Chapter BUNGALOW to BURKUNDAUZE of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BUNGALOW to BURKUNDAUZE

BUNGALOW, DAWK-, s. A resthouse for the accommodation of travellers, formerly maintained (and still to a reduced extent) by the paternal care of the Government of India. The matériel of the accommodation was humble enough, but comprised the things essential for the weary traveller —shelter, a bed and table, a bathroom, and a servant furnishing food at a very moderate cost. On principal lines of thoroughfare these bungalows were at a distance of 10 to 15 miles apart, so that it was possible for a traveller to make his journey by marches without carrying a tent. On some less frequented roads they were 40 or 50 miles apart, adapted to a night’s run in a palankin.

1853.—“Dâk-bungalows have been described by some Oriental travellers as the ‘Inns of India.’ Playful satirists!”—Oakfield, ii. 17.

1866.—“The Dawk Bungalow; or, Is his Appointment Pucka?”—By G. O. Trevelyan, in Fraser’s Magazine, vol. 73, p. 215.

1878.—“I am inclined to think the value of life to a dak bungalow fowl must be very trifling.”—In my Indian Garden, 11.

BUNGY, s. H. bhangi. The name of a low caste, habitually employed as sweepers, and in the lowest menial offices, the man being a house sweeper and dog-boy, [his wife an Ayah]. Its members are found throughout Northern and Western India, and every European household has a servant of this class. The colloquial application of the term bungy to such servants is however peculiar to Bombay, [but the word is commonly used in the N.W.P. but always with a contemptuous significance]. In the Bengal Pry. he is generally called Mehtar (q.v.), and by politer natives Halalkhor (see HALALCORE), &c. In Madras toti (see TOTY) is the usual word; [in W. India Dher or Dhed]. Wilson suggests that the caste name may be derived from bhang (see BANG), and this is possible enough, as the class is generally given to strong drink and intoxicating drugs.

1826.—“The Kalpa or Skinner, and the Bunghee, or Sweeper, are yet one step below the Dher.”—Tr. Lit. Soc. Bombay, iii. 362.

BUNOW, s. and v. H. banao, used in the sense of ‘preparation, fabrication,’ &c., but properly the imperative of banana, ‘to make, prepare, f abricate.’ The Anglo-Indian word is applied to anything fictitious or factitious, ‘a cram, a shave, a sham’; or, as a verb, to the manufacture of the like. The following lines have been found among old papers belonging to an officer who was at the Court of the Nawab Sa’adat ’Ali at Lucknow, at the beginning of the last century:—

“Young Grant and Ford the other day
Would fain have had some Sport,
But Hound nor Beagle none had they,
Nor aught of Canine sort.
A luckless Parry¹ came most pat
When Ford—‘we’ve Dogs enow!
Here Maitre—Kawn aur Doom ko Kaut
Juld! Terrier bunnow!’²
“So Saadut with the like design
(I mean, to form a Pack)
To * * * * * t gave a Feather fine
And Red Coat to his Back;
A Persian Sword to clog his side,
And Boots Hussar sub-nyah,³
Then eyed his Handiwork with Pride,
Crying Meejir myn bunnayah ! ! !”¹

“Appointed to be said or sung in all Mosques, Mutts, Tuckeahs, or Eedgahs within the Reserved Dominions.”⁵

1853.—“You will see within a week if this is anything more than a banau.”— Oakfield, ii. 58.

[1870.—“We shall be satisfied with choosing for illustration, out of many, one kind of benowed or prepared evidence.”—Chevers, Med. Jurisprud., 86.]

BURDWÁN, n.p. A town 67 m. N.W. of Calcutta — Bardwan, but in its original Skt. form Vardhamana, ‘thriving, prosperous,’ a name which we find in Ptolemy (Bardamana), though in another part of India. Some closer approximation to the ancient form must have been current till the middle of 18th century, for Holwell, writing in 1765, speaks of “Burdwan, the principal town of Burdomaan” (Hist. Events, &c., 1. 112; see also 122, 125).

BURGHER. This word has three distinct applications.

a. s. This is only used in Ceylon. It is the Dutch word burger, ‘citizen.’ The Dutch admitted people of mixt descent to a kind of citizenship, and these people were distinguished by this name from pure natives. The word now indicates any persons who