[c. 1803.—In a collection of native letters, the titles of Lord Lake are given as follows: "Ashja-ul-Mulk Khān Daurān, General Gerard Lake Bahādur, Sipahsalar-i-kishwar-i-Hind," "Valiant of the Kingdom, Lord of the Cycle, Commander-in-chief of the Territories of Hindustan."—North Indian Notes and Queries, iv. 17.]
SIRCAR, s. Hind. from Pers. sar-kār, 'head (of) affairs.' This word has very divers applications; but its senses may fall under three heads.
a. The State, the Government, the Supreme authority; also 'the Master' or head of the domestic government. Thus a servant, if asked 'Whose are those horses?' in replying 'They are the sarkār's,' may mean according to circumstances, that they are Government horses, or that they belong to his own master.
b. In Bengal the word is applied to a domestic servant who is a kind of house-steward, and keeps the accounts of household expenditure, and makes miscellaneous purchases for the family; also, in merchants' offices, to any native accountant or native employed in making purchases, &c.
c. Under the Mahommedan Governments, as in the time of the Mogul Empire, and more recently in the Deccan, the word was applied to certain extensive administrative divisions of territory. In its application in the Deccan it has been in English generally spelt [Circar] (q.v.).
a.—
[1759.—"... there is no separation between your Honour ... and this Sircar...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, ii. 129.]
1800.—"Would it not be possible and proper to make people pay the circar according to the exchange fixed at Seringapatam?"—Wellington, i. 60.
[1866.—"... the Sirkar Buhadoor gives me four rupees a month...."—Confessions of an Orderly, 43.]
b.—