PUNSAREE, s. A native drug-seller; Hind. pansārī. We place the word here partly because C. P. Brown says 'it is certainly a foreign word,' and assigns it to a corruption of dispensarium; which is much to be doubted. [The word is really derived from Skt. paṇyaśāla, 'a market, warehouse.']
[1830.—"Beside this, I purchased from a pansaree some application for relieving the pain of a bruise."—Frazer, The Persian Adventurer, iii. 23.]
PURDAH, s. Hind. from Pers. parda, 'a curtain'; a portière; and especially a curtain screening women from the sight of men; whence a woman of position who observes such rules of seclusion is termed parda-nishīn, 'one who sits behind a curtain.' (See [GOSHA].)
1809.—"On the fourth (side) a purdah was stretched across."—Ld. Valentia, i. 100.
1810.—"If the disorder be obstinate, the doctor is permitted to approach the purdah (i.e. curtain, or screen) and to put the hand through a small aperture ... in order to feel the patient's pulse."—Williamson, V. M. i. 130.
[1813.—"My travelling palankeen formed my bed, its purdoe or chintz covering my curtains."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 109.]
1878.—"Native ladies look upon the confinement behind the purdah as a badge of rank, and also as a sign of chastity, and are exceedingly proud of it."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 113.
[1900.—"Charitable aid is needed for the purdah women."—Pioneer Mail, Jan. 21.]
PURDESEE, s. Hind. paradeśī usually written pardesī, 'one from a foreign country.' In the Bombay army the term is universally applied to a sepoy from N. India. [In the N.W.P. the name is applied to a wandering tribe of swindlers and coiners.]
PURWANNA, PERWAUNA, s. Hind. from Pers. parwāna, 'an order; a grant or letter under royal seal; a letter of authority from an official to his subordinate; a license or pass.'