Chapter RUBLE to RUPEE of R by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

and sanctified indolence unknown in colder climates.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 6; [2nd edition ii. 127].

[1816.—“But we must except that class of females called ravjannees, or dancing-girls, who are attached to the temples.”—Asiatic Journal, ii. 375, quoting Wathen, Tour to Madras and China.]

RUMNA, s. Hind. ramna, Skt. ramana, ‘causing pleasure,’ a chase, or reserved hunting-ground.

1760.—“Abdal Chab Cawn murdered at the Rumna in the month of March, 1760, by some of the Hercarahs….”—Van Sittart, i. 63.

1792.—“The Peshwa having invited me to a novel spectacle at his runma (read rumna), or park, about four miles from Poonah….”—Sir C. Mclet, in Forbes, Or. Mem. [2nd edition ii. 82]. (See also verses quoted under PAWNEE.)

RUNN (OF CUTCH), n.p. Hind. ran. This name, applied to the singular extent of sand-flat and salt- waste, often covered by high tides, or by land-floods, which extends between the Peninsula of Cutch and the mainland, is a corruption of the Skt. irina or irina, ‘a salt-swamp, a desert,’ [or of aranya, ‘a wilderness’]. The Runn is first mentioned in the Periplus, in which a true indication is given of this tract and its dangers.

c. A.D. 80–90.—“But after passing the Sinthus R. there is another gulph running to the north, not easily seen, which is called Irinon, and is distinguished into the Great and the Little. And there is an expanse of shallow water on both sides, and swift continual eddies extending far from the land.”—Periplus, § 40.

c. 1370.—“The guides had maliciously misled them into a place called the Kúnchiran. In this place all the land is impregnated with salt, to a degree impossible to describe.”—Shams-i-Síráj-Afíf, in Elliot, iii. 324.

1583.—“Muzaffar fled, and crossed the Ran, which is an inlet of the sea, and took the road to Jessalmír. In some places the breadth of the water of the Ran is 10 kos and 20 kos. He went into the country which they call Kach, on the other side of the water.”—Tabakat-i-Akbari, Ibid. v. 440.

c. 1590.—“Between Chalwaneh, Sircar Ahmedabad, Putten, and Surat, is a low tract of country, 90 cose in length, and in breadth from 7 to 30 cose, which is called Run. Before the commencement of the periodical rains, the sea swells and inundates this spot, and leaves by degrees after the rainy season.”—Ayeen, edition Gladwin, 1800, ii. 71; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 249].

1849.—“On the morning of the 24th I embarked and landed about 6 pagem. in the Runn of Sindh.

“…a boggie syrtis, neither sea
Nor good dry land…”

Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 14.

RUPEE, s. Hind. rupiya, from Skt. rupya, ‘wrought silver.’ The standard coin of the Anglo-Indian monetary system, as it w as of the Mahommedan Empire that preceded ours. It is commonly stated (as by Wilson, in his article on this word, which contains much valuable and condensed information) that the rupee was introduced by Sher Shah (in 1542). And this is, no doubt, formally true; but it is certain that a coin substantially identical with the rupee, i.e. approximating to a standard of 100 ratis (or 175 grains troy) of silver, an ancient Hindu standard, had been struck by the Mahommedan sovereigns of Delhi in the 13th and 14th centuries, and had formed an important part of their currency. In fact, the capital coins of Delhi, from the time of Iyaltimish (A.D. 1211–1236) to the accession of Mahommed Tughlak (1325) were gold and silver pieces, respectively of the weight just mentioned. We gather from the statements of Ibn Batuta and his contemporaries that the gold coin, which the former generally calls tanga and sometimes gold dinar, was worth 10 of the silver coin, which he calls dinar, thus indicating that the relation of gold to silver value was, or had recently been