Chapter SIND to SINGALESE of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

SIND to SINGALESE

SIND, SCINDE, &c., n.p. The territory on the Indus below the Punjab. [In the early inscriptions the two words Sindhu-Sauvira are often found conjoined, the latter probably part of Upper Sind (see Bombay Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 36).] The earlier Mahommedans hardly regarded Sind as part of India, but distinguished sharply between Sind and Hind, and denoted the whole region that we call India by the copula ‘Hind and Sind.’ We know that originally these were in fact but diverging forms of one word; the aspirant and sibilant tending in several parts of India (includ-the extreme east—compare ASSAM, Ahom—and the extreme west), as in some other regions, to exchange places.

c. 545.—“ [Greek Text] Sindou, Orroqa, Kalliana, Sibwr, kai Male pente emporia ecousa.”—Cosmas, lib. xi.

770.—“Per idem tempus quingenti circiter ex Mauris, Sindis, et Chazaris servi in urbe Haran rebellarunt, et facto agmine regium thesaurum diripere tentarunt.”—Dionysii Patriarchae Chronicon, in Assemani, ii. 114. But from the association with the Khazars, and in a passage on the preceding page with Alans and Khazars, we may be almost certain that these Sindi are not Indian, but a Sarmatic people mentioned by Ammianus (xxii. 8), Valerius Flaccus (vi. 86), and other writers.

c. 1030.—“Sind and her sister (i.e. Hind) trembled at his power and vengeance.”—Al’ Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 32.

c. 1340.—“Mohammed- ben-Iousouf Thakafi trouva dans la province de Sind quarante behar (see BAHAR) d’or, et chaque behar comprend 333 mann.”—Shihabuddin Dimishki, in Not. et Ext. xiii. 173.

1525.—“Expenses of Melyquyaz (i.e. Malik Ayaz of Diu):—1,000 foot soldiers (lasquarys), viz., 300 Arabs, at 40 and 50 fedeas each; also 200 Coraçones (Khorasanis) at the wage of the Arabs; also 200 Guzarates and Cymdes at 25 to 30 fedeas each; also 30 Rumes at 100 fedeas each; 120 Fartaquys at 50 fedeas each. Horse soldiers (Lasquarys a quaualo), whom he supplies with horses, 300 at 70 fedeas a month. …”—Lembrança, p . 37. The preceding extract is curious as showing the comparative value put upon Arabs, Khorasanis (qu. Afghans?), Sindis, Rumis (i.e. Turks), Fartakis (Arabs of Hadramaut ?), &c.

1548.—“And the rent of the shops (buticas) of the Guzaratis of Cindy, who prepare and sell parched rice (avel), paying 6 bazarucos (see BUDGROOK) a month.”—Botelho, Tombo, 156.

1554.—“Towards the Gulf of Chakad, in the vicinity of Sind.”—Sidi’ Ali, in J. As. Ser. I. tom. ix. 77.

1583.—“The first citie of India … after we had passed the coast of Zindi is called Diu.”—Fitch, in Hakl. p. 385.

1584.—“Spicknard from Zindi and Lahor.”—W. Barret, in Hakl. ii. 412.

1598.—“I have written to the said Antonio d’Azevedo on the ill treatment experienced by the Portuguese in the kingdom of Cimde.”—King’s Letter to Goa, in Archiv. Port. Orient. Fascic. iii. 877.

[1610.—“Tzinde, are silk cloths with red stripes.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 72.]

1611.—“Cuts- nagore, a place not far from the River of Zinde.”—N. Downton, in Purchas, i. 307.

1613.—“… considering the state of destitution in which the fortress of Ormuz had need be,—since it had no other resources but the revenue of the custom-house, and there could now be returning nothing, from the fact that the ports of Cambaia and Sinde were closed, and that no ship had arrived from Goa in the current monsoon of January and February owing to the news of the English ships having collected at Suratte. …”—Bocarro, Decada, 379.

[c. 1665.—“… he (Dara) proceeded towards Scimdy, and sought refuge in the fortress of Tatabakar. …”—Bernier, ed. Constable, 71.]

1666.—“De la Province du Sinde ou Sindy … que quelques- uns nomment le Tatta.”—Thevenot, v. 158.

1673.—“… Retiring with their ill got Booty to the Coasts of Sindu.”—Fryer, 218.

1727.—“Sindy is the westmost Province of the Mogul’s Dominions on the Sea-coast, and has Larribunder (see LARRY BUNDER) to its Mart.”—A. Hamilton, i. 114; [ed. 1744, i. 115].

c. 1760.—“Scindy, or Tatta.”—Grose, i. 286.

SINDABUR, SANDABUR, n.p. This is the name by which Goa was known to the old Arab writers. The identity was clearly established in Cathay and the Way Thither, pp. 444 and ccli. We will give the quotations first, and then point out the grounds of identification.

A.D. 943.—“Crocodiles abound, it is true, in the ajwan or bays formed by the Sea of India, such as that of Sindabura in the Indian Kingdom of Baghira, or in the bay of Zabaj (see JAVA) in the dominion of the Maharaj.”—Mas’udi, i. 207.

1013.—“I h ave it fromAbu Yusaf bin Muslim, who had it fromAbu Bakr of Fasa at Saimur, that the latter heard told by Musa the Sindaburi: ‘I was one day conversing with the Sahib of Sindabur, when suddenly he burst out laughing. … It was, said he, because there is a lizard on the wall, and it said, ‘There is a guest coming to-day. … Don’t you go till you see what comes of it.’ So we remained talking till one of his servants came in and said ‘There is a ship of Oman come in.’ Shortly after, people arrived, carrying hampers with various things, such as cloths, and rose-water. As they opened one, out came a long lizard, which instantly clung to the wall and went to join the other one. It was the same person, they say, who enchanted the crocodiles in the estuary of Sindabur, so