Volume 1

The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia : commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / by Edward Balfour.

  • Balfour, Edward, 1813-1889.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia : commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / by Edward Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/1296 (page 17)
    ACER L/EVIGATUM. ACHEEN. ACER L/EVIGATUM, Wall., the Karadlu, or Karandlu of Kotgurh, is found iu the Sutlej valley, between Rampur and Sungnam, at an elevation of 9000 feet, also higher up in the Nepal moun- tains, and at Darjiling. The knots are hollowed out, and used as drinking cups. — Voigt • Cleg. Panj. Rep. p. 64. ACER OBLONGUM, an evergreen tree, of rapid growth, native of Nepal and Kumaon, on the southern hill ranges, such as the Gagar, and is very abundant at Naini Tal.— Voigt, p. 92. ACER STERCULIACEUM. Wall. Kan-shin, . Tilapattar, La’-ur, . . . . Bhot. . . Hind. . Kanawar. Til pattar, . Til patra, . Kamiah, . Kashmir. Khas. A large tree of Nepal and the N.W. Himalaya, with a trunk often three feet in diameter. The Hindi names allude to its incised three-pointed leaves. From the knotty parts of this tree are made the coarser sorts of wooden cups used in Hun-des and the Cis-Alpine Himalaya, inhabited by Bhotia, and termed Lahauri Doba, and a better kind, termed Talua Doba, is made from the Acer oblongum. A. Hookeri, isolobum, penta- pomicum, Sikkimense, and stachyophylum, are other species.—Dr. J. L. Stewart. ACESINES or Akesines, the Greek name of the Chenab, a river of the Panjab; supposed to have had its origin in Abu Sin, a name of the Indus, the Sanskrit name being Chandra-Bhaga. ACETIC ACID. Acetous acid, Vinegar Khali, . . . . Poun-ya, . . . Nung-tsu, . . . Sirka, also Kliall, Aceto Arab. Burm. Chin. Hind. It. Acidum Aceticum, Lat. Chuka Malay. Kadi, .... Tam. Pul’su, .... Tel. The ordinary vinegar of the Indian bazaars is prepared from the Dolichos uniflorus. Dr. O’Shaughnessy discovered that much pyroligne- ous acid passes over along with other gases, in preparing the charcoal for the Eshapore powder works, and he recommended for India the practice followed in Germany, where a strong acetic acid is obtained by causing a mixture of one part of spirit, four of water, and about one-thousandth part of honey or yeast, to filter into a cask containing wood shavings, and provided with holes to secure a free circulation of air. A very large surface being thus exposed, the alcohol is rapidly converted into acetic acid. Iu India, teak shav- ings well boiled in water and subsequently steeped in good vinegar, should be employed.—Beng. Phar. p. 233. ACH. Hind. Morinda citrifolia, M. tinctoria. ACHfiEMENIDiE. During the time of this dynasty, the language in use was the Bactro- Medo-Persian. TVe know from their inscriptions several of the old Bactrian formations, which be- came historical and geographical designations at a later period.—Bunsen's Egypt, pp. 462-467. ACHALABHRATA, one of the Ganadhara, or masters of the Jain schools. ACHA MARAM, also Atti maram. Tam. Any ebony tree; Diospyros ebenaster; Hardwickia binata, Bauhinia racemosa. ACHANDRARGAM. Tam. A perpetual ten- ure of village land, as long as the moon and sun endure. ACHAR, a native race in Nepal, from whom the Mewar select their priests. ACHAR. Malay. Antiaris, sp. B ACHARA. Sansic. The observances of the Hindu religion; the personal and social customs of the Hindus; also a name applied to Siva or Vishnu, and also Brahma as the Supreme Being. It means free from further transmigration. ACHARNI. Hind. A bier. ACHARYA or Achari. Sansk. A reli- gious teacher, a brahman who instructs in the Vedas the religious students of the Brahman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes. In modern use, it is applied to any religious instructor, or to any brahman and religious mendicant professing to be qualified to give religious instruction. In the south of India, it denotes the head of a religious society, the Mahant of Hindustan, or the Panda or head priest of a temple. Among the Mahrattas it was given to brahmans employed by respect- able families as cooks. It is assumed by the Madhava Brahmans, and by the five castes of artisans — blacksmith, goldsmith, coppersmith, stone-cutter and carpenter—in the Tamil and Telugu provinces. At present, the brahman who reads a portion of the Vedas at the time of investiture with the poita, is called by this title, as well as the person who reads the formularies at a sacrifice.— Ward’s Hindoos; Wilson. See Gayatri; Hindu ; India. ACHAVERAM or Atchaveram, a village with a celebrated pagoda five miles S.TV. of Devi- cottah. It was taken in September 1749 by the Tanjore army, from theBritish under Captain Cope. ACH-CHATA. See Akshata. ACHCHHAN. Maleal. A father; a respect- ful appellation of the men of the Nair royal family who have no office or official rank in the State. ACHCHU. Karn. Achcha, Maleal., Tam. A mould ; a printing press. ACHCHU-KAVALI. Tel. Fees in kind to poligars for protecting lands. ACHE. Count d’Ache, a French admiral sent from France to support Lally as a naval colleague, but he was undecided and unfortunate, was de- feated off Tranquebar, and again by Pocock, and he ultimately sailed for France, where he became an accuser of Lally.—Malleson. ACHEEN, Athi of the Malays, is the capital of a kingdom of the same name, situated at the north-west extreme of Sumatra, near the en- trance of the Straits of Malacca. Every vessel entering the straits was formerly obliged to call at Acheen to obtain a pass, but Europeans set at defiance the assumed authority of its kings. These still, however (1879), continue independent of the Dutch. Pop. 328,000. This monarchy arose from the usurpation of sultan Salah-ud- Din in a.d. 1521, previous to which time Acheen had been a province of Pedir, and governed by a viceroy from that kingdom. The Achinese differ much in their persons from the other Sumatrans, being in general rather shorter, and of a darker complexion. They are supposed to be a mixture of Battas and Malays with Chuliahs, as they term the natives of the west of India. They are an active and industrious people, and show much mechanical ingenuity. Their Padri, religious men, chiefly Malays of the Menangkabao states of the interior, for many years opposed the encroachments of the Dutch iu the interior of Sumatra. The Achinese adopted Mahomedanism, a.d. 1206; the Malacca Malays, a.d. 1276; the Javanese, a.d. 1478. They are