are simply wrapped over the head and shoulders by men and women’; and he adds: “The Pamri is used by women and children, generally amongst Hindus.” His specimens are some 3 yards long by 1 broad, and are made of pure silk or silk and cotton, with an ornamental border. The word does not appear in the Hind. dictionaries, but Molesworth has Mahr. pamari, ‘a sort of silk cloth.’

[1616.—“He covered my head with his Pambre.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 344.]


For some of the following quotations and notes I am indebted to Mr. W. Foster. [1617.—“Antelopes and ramshelles,¹ which bear the finest wool in the world, with which they make very delicate mantles, called Pawmmerys.”—Joseph Salbank to the E. India Co., Agra, Nov. 22, 1617; India Office Records, O. C., No. 568.

[1627.—“L’on y [Kashmír] travaille aussi plusieurs Vomeris [misprint for Pomeris, which he elsewhere mentions as a stuff from Kashmir and Lahore], qui sont des pieces d’estoffes longues de trois, aulnes, et largers de deux, faite de laine de moutons, qui croit au derriere de ces bestes, et qui est aussi fine que de la soye: on tient ces estoffes exposées au froid pendant l’hyver: elles ont un beau lustre, semblables aux tabis de nos cartiers.”—François Pelsart, in Thevenot’s Rélations de divers Voyages, vol. i. pt. 2.

[1634.—A letter in the India Office of Dec. 29 mentions that the Governor of Surat presented to the two chief Factors a horse and “a coat and pamorine” apiece.

[ „ O. C., No. 1543A (I. O. Records) mentions the presentation to the President of Surat of a “coat and pamorine.”

[1673.—“A couple of pamerins, which are fine mantles.”—Fryer’s New Account, p. 79; also see 177; in 112 ramerin.

1766.—“… a lungee (see LOONGHEE) or clout, barely to cover their nakedness, and a pamree or loose mantle to throw over their shoulders, or to lye on upon the ground.”—Grose, 2nd ed. ii. 81.]

PANCHANGAM, s. Skt. = ‘quinque-partite.’ A native almanac in S. India is called so, because it contains information on five subjects, viz. Solar Days, Lunar Days, Asterisms, Yogas, and karanas (certain astrological divisions of the days of a month). Panchanga is used also, at least by Buchanan below, for the Brahman who keeps and interprets the almanac for the villagers. [This should be Skt. pañchangi.]

1612.—“Every year they make new almanacs for the eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon, and they have a perpetual one which serves to pronounce their auguries, and this they call Panchagão.”—Couto, V. vi. 4.

1651.—“The Bramins, in order to know the good and bad days, have made certain writings after the fashion of our Almanacks, and these they call Panjangam.”—Rogerius, 55. This author gives a specimen (pp. 63–69).

1800.—“No one without consulting the Panchanga, or almanac-keeper, knows when he is to perform the ceremonies of religion.”—Buchanan’s Mysore, &c., i. 234.

PANDAL, PENDAUL, s. A shed. Tamil. pandal, [Skt. bandh, ‘to bind’].

1651.—“… it is the custom in this country when there is a Bride in the house to set up before the door certain stakes somewhat taller than a man, and these are covered with lighter sticks on which foliage is put to make a shade. … This arrangement is called a Pandael in the country speech.”—Rogerius, 12.

1717.—“Water-Bandels, which are little sheds for the Conveniency of drinking Water.”—Phillips’s Account, 19.

1745.—“Je suivis la procession d’un peu loin, et arrivé aux sepultures, j’y vis un pandel ou tente dressée, sur la fosse du defunt; elle était ornée de branches de figuier, de toiles peintes, &c. L’intérieur était garnie de petites lampes allumées.”—Norbert, Mémoires, iii. 32.

1781.—“Les gens riches font construir devant leur porte un autre pendal.”—Sonnerat, ed. 1782, i. 134.

1800.—“I told the farmer that, as I meant to make him pay his full rent, I could not take his fowl and milk without paying for them; and that I would not enter his pundull, because he had not paid the labourers who made it.”—Letter of Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 283.

1814.—“There I beheld, assembled in the same pandaul, or reposing under the friendly banian-tree, the Gosannee (see GOSAIN) in a state of nudity, the Yogee (see JOGEE) with a lark or paroquet his sole companion for a thousand miles.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 465; [2nd ed. ii. 72. In ii. 109 he writes Pendall].

1815.—“Pandauls were erected opposite the two principal fords on the river, where under my medical superintendence skilful natives provided with eau-de-luce and other remedies were constantly stationed.”—Dr. M‘Kenzie, in Asiatic Researches, xiii. 329.