Chapter EAGLE-WOOD to EEDGAH of E by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

ECKA, s. A small one-horse carriage used by natives. It is Hind. ekka, from ek, ‘one.’ But we have seen it written acre, and punned upon as quasi-acher, by those who have travelled by it! [Something of the kind was perhaps known in very early times, for Arrian (Indika, xvii.) says: “To be drawn by a single horse is considered no distinction.” For a good description with drawing of the ekka, see Kipling, Beast and Man in India, 190 seq.]

1811.—“…perhaps the simplest carriage that can be imagined, being nothing more than a chair covered with red cloth, and fixed upon an axle-tree between two small wheels. The Ekka is drawn by one horse, who has no other harness than a girt, to which the shaft of the carriage is fastened.”—Solvyns, iii.

1834.—“One of those native carriages called ekkas was in waiting. This vehicle resembles in shape a meat- safe, placed upon the axletree of two wheels, but the sides are composed of hanging curtains instead of wire pannels.”—The Baboo, ii. 4.

[1843.—“Ekhees, a species of single horse carriage, with cloth hoods, drawn by one pony, were by no means uncommon.”—Davidson, Travels in Upper India, i. 116.]

EED, s. Arab. ’Id. A Mahommedan holy festival, but in common application in India restricted to two such, called there the bari and chhoti (or Great and Little) ’Id. The former is the commemoration of Abraham’s sacrifice, the victim of which was, according to the Mahommedans, Ishmael. [See Hughes, Dict. of Islam, 192 seqq.] This is called among other names, Bakr-’Id, the ‘Bull ’Id,’ Bakarah ’Id, ‘the cow festival,’ but this is usually corrupted by ignorant natives as well as Europeans into Bakri-’Id (Hind. bakra, f. bakri, ‘a goat’). The other is the ’Id of the Ramazan, viz. the termination of the annual fast; the festival called in Turkey Bairam, and by old travellers sometimes the “Mahommedan Easter.”

c. 1610.—“Le temps du ieusne finy on celebre vne grande feste, et des plus solennelles qu’ils ayent, qui s’appelle ydu.”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 104; [Hak. Soc. i. 140].

[1671.—“They have allsoe a great feast, which they call Buckery Eed.”—In Yule, Hedges’ Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccx.]

1673.—“The New Moon before the New Year (which commences at the Vernal Equinox), is the Moors Æde, when the Governor in no less Pomp than before, goes to sacrifice a Ram or He-Goat, in remembrance of that offered for Isaac (by them called Ishauh); the like does every one in his own House, that is able to purchase one, and sprinkle their blood on the sides of their Doors.”—Fryer, 108. (The passage is full of errors.)

1860.—“By the Nazim’s invitation we took out a party to the palace at the Bakri Eed (or Feast of the Goat), in memory of the sacrifice of Isaac, or, as the Moslems say, of Ishmael.”—Mrs. Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine, &c., ii. 255 seq.

1869.—“Il n’y a proprement que deux fêtes parmi les Musulmans sunnites, celle de la rupture du jeûne de Ramazan, ’Id fito, et celle des victimes ’Id curbân, nommée aussi dans l’Inde Bacr ’Id, fête du Taureau, ou simplement ’Id, la fête par excellence, laquelle est établie en mémoire du sacrifice d’Ismael.”—Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus. dans l’Inde, 9 seq.

EEDGAH, s. Ar.—P. ’Idgah, ‘Place of ’Id.’ (See EED.) A place of assembly and prayer on occasion of Musulman festivals. It is in India usually a platform of white plastered brickwork, enclosed by a low wall on three sides, and situated outside of a town or village. It is a marked characteristic of landscape in Upper India. [It is also known as Namazgah, or ‘place of prayer,’ and a drawing of one is given by Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, Pl. iii. fig. 2.]

1792.—“The commanding nature of the ground on which the Eed-Gah stands had induced Tippoo to construct a redoubt upon that eminence.”—Ld. Cornwallis, Desp. from Seringapatam, in Seton-Karr, ii. 89.

[1832.—“…Kings, Princes and Nawaubs…going to an appointed place, which is designated the Eade- Garrh.”—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 262.

[1843.—“In the afternoon…proceeded in state to the Eed Gao, a building at a small distance, where Mahommedan worship was performed.”—Davidson, Travels in Upper India, i. 53.]

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