Chapter JAROOL to JAVA of J by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

JASOOS, s. Ar.-H. jasus, ‘a spy.’

1803.—“I have some Jasooses, selected by Col. C—’s brahmin for their stupidity, that they might not pry into state secrets, who go to Sindia’s camp, remain there a phaur (see PUHUR) in fear …”—M. Elphinstone, in Life, i. 62.

JAUN, s. This is a term used in Calcutta, and occasionally in Madras, of which the origin is unknown to the present writers. [Mr. H. Beveridge points out that it is derived from H.—Beng. yan, defined by Sir G. Haughton: “a vehicle, any means of conveyance, a horse, a carriage, a palkee.” It is Skt. yana, with the same meaning. The initial ya in Bengali is usually pronounced ja. The root is ya, ‘to go.’] It is, or was, applied to a small palankin carriage; such as is commonly used by business men in going to their offices, &c. c. 1836.—

“Who did not know that office Jaun of pale Pomona green,
With its drab and yellow lining, and picked out black between,
— Which down the Esplanade did go at the ninth hour of the day.…&148;

Bole-Ponjis, by H. M. Parker, ii. 215.

[The Jaun Bazar is a well-known low quarter of Calcutta.]

[1892.—

“From Tarnau in Galicia
To Jaun Bazar she came.”

R. Kipling, Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House.]

JAVA, n.p. This is a geographical name of great antiquity, and occurs, as our first quotation shows, in Ptolemy’s Tables. His ’ [Greek Text] Iabadiou represents with singular correctness what was probably the Prakrit or popular form of Yavadvipa (see under DIU and¹ or was (as is possible) an attempt to give an Indian meaning to some aboriginal name of similar sound. But the sixth of our quotations, the transcript and translation of a Sanskrit inscription in the Museum at Batavia by Mr. Holle, which we owe to the kindness of Prof. Kern, indicates that a signification of wealth in cereals was attached to the name in the early days of its Indian civilization. This inscription is most interesting, as it is the oldest dated inscription yet discovered upon Javanese soil. Till a recent time it was not known that there was any mention of Java in Sanskrit literature, and this was so when Lassen published the 2nd vol. of his Indian Antiquities (1849). But in fact Java was mentioned in the Ramayana, though a perverted reading disguised the fact until the publication of the Bombay edition in 1863. The passage is given in our second quotation; and we also give passages from two later astronomical works whose date is approximately known. The Yava- Koti, or Java Point of these writers is understood by Prof. Kern to be the eastern extremity of the island.

We have already (see BENJAMIN) alluded to the fact that the terms Jawa, Jawi were applied by the Arabs to the Archipelago generally, and often with specific reference to Sumatra. Prof. Kern, in a paper to which we are largely indebted, has indicated that this larger application of the term was originally Indian. He has discussed it in connection with the terms “Golden and Silver Islands” (Suvarna dvipa and Rupya dvipa), which occur in the quotation from the Ramayana, and elsewhere in Sanskrit literature, and which evident ly were the basis of the Chryse and Argyre, which take various forms in the writings of the Greek and Roman geographers. We cannot give the details of his discussion, but his condensed conclusions are as follows:—(1.) Suvarna - dvipa and Yava - dvipa were according to the prevalent representations the same; (2.) Two names of islands originally distinct were confounded with one another; (3.) Suv arna-dvipa in its proper meaning is Sumatra, Yava-dvipa in its proper meaning is Java; (4.) Sumatra, or a part of it, and Java were regarded as one whole, doubtless because they were politically united; (5.) By Yava-koti was indicated the east point of Java.

This Indian (and also insular) identification, in whole or in part, of Sumatra with Java explains a variety of puzzles, e.g. not merely the Arab application of Java, but also the ascription, in so many passages, of great wealth of gold to Java, though the island, to which that name properly belongs, produces no gold. This tradition of gold-produce we find in the passages quoted from Ptolemy, from the Ramayana, from the Holle inscription, and from Marco Polo. It becomes quite intelligible when we are taught that Java and Sumatra were at one time both embraced under the former name, for Sumatra has always been famous for its gold-production. [Mr. Skeat notes