Chapter PAMBRE to PANDARÁNI of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

PANDÁRAM, s. A Hindu ascetic mendicant of the (so-ca lled) Sudra, or even of a lower caste. A priest of the lower Hindu castes of S. India and Ceylon. Tamil, pandaram. C. P. Brown says the Pandaram is properly a Vaishnava, but other authors apply the name to Saiva priests. [The Madras Gloss. derives the word from Skt. pandu-ranga, ‘white-coloured.’ Messrs. Cox and Stuart (Man of N. Arcot. i. 199) derive it from Skt. bhandagara, ‘a temple-treasury,’ w herein were employed those who had renounced the world. “The Pandarams seem to receive numerous recruits from the Saivite Sudra castes, who choose to make a profession of piety and wander about begging. They are, in reality, very lax in their modes of life, often drinking liquor and eating animal food furnished by any respectable Sudra. They often serve in Siva temples, where they make up garlands of flowers to decorate the lingam, and blow brass trumpets when offerings are made or processions take place” (ibid.).]

1711.—“… But the destruction of 50 or 60,000 pagodas worth of grain … and killing the Pandarrum; these are things which make his demands really carry too much justice with them.”—Letter in Wheeler, ii. 163.

1717.—“… Bramans, Pantarongal, and other holy men.”—Phillips’s Account, 18. The word is here in the Tamil plural.

1718.—“Abundance of Bramanes, Pantares, and Poets … flocked together.”—Propn. of the Gospel, ii. 18.

1745.—“On voit ici quelquefois les Pandarams ou Penitens qui ont été en pélérinage à Bengale; quand ils retournent ils apportent ici avec grand soin de l’eau du Gange dans des pots ou vases bien formés.”—Norbert, Mém. iii. 28.

c. 1760.—“The Pandarams, the Mahometan priests, and the Bramins thomselves yield to the force of truth.”—Grose, i. 252.

1781.—“Les Pandarons ne sont pas moins révérés que les Saniasis. Ils sont de la secte de Chiven, se barbouillent toute la figure, la poitrine, et les bras avec des cendres de bouze de vache,” &c.—Sonnerat, 8vo. ed., ii. 113–114.

1798.—“The other figure is of a Pandaram or Senassey, of the class of pilgrims to the various pagodas.”—Pennant’s View of Hindostan, preface.

1800.—“In Chera the Pújáris (see POOJAREE) or priests in these temples are all Pandarums, who are the Súdras dedicated to the service of Siva’s temples. …”—Buchanan’s Mysore, &c., ii. 338.

1809.—“The chief of the pagoda (Rameswaram), or Pandaram, waiting on the beach.”—Ld. Valentia, i. 338.

1860.—“In the island of Nainativoe, to the south-west of Jafna, there was till recently a little temple, dedicated to the goddess Naga Tambiran, in which consecrated serpents were tenderly reared by the Pandarams, and daily fed at the expense of the worshippers.”—Tennent’s Ceylon, i. 373.

PANDARÁNI, n.p. The name of a port of Malabar of great reputation in the Middle Ages, a name which has gone through many curious corruptions. Its position is clear enough from Varthema’s statement that an uninhabited island stood opposite at three leagues distance, which must be the “Sacrifice Rock” of our charts. [The Madras Gloss. identifies it with Collam.] The name appears upon no modern map, but it still attaches to a miserable fishing village on the site, in the form Pantalani (approx. lat. 11° 26’), a l ittle way north of Koilandi. It is seen below in Ibn Batuta’s notice that Pandarani afforded an exceptional shelter to shipping during the S.W. monsoon. This is referred to in an interesting letter to one of the present writers from his friend Col. (now Lt.-Gen.) R. H. Sankey, C.B., R.E., dated Madras, 13th Feby., 1881: “One very extraordinary feature on the coast is the occurrence of mud-banks in from 1 to 6 fathoms of water, which have the effect of breaking both surf and swell to such an extent that ships can run into the patches of water so sheltered at the very height of the monsoon, when the elements are raging, and not only find a perfectly still sea, but are able to land their cargoes. … Possibly the snugness of some of the harbours frequented by the Chinese junks, such as Pandarani, may have been mostly due to banks of this kind? By the way, I suspect your ‘Pandarani’ was nothing but the roadstead of Coulete (Coulandi or Quelande of our Atlas). The Master Attendant who accompanied me, appears to have a good opinion of it as an anchorage, and as well sheltered.” [See Logan, Malabar, i. 72.]

c. 1150.—“Fandarina is a town built at the mouth of a river which comes from Manibár (see MALABAR), where vessels from India and Sind cast anchor. The inhabitants are rich, the markets well supplied, and trade flourishing.”—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. 90.

1296.—“In the year (1296) it was prohibited to merchants who traded in fine or costly products with Maparh (Ma’bar or Coromandel), Peï-nan (?) and Fantalaina, three foreign kingdoms, to export any one of them more than the value of 50,000 ting in paper money.”—Chinese Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, quoted by Pauthier, Marc Pol, 532.

c. 1300.—“Of the cities on the shore the first is Sindábúr, then Faknúr, then the country of Manjarúr, then the country of Hílí, then the country of (Fandaraina²).”—Rashíduddín, in Elliot, i. 68.

c. 1321.—“And the forest in which the pepper