Chapter POMFRET to POOJA of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

of Batavia. … This fruit is larger than any of the lemon - kind, for it grows as large as the head of a child of 10 years old. The core or inside is for the most part reddish, and has a kind of sourish sweetness, tasting like unripe grapes.”—Walter Schulzen, 236

PONDICHERRY, n.p. This name of what is now the chief French settlement in India, is Pudu-ch’cheri, or Puthuççeri, ‘New Town,’ more correctly Pudu-vai, Puthuvai, meaning ‘New Place.’ C. P. Brown, however, says it is Pudi-cheru, ‘New Tank.’ The natives sometimes write it Phul-cheri. [Mr. Garstin (Man. S. Arcot, 422) says that Hindus call it Puthuvai or Puthuççeri, while Musulmans call it Pulcheri, or as the Madras Gloss. writes the word, Pulchari.]

1680.—“Mr. Edward Brogden, arrived from Porto Novo, reports arrival at Puddicherry of two French ships from Surat, and the receipt of advices of the death of Sevajie.”—Fort St. Geo. Consn., May 23. In Notes and Exts. No. iii. p. 20.

[1683.—“… Interlopers intend to settle att Verampatnam, a place neer Pullicherry. …”—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. ii. 41. In iv. 113 (1685) we have Pondicherry.]

1711.—“The French and Danes likewise hire them (Portuguese) at Pont de Cheree and Trincombar.”—Lockyer, 286.

1718.—“The Fifth Day we reached Budulscheri, a French Town, and the chief Seat of their Missionaries in India.”—Prop. of the Gospel, p. 42.

1726.—“Poedechery,” in Valentijn, Choro. 11.

1727.—“Punticherry is the next Place of Note on this Coast, a colony settled by the French.”—A. Hamilton, i. 356; [ed. 1744].

1753.—“L’établissement des François à Pondicheri remonte jusqu’en l’année 1674; mais par de si foibles commencements, qu’on n’auroit eu de la peine à imaginer, que les suites en fussent aussi considerables.”—D’Anville, p. 121.

1780.—“An English officer of rank, General Coote, who was unequalled among his compeers in ability and experience in war, and who had frequently fought with the French of Phoolcheri in the Karnatic and … had as often gained the victory over them. …”—H. of Hyder Naik, 413.

PONGOL, s. A festival of S. India, observed early in January. Tam. pongal, ‘boiling’; i.e. of the rice, because the first act in the feast is the boiling of the new rice. It is a kind of harvest-home. There is an interesting account of it by the late Mr. C. E. Gover (J. R. As. Soc. N.S. v. 91), but the connection which he traces with the old Vedic religion is hardly to be admitted. [See the meaning of the rite discussed by Dr. Fraser, Golden Bough, 2nd ed. iii. 305 seq.]

1651.—“… nous parlerons maintenant du Pongol, qui se celebre le 9 de Janvier en l’honneur du Soleil. … Ils cuisent du ris avec du laict. … Ce ris se cuit hors la maison, afin que le Soleil puisse luire dessus … et quand ils voyent, qu’il semble le vouloir retirer, ils crient d’une voix intelligible, Pongol, Pongol, Pongol, Pongol …”—Abr. Roger, Fr. Tr. 1670, pp. 237–8.

1871.—“Nor does the gentle and kindly influence of the time cease here. The files of the Munsif’s Court will have been examined with cases from litigious enemies or greedy money lenders. But as Pongol comes round many of them disappear. … The creditor thinks of his debtor, the debtor of the creditor. The one relents, the other is ashamed, and both parties are saved by a compromise. Often it happens that a process is postponed ‘till after Pongol! ”—Gover, as above, p. 96.

POOJA, s. Properly applied to the Hindu ceremonies in idol-worship; Skt. puja; and colloquially to any kind of rite. Thus jhanda ki puja, or ‘Pooja of the flag,’ is the sepoy term for what in St. James’s Park is called ‘Trooping of the colours.’ [Used in the plural, as in the quotation of 1900, it means the holidays of the Durga Puja or Dussera.]

[1776.—“… the occupation of the Bramin should be … to cause the performance of the poojen, i.e. the worship to Dewtàh. …”—Halhed, Code, ed. 1781, Pref. xcix.

[1813.—“… the Pundits in attendance commenced the pooja, or sacrifice, by pouring milk and curds upon the branches, and smearing over the leaves with wetted rice.”—Broughton, Letters, ed. 1892, p. 214.]

1826.—“The person whose steps I had been watching now approached the sacred tree, and having performed puja to a stone deity at its foot, proceeded to unmuffle himself from his shawls. …”—Pandurang Hari, 26; [ed. 1873, i. 34].

1866.—“Yes, Sahib, I Christian boy. Plenty poojah do. Sunday time never no work do.”—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. 226.

1874.—“The mass of the ryots who form the population of the village are too poor to have a family deity. They are forced to be content with … the annual pujahs performed … on behalf of the village community.”—Cal. Rev. No. cxvii. 195.

1879.—“Among the curiosities of these lower galleries are little models of costumes and country scenes, among them a grand pooja under a tree.”—Sat. Rev. No. 1251, p. 477.

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