Chapter SHA to SHABUNDER of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

SHA to SHABUNDER

SHA, SAH, s. A merchant or banker; often now attached as a surname. It is Hind. sah and sahu from Skt. sadhu, ‘perfect, virtuous, respectable’ (‘prudhomme’). See SOWCAR.

[c. 1809.—“… the people here called Mahajans (Mahajun), Sahu, and Bahariyas, live by lending money.”—Buchanan Hamilton, E. India, ii. 573.]

SHAHBASH! interj. ‘Well done!’ ‘Bravo !’ Pers. Shah-bash. ‘Rex fias!’¹ [Rather shad-bash, ‘Be joyful.’] c. 1610.—“Le Roy fit rencontre de moy … me disant vn mot qui est commun en toute l’Inde, à savoir Sabatz, qui veut dire grand mercy, et sert aussi à louer vn homme pour quelque chose qu’il a bien fait.”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 224.

[1843.—“I was awakened at night from a sound sleep by the repeated savashes! wah ! wahs ! from the residence of the thanndar.” —Davidson, Travels in Upper India, i. 209.]

SHABUNDER, s. Pers. Shahbandar, lit. ‘King of the Haven,’ Harbour-Master. This was the title of an officer at native ports all over the Indian seas, who was the chief authority with whom foreign traders and ship-masters had to transact. He was often also head of the Customs. Hence the name is of prominent and frequent occurrence in the old narratives. Portuguese authors generally write the word Xabander; ours Shabunder or Sabundar. The title is not obsolete, though it does not now exist in India; the quotation from Lane shows its recent existence in Cairo, [and the Persians still call their Consuls Shah-bandar (Burton, Ar. Nights, iii. 158)]. In the marine Malay States the Shabandar was, and probably is, an important officer of State. The passages from Lane and from Tavernier show that the title was not confined to seaports. At Aleppo Thevenot (1663) calls the corresponding official, perhaps by a mistake, ‘Scheik Bandar’ (Voyages, iii. 121). [This is the office which King Mihrjan conferred upon Sindbad the Seaman, when he made him “his agent for the port and registrar of all ships that entered the harbour” (Burton, iv. 351)].

c. 1350.—“The chief of all the Musulmans in this city (Kaulam—see QUILON) is Mahommed Shahbandar.”—Ibn Batuta, iv. 100.

c. 1539.—“This King (of the Batas) understanding that I had brought him a Letter and a Present from the Captain of Malara, caused me to be entertained by the Xabandar, who is he that with absolute Power governs all the affairs of the Army.”—Pinto (orig. cap. xv.), in Cogan’s Transl. p. 18.

1552.—“And he who most insisted on this was a Moor, Xabandar of the Guzarates” (at Malacca).—Castanheda, ii. 359.

1553.—“A Moorish lord called Sabayo (Sabaio) … as soon as he knew that our ships belonged to the people of these parts of Christendom, desiring to have confirmation on the matter, sent for a certain Polish Jew who was in his service as Shabandar (Xabandar), and asked him if he knew of what nation were the people who came in these ships. …”—Barros, I. iv. 11.

1561.—“ … a boatman, who, however, called himself Xabandar.”—Correa, Lendas, ii. 80.

1599.—“The Sabandar tooke off my Hat, and put a Roll of white linnen about my head. …”—J. Davis, in Purchas, i. 12.

[1604.—“Sabindar.” See under KLING.]

1606.—“Then came the Sabendor with light, and brought the Generall to his house.” —Middleton’s Voyage, E. (4).

1610.—“The Sabander and the Governor of Mancock (a place scituated by the River). …”—Peter Williamson Floris, in Purchas, i. 322.

[1615.—“The opinion of the Sabindour shall be taken.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 79.]

c. 1650.—“Coming to Golconda, I found that the person whom I had left in trust with my chamber was dead: but that which I observ’d most remarkable, was that I found the door seal’d with two Seals, one being the Cadi’s or chief Justice’s, the other the Sha-Bander’s or Provost of the Merchants.”—Tavernier, E.T. Pt. ii. 136; [ed. Ball, ii. 70.]

1673.—“The Shawbunder has his Grandeur too, as well as receipt of Custom, for which he pays the King yearly 22,000 Thomands.”—Fryer, 222.

1688.—“When we arrived at Achin, I was carried before the Shabander, the chief Magistrate of the City. …”—Dampier, i. 502.

1711.—“The Duties the Honourable Company require to be paid here on Goods are not above one fifth Part of what is paid to the Shabander or Custom-Master.”—Lockyer, 223.

1726.—Valentyn, v. 313, gives a list of the Sjahbandars of Malakka from 1641 to 1725. They are names of Dutchmen.

[1727.—“Shawbandaar.” See under TENASSERIM.]

1759.—“I have received a long letter from the Shahzada, in which he complains that you have begun to carry on a large trade in salt, and betel nut, and refuse to pay the duties on those articles … which practice, if continued, will oblige him to throw up his post of Shahbunder Droga (Daroga.”—W. Hastings to the Chief at Dacca, in Van Sittart, i. 5.

1768.—“… two or three days after my arrival (at Batavia), the landlord of the hotel where I lodged told me he had been ordered by the shebandar to let me know that my carriage, as well as