[1554.—"Cura." See under [ARRACK].]
1563.—"They grow two qualities of palm-tree, one kind for the fruit, and the other to give çura."—Garcia, f. 67.
1578.—"Sura, which is, as it were, vino mosto."—Acosta, 100.
1598.—"... in that sort the pot in short space is full of water, which they call Sura, and is very pleasant to drinke, like sweet whay, and somewhat better."—Linschoten, 101; [Hak. Soc. ii. 48].
1609-10.—"... A goodly country and fertile ... abounding with Date Trees, whence they draw a liquor, called Tarree ([Toddy]) or Sure...."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 436.
1643.—"Là ie fis boire mes mariniers de telle sorte que peu s'en falut qu'ils ne renuersassent notre almadie ou batteau: Ce breuvage estoit du sura, qui est du vin fait de palmes."—Mocquet, Voyages, 252.
c. 1650.—"Nor could they drink either Wine, or Sury, or Strong Water, by reason of the great Imposts which he laid upon them."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 86; [ed. Ball, i. 343].
1653.—"Les Portugais appelent ce tari ou vin des Indes, Soure ... de cette liqueur le singe, et la grande chauue-souris ... sont extremement amateurs, aussi bien que les Indiens Mansulmans (sic), Parsis, et quelque tribus d'Indou...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 263.
SURAT, n.p. In English use the name of this city is accented Surátt; but the name is in native writing and parlance generally Sŭrăt. In the Āīn, however (see below), it is written Sūrat; also in Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī (p. 106). Surat was taken by Akbar in 1573, having till then remained a part of the falling Mahommedan kingdom of Guzerat. An English factory was first established in 1608-9, which was for more than half a century the chief settlement of the English Company in Continental India. The transfer of the Chiefs to Bombay took place in 1687.
We do not know the origin of the name. Various legends on the subject are given in Mr. (now Sir J.) Campbell's Bombay Gazetteer (vol. ii.), but none of them have any probability. The ancient Indian Saurāshṭra was the name of the Peninsula of Guzerat or Kattywar, or at least of the maritime part of it. This latter name and country is represented by the differently spelt and pronounced Sōrath (see [SŪRATH]). Sir Henry Elliot and his editor have repeatedly stated the opinion that the names are identical. Thus: "The names 'Surat' and 'Sūrath' are identical, both being derived from the Sankrit Suráshtra; but as they belong to different places a distinction in spelling has been maintained. 'Surat' is the city; 'Súrath' is a pránt or district of Kattiwar, of which Junágarh is the chief town" (Elliot, v. 350; see also 197). Also: "The Sanskrit Suráshtra and Gurjjara survive in the modern names Surat and Guzerat, and however the territories embraced by the old terms have varied, it is hard to conceive that Surat was not in Suráshtra nor Guzerat in Gurjjara. All evidence goes to prove that the old and modern names applied to the same places. Thus Ptolemy's Surastrene comprises Surat...." (Dowson (?) ibid. i. 359). This last statement seems distinctly erroneous. Surat is in Ptolemy's Λάρικη, not in Συραστρηνή, which represents, like Saurāshtra, the peninsula. It must remain doubtful whether there was any connection between the names, or the resemblance was accidental. It is possible that continental Surat may have originally had some name implying its being the place of passage to Saurāshtra or Sorath.