KUBBER, KHUBBER, s. Ar.—P.—H. khabar, 'news,' and especially as a sporting term, news of game, e.g. "There is pucka khubber of a tiger this morning."
[1828.—"... the servant informed us that there were some gongwalas, or villagers, in waiting, who had some khubber (news about tigers) to give us."—Mundy, Pen and Pencil Sketches, ed. 1858, p. 53.]
1878.—"Khabar of innumerable black partridges had been received."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 159.
1879.—"He will not tell me what khabbar has been received."—'Vanity Fair,' Nov. 29, p. 299.
KUBBERDAUR. An interjectional exclamation, 'Take care!' Pers. khabar-dār! 'take heed!' (see [KUBBER]). It is the usual cry of chokidārs to show that they are awake. [As a substantive it has the sense of a 'scout' or 'spy.']
c. 1664.—"Each omrah causeth a guard to be kept all the night long, in his particular camp, of such men that perpetually go the round, and cry Kaber-dar, have a care."—Bernier, E.T. 119; [ed. Constable, 369].
c. 1665.—"Les archers crient ensuite a pleine tête, Caberdar, c'est à dire prends garde."—Thevenot, v. 58.
[1813.—"There is a strange custom which prevails at all Indian courts, of having a servant called a khubur-dar, or newsman, who is an admitted spy upon the chief, about whose person he is employed."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, ed. 1892, p. 25.]
KUHÁR, s. Hind. Kahār, [Skt. skandha-kāra, 'one who carries loads on his shoulders']. The name of a Śūdra caste of cultivators, numerous in Bahār and the N.W. Provinces, whose speciality is to carry palankins. The name is, therefore, in many parts of India synonymous with 'palankin-bearer,' and the Hindu body-servants called [bearers] (q.v.) in the Bengal Presidency are generally of this caste.
c. 1350.—"It is the custom for every traveller in India ... also to hire kahārs, who carry the kitchen furniture, whilst others carry himself in the palankin, of which we have spoken, and carry the latter when it is not in use."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 415.