Chapter PERI to PESHAWUR of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

belonged to the Indian language of Virginia. [The word became familiar in 1896 as the name of the winner of the Derby.]

1878.—“The finest fruit of Japan is the Kaki or persimmon (Diospyros Kaki), a large golden fruit on a beautiful tree.”—Miss Bird’s Japan, i. 234.

PERUMBAUCUM, n.p. A town 14 m. N.W. of Conjevaram, in the district of Madras [Chingleput]. The name is perhaps perum-pakkam, Tam., ‘big village.’

PESCARIA, n.p. The coast of Tinnevelly was so called by the Portuguese, from the great pearl ‘fishery’ there.

[c. 1566.—See under BAZAAR.]

1600.—“There are in the Seas of the East three principal mines where they fish pearls. … The third is between the Isle of Ceilon and Cape Comory, and on this account the Coast which runs from the said Cape to the shoals of Ramanancor and Manâr is called, in part, Pescaria. …”—Lucena, 80.

[1616.—“Pesqueria.” See under CHILAW.]

1615.—“Iam nonnihil de orâ Piscariâ dicamus quae iam inde a promontorio Commorino in Orientem ad usque breuia Ramanancoridis extenditur, quod haud procul inde celeberrimus, maximus, et copiosissimus toto Oriente Margaritarum piscatus instituitur. …”—Jarric, Thes. i. 445.

1710.—“The Coast of the Pescaria of the mother of pearl which runs from the Cape of Camorim to the Isle of Manar, for the space of seventy leagues, with a breadth of six inland, was the first debarcation of this second conquest.”—Sousa, Orient. Conquist. i. 122.

PESHAWUR, n.p. Peshawar. This name of what is now the frontier city and garrison of India towards Kabul, is sometimes alleged to have been given by Akbar. But in substance the name is of great antiquity, and all that can be alleged as to Akbar is that he is said to have modified the old name, and that since his time the present form has been in use. A notice of the change is quoted below from Gen. Cunningham; we cannot give the authority on which the statement rests. Peshawar could hardly be called a frontier town in the time of Akbar, standing as it did according to the administrative division of the Ain, about the middle of the Suba of Kabul, which included Kashmir and all west of it. We do not find that the modern form occurs in the text of the Ain as published by Prof. Blochmann. In the translation of the Tab akat-i-Akbari of Nizamu-d-din Ahmad (died 1594–95), in Elliot, we find the name transliterated variously as Pesháwar (v. 448), Parsháwar (293), Parshor (423), Pershor (424). We cannot doubt that the Chinese form Folausha in Fah-hian already expresses the name Parashawar, or Parshawar.

c. 400.—“From Gandhâra, going south 4 days’ journey, we arrive at the country of Fo-lau-sha. In old times Buddha, in company with all his disciples, travelled through this country.”—Fah-hian, by Beal, p. 34.

c. 630.—“The Kingdom of Kien-to-lo (Gândhâra) extends about 1000 li from E. to W. and 800 li from S. to N. On the East it adjoins the river Sin (Indus). The capital of this country is called Pu-lu-sha-pu- lo (Purashapura). … The towns and villages are almost deserted. … There are about a thousand convents, ruined and abandoned; full of wild plants, and presenting only a melancholy solitude. …”—Hwen T’sang, Pèl. Boud. ii. 104–105.

c. 1001.—“On his (Mahmúd’s) reaching Purshaur, he pitched his tent outside the city. There he received intelligence of the bold resolve of Jaipál, the enemy of God, and the King of Hind, to offer opposition.”—Al-Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 25.

c. 1020.—“The aggregate of these waters forms a large river opposite the city of Parsháwar.”—Al-Biruni, in Elliot, i. 47. See also 63.

1059.—“The Amír ordered a letter to be despatched to the minister, telling him ‘I have determined to go to Hindustán, and pass the winter in Waihind, and Marminára, and Barshúr. …”—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 150.

c. 1220.—“Farshabur. The vulgar pronunciation is Barshawur. A large tract between Ghazna and Lahor, famous in the history of the Musulman conquest.”—Yakut, in Barbier de Maynard, Dict. de la Perse, 418.

1519.—“We held a consultation, in which it was resolved to plunder the country of the Aferîdî Afghâns, as had been proposed by Sultan Bayezîd, to fit up the fort of Pershâwer for the reception of their effects and corn, and to leave a garrison in it.”—Baber, 276.

c. 1555.—“We came to the city of Purshawar, and having thus fortunately passed the Kotal we reached the town of Joshaya. On the Kotal we saw rhinoceroses, the size of a small elephant.”—Sidi ’Ali, in J. As. Ser. i. tom. ix. 201.

c. 1590.—“Tuman Bagram, which they call Parshawar; the spring here is a source of delight. There is in this place a great place of worship which