1754.—"I should be very glad to have your order to bring the ship up to Calcutta ... as ... the people cannot here have the opportunity of intoxicating and killing themselves with Pariar Arrack."—In Long, 51.
PARIAH-DOG, s. The common ownerless yellow dog, that frequents all inhabited places in the East, is universally so called by Europeans, no doubt from being a low-bred casteless animal; often elliptically 'pariah' only.
1789.—"... A species of the common cur, called a pariar-dog."—Munro, Narr. p. 36.
1810.—"The nuisance may be kept circling for days, until forcibly removed, or until the pariah dogs swim in, and draw the carcase to the shore."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 261.
1824.—"The other beggar was a Pariah dog, who sneaked down in much bodily fear to our bivouac."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 79.
1875.—"Le Musulman qui va prier à la mosquée, maudit les parias honnis."—Rev. des Deux Mondes, April, 539.
[1883.—"Paraya Dogs are found in every street."—T. V. Row, Man. of Tanjore Dist. 104.]
PARIAH-KITE, s. The commonest Indian kite, Milvus Govinda, Sykes, notable for its great numbers, and its impudence. "They are excessively bold and fearless, often snatching morsels off a dish en route from kitchen to hall, and even, according to Adams, seizing a fragment from a man's very mouth" (Jerdon). Compare quotation under [BRAHMINY KITE].
[1880.—"I had often supposed that the scavenger or Pariah Kites (Milvus govinda), which though generally to be seen about the tents, are not common in the jungles, must follow the camp for long distances, and to-day I had evidence that such was the case...."—Ball, Jungle Life, 655.]
PARSEE, n.p. This name, which distinguishes the descendants of those emigrants of the old Persian stock, who left their native country, and, retaining their Zoroastrian religion, settled in India to avoid Mahommedan persecution, is only the old form of the word for a Persian, viz., Pārsī, which Arabic influences have in more modern times converted into Fārsī. The Portuguese have used both Parseo and Perseo. From the latter some of our old travellers have taken the form Persee; from the former doubtless we got Parsee. It is a curious example of the way in which different accidental mouldings of the same word come to denote entirely different ideas, that Persian, in this form, in Western India, means a Zoroastrian fire-worshipper, whilst Pathi (see [PANTHAY]), a Burmese corruption of the same word, in Burma means a Mahommedan.