[1832.—"The ghurī (see [GHURRY]), or copper cup, floats usually in a vessel of coarse red pottery filled with water, called a nān."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, i. 250.
[1899.—"To prevent the crickets from wandering away when left, I had a large earthen pan placed over them upside down. These pans are termed nands. They are made of the coarsest earthenware, and are very capacious. Those I used were nearly a yard in diameter and about eighteen inches deep."—Thornhill, Haunts and Hobbies of an Indian Official, 79.]
NAUTCH, s. A kind of ballet-dance performed by women; also any kind of stage entertainment; an European ball. Hind. and Mahr. nāch, from Skt. nṛitya, dancing and stage-playing, through Prakrit nachcha. The word is in European use all over India. [A poggly nautch (see [POGGLE]) is a fancy-dress ball. Also see [POOTLY NAUTCH].] Browning seems fond of using this word, and persists in using it wrongly. In the first of the quotations below he calls Fifine the 'European nautch,' which is like calling some Hindu dancing-girl 'the Indian ballet.' He repeats the mistake in the second quotation.
[1809.—"You Europeans are apt to picture to yourselves a Nach as a most attractive spectacle, but once witnessed it generally dissolves the illusion."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, ed. 1892, p. 142.]
1823.—"I joined Lady Macnaghten and a large party this evening to go to a nâch given by a rich native, Rouplall Mullich, on the opening of his new house."—Mrs. Heber, in Heber, ed. 1844, i. 37.
[1829.—"... a dance by black people which they calls a Notch...."—Oriental Sport. Mag. ed. 1873, i. 129.]
c. 1831.—"Elle (Begum Sumrou) fit enterrer vivante une jeune esclave, dont elle était jalouse, et donna à son mari un nautch (bal) sur cette horrible tombe."—Jacquemont, Correspondance, ii. 221.
1872.—
"... let be there was no worst
Of degradation spared Fifine; ordained from first