Chapter SALIGRAM to SALSETTE of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

pretty generally about this time (14th century), for there is in the Royal Library at Lucknow a work on the veterinary art, which was translated from the Sanskrit by order of Ghiyásu-d dín Muhammad Sháh Khiljí. This rare book, called Kurrutu-l-Mulk, was translated as early as A.H. 783 (A.D. 1381), from an original styled Sálotar, which is the name of an Indian, who is said to have been a Bráhman, and the tutor of Susruta. The Preface says the translation was made ‘from the barbarous Hindi into the refined Persian, in order that there may be no more need of a reference to infidels.’”² (Elliot, v. 573–4.)

[1831.—“‘… your aloes are not genuine.’ ‘Oh yes, they are,’ he exclaimed. ‘My Salutree got them from the Bazaar.”—Or. Sport. Mag., reprint 1873, ii. 223.]

SALSETTE, n.p.

a. A considerable island immediately north of Bombay. The island of Bombay is indeed naturally a kind of pendant to the island of Salsette, and during the Portuguese occupation it was so in every sense. That occupation is still marked by the remains of numerous villas and churches, and by the survival of a large R. Catholic population. The island also contains the famous and extensive caves of Kanheri (see KENNERY). The old city of Tana (q.v.) also stands upon Salsette. Salsette was claimed as part of the Bombay dotation of Queen Catherine, but refused by the Portuguese. The Mahrattas took it from them in 1739, and it was taken from these by us in 1774. The name has been by some connected with the salt-works which exist upon the islands (Salinas). But it appears in fact to be the corruption of a Mahratti name Shashti, from Shashashti, meaning ‘Sixty-six’ (Skt. Shat-Shashti), because (it is supposed) the island was alleged to contain that number of villages. This name occurs in the form Shat-sashti in a stone inscription dated Sak. 1103 (A.D. 1182). See Bo. J. R. As. Soc. xii. 334. Another inscription on copper plates dated Sak. 748 (A.D. 1027) contains a grant of the village of Naura, “one of the 66 of Sri Sthanaka (Thana),” thus entirely confirming the etymology (J. R. As. Soc. ii. 383). I have to thank Mr. J. M. Campbell, C.S.I., for drawing my attention to these inscriptions.
b. Salsette is also the name of the three provinces of the Goa territory which constituted the Velhas Conquistas or Old Conquests. These lay all along the coast, consisting of (1) the Ilhas (viz. the island of Goa and minor islands divided by rivers and creeks), (2) Bardez on the northern mainland, and (3) Salsette on the southern mainland. The port of Marmagaon, which is the terminus of the Portuguese Indian Railway, is in this Salsette. The name probably had the like origin to that of the Island Salsette; a parallel to which was found in the old name of the Island of Goa, Tiçoari, meaning (Mahr.) Tis-wadi, “30 hamlets.” [See BARGANY.]

A.D. 1186.—“I, Aparaditya (“the paramount sovereign, the Ruler of the Konkana, the most illustrious King”) have given with a libation of water 24 drachms, after ex-empting other taxes, from the fixed revenue of the oart in the village of Mahauli, connected with Shat-shashti.”—Inscription edited by Pan dit Bhagavanlal Indraji, in J. Bo. Br. R. A. S. xii. 332. [And see Bombay Gazetteer, I. Pt. ii. 544, 567.]

a.—

1536.—“Item—Revenue of the Cusba (Caçabe—see CUSBAH) of Maym:

R…bc lxbj	fedeas	(40,567)
And the custom-house (Man-dovim) of the said Maym	fedeas	(48,000)
And Mazagong (Mazaguão)	fedeas	(11,500)
And Bombay (Monbaym)	fedeas	(23,000)
And the Cusba and Customs of Caranja	fedeas	(94,700)
And in paddy (baté)	xxi muras (see MOORAH) 1 candil (see CANDY)
And the Island of Salsete	fedeas	(319,000)
And in paddy	xxi muras 1 candil.

S. Botelho, Tombo, 142.

1538.—“Beyond the Isle of Elephanta (do Alifante) about a league distant is the island of Salsete. This island is seven leagues long by 5 in breadth. On the north it borders the Gulf of Cambay, on the south it has the I. of Elephanta, on the east the mainland, and on the west the I. of Bombai or of Boa Vida. This island is very fertile, abounding in provisions, cattle, and game of sorts, and in its hills is great plenty of timber for building ships and galleys. In that part of the island which faces the S.W. wind is built a great and noble city called Thana; and a league and a half in the interior is an immense edifice called the Pagoda of Salsete; both one and the other objects most worthy of note; Thana for its decay (destroição) and the Pagoda as a work unique in its way, and the like of which is nowhere to be seen.”—João de Castro, Primo Roteiro da India, 69–70.

1554.—

“And to the Tanadar (tenadar) of Salsete