1853.—"'Halloa! Oakfield,' cried Perkins, as he entered the mess tent ... 'don't look down in the mouth, man; Attok taken, Chutter Sing dauring down like the devil—march to-morrow....'"—Oakfield, ii. 67.
DOW, s. H. dāo, [Skt. dātra, dā, 'to cut']. A name much used on the Eastern frontier of Bengal as well as by Europeans in Burma, for the hewing knife or bill, of various forms, carried by the races of those regions, and used both for cutting jungle and as a sword. Dhā is the true Burmese name for their weapon of this kind, but we do not know if there is any relation but an accidental one with the Hind. word. [See drawing in Egerton, Handbook of Indian Arms, p. 84.]
[1870.—"The Dao is the hill knife.... It is a blade about 18 inches long, narrow at the haft, and square and broad at the tip; pointless, and sharpened on one side only. The blade is set in a handle of wood; a bamboo root is considered the best. The fighting dao is differently shaped; this is a long pointless sword, set in a wooden or ebony handle; it is very heavy, and a blow of almost incredible power can be given by one of these weapons.... The weapon is identical with the 'parang latok' of the Malays...."—Lewin, Wild Races of S.E. India, 35 seq.
DOWLE, s. H. ḍaul, ḍaulā. The ridge of clay marking the boundary between two rice fields, and retaining the water; called commonly in S. India a bund. It is worth noting that in Sussex doole is "a small conical heap of earth, to mark the bounds of farms and parishes in the downs" (Wright, Dict. of Obs. and Prov. English). [The same comparison was made by Sir H. Elliot (Supp. Gloss. s.v. Doula); the resemblance is merely accidental; see N.E.D. s.v. Dool.]
1851.—"In the N.W. corner of Suffolk, where the country is almost entirely open, the boundaries of the different parishes are marked by earthen mounds from 3 to 6 feet high, which are known in the neighbourhood as dools."—Notes and Queries, 1st Series, vol. iv. p. 161.
DOWRA, s. A guide. H. dauṛāhā, dauṛahā, dauṛā, 'a village runner, a guide,' from dauṛnā, 'to run,' Skt. drava, 'running.'
1827.—"The vidette, on his part, kept a watchful eye on the Dowrah, a guide supplied at the last village."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiii.
[DRABI, DRABY, s. The Indian camp-followers' corruption of the English 'driver.'
[1900.—"The mule race for Drabis and grass-cutters was entertaining."—Pioneer Mail, March 16.]
DRAVIDIAN, adj. The Skt. term Drāviḍa seems to have been originally the name of the Conjevaram Kingdom (4th to 11th cent. A.D.), but in recent times it has been used as equivalent to 'Tamil.' About A.D. 700 Kumārila Bhaṭṭa calls the language of the South Andhradrāviḍa-bhāshā, meaning probably, as Bishop Caldwell suggests, what we should now describe as 'Telegu-Tamil-language.' Indeed he has shown reason for believing that Tamil and Drāviḍa, of which Dramiḍa (written Tiramiḍa), and Dramila are old forms, are really the same word. [Also see Oppert, Orig. Inhab. 25 seq., and Dravira, in a quotation from Al-biruni under [MALABAR].] It may be suggested as posssible that the Tropina of Pliny is also the same (see below). Dr. Caldwell proposed Dravidian as a convenient name for the S. Indian languages which belong to the Tamil family, and the cultivated members of which are Tamil, Malayālam, Canarese, Tulu, Kuḍagu (or Coorg), and Telegu; the uncultivated Tuḍa, Kōta, Gōṇḍ, Khonḍ, Orāon, Rājmahāli. [It has also been adopted as an enthnological term to designate the non-[Aryan] races of India (see Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. Intro. xxxi.).]