Chapter DONEY to DOORSUMMUND of D by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

DOOMBUR, s. The name commonly given in India to the fat-tailed sheep, breeds of which are spread over West Asia and East Africa. The word is properly Pers. dunba, dumba; dumb, ‘tail,’ or especially this fat tail. The old story of little carts being attached to the quarters of these sheep to bear their tails is found in many books, but it is difficult to trace any modern evidence of the fact. We quote some passages bearing on it:

c. A.D. 250.—“The tails of the sheep (of India) reach to their feet.… The shepherds…cut open the tails and take out the tallow, and then sew it up again.…”—Aelian, De Nat. Animal. iv. 32.

1298.—“Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weigh some 30 Ibs. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.”—Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 18.

1436.—“Their iiijth kinde of beasts are sheepe, which be unreasonable great, longe legged, longe woll, and great tayles, that waie about xijl. a piece. And some such I have seene as have drawen a wheele aftre them, their tailes being holden vp.”—Jos. Barbaro, Hak. Soc. 21.

c. 1520.—“These sheep are not different from others, except as regards the tail, which is very large, and the fatter the sheep is the bigger is his tail. Some of them have tails weighing 10 and 20 pounds, and that will happen when they get fat of their own accord. But in Egypt many persons make a business of fattening sheep, and feed them on bran and wheat, and then the tail gets so big that the sheep can’t stir. But those who keep them tie the tail on a kind of little cart, and in this way they move about. I saw one sheep’s tail of this kind at Asiot, a city of Egypt 150 miles from Cairo, on the Nile, which weighed 80 Ibs., and many people asserted that they have seen such tails that weighed 150 Ibs.”—Leo Africanus, in Ramusio, i. f. 92v.

[c. 1610.—“The tails of rams and ewes are wondrous big and heavy; one we weighed (in the Island of St. Lawrence) turned 28 pounds.”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 36.

[1612.—“Goodly Barbary sheep with great rumps.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 178.]

1828.—“We had a Doomba ram at Prag. The Doomba sheep are difficult to keep alive in this climate.”—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, i. 28.

1846.—“I was informed by a person who possessed large flocks, and who had no reason to deceive me, that sometimes the tail of the Tymunnee doombas increased to such a size, that a cart or small truck on wheels was necessary to support the weight, and that without it the animal could not wander about; he declared also that he had produced tails in his flock which weighed 12 Tabreezi munds, or 48 seers puckah, equal to about 96 Ibs.”—Captain Hutton, in Jour. As. Soc. Beng. xv. 160.

DOOPUTTY, s. Hind. do-pattah, dupatta, &c. A piece of stuff of ‘two breadths,’ a sheet. “The principal or only garment of women of the lower orders” (in Bengal—Wilson). [“Formerly these pieces were woven narrow, and joined alongside of one another to produce the proper width; now, however, the dupatta is all woven in one piece. This is a piece of cloth worn entire as it comes from the loom. It is worn either round the head or over the shoulders, and is used by both men and women, Hindu and Muhammadan” (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 71).] Applied in S. India by native servants, when speaking their own language, to European bed-sheets.

[1615.—“…dubeties gouzerams.”—Foster, Letters, iii. 156.]

DOORGA POOJA, s. Skt. Durgapuja, ‘Worship of Durga.’ The chief Hindu festival in Bengal, lasting for 10 days in September—October, and forming the principal holiday-time of all the Calcutta offices. (See DUSSERA.) [The common term for these holidays nowadays is ‘the Poojahs.’] c. 1835.—

“And every Doorga Pooja would good Mr. Simms explore
The famous river Hoogly up as high as Barrackpore.”

Lines in honour of the late Mr. Simms, Bole Ponjis, 1857, ii. 220.

[1900.—“Calcutta has been in the throes of the Pujahs since yesterday.”—Pioneer Mail, Oct. 5.]

DOORSUMMUND, n.p. Dursamand; a corrupt form of Dvara-Samudra (Gate of the Sea), the name of the capital of the Balalas, a medieval dynasty in S. India, who ruled a country generally corresponding with Mysore. [See Rice, Mysore, ii. 353. ] The city itself is identified with the fine ruins at Halabidu [Hale-bidu, ‘old capital’], in the Hassan district of Mysore. c. 1300.—“There is another country called Deogir.