1869.—"Il n'y a proprement que deux fêtes parmi les Musulmans sunnites, celle de la rupture du jeûne de Ramazan, 'Id fito, et celle des victimes 'Id curbân, nommée aussi dans l'Inde Bacr 'Id, fête du Taureau, ou simplement 'Id, la fête par excellence, laquelle est établie en mémoire du sacrifice d'Ismael."—Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus. dans l'Inde, 9 seq.
EEDGAH, s. Ar.—P. 'Īdgāh, 'Place of 'Īd.' (See [EED].) A place of assembly and prayer on occasion of Musulman festivals. It is in India usually a platform of white plastered brickwork, enclosed by a low wall on three sides, and situated outside of a town or village. It is a marked characteristic of landscape in Upper India. [It is also known as Namāzgāh, or 'place of prayer,' and a drawing of one is given by Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, Pl. iii. fig. 2.]
1792.—"The commanding nature of the ground on which the Eed-Gah stands had induced Tippoo to construct a redoubt upon that eminence."—Ld. Cornwallis, Desp. from Seringapatam, in Seton-Karr, ii. 89.
[1832.—"... Kings, Princes and Nawaubs ... going to an appointed place, which is designated the Eade-Garrh."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 262.
[1843.—"In the afternoon ... proceeded in state to the Eed Gao, a building at a small distance, where Mahommedan worship was performed."—Davidson, Travels in Upper India, i. 53.]
EKTENG, adj. The native representation of the official designation 'acting' applied to a substitute, especially in the Civil Service. The manner in which the natives used to explain the expression to themselves is shown in the quotation.
1883.—"Lawrence had been only 'acting' there; a term which has suggested to the minds of the natives, in accordance with their pronunciation of it, and with that striving after meaning in syllables which leads to so many etymological fallacies, the interpretation ek-tang, 'one-leg,' as if the temporary incumbent had but one leg in the official stirrup."—H. Y. in Quarterly Review (on Bosworth Smith's Life of Lord Lawrence), April, p. 297.
ELCHEE, s. An ambassador. Turk. īlchī, from īl, a (nomad) tribe, hence the representative of the īl. It is a title that has attached itself particularly to Sir John Malcolm, and to Sir Stratford Canning, probably because they were personally more familiar to the Orientals among whom they served than diplomatists usually are.
1404.—"And the people who saw them approaching, and knew them for people of the Emperor's, being aware that they were come with some order from the great Lord, took to flight as if the devil were after them; and those who were in their tents selling their wares, shut them up and also took to flight, and shut themselves up in their houses, calling out to one another, Elchi! which is as much as to say 'Ambassadors!' For they knew that with ambassadors coming they would have a black day of it; and so they fled as if the devil had got among them."—Clavijo, xcvii. Comp. Markham, p. 111.
[1599.—"I came to the court to see a Morris dance, and a play of his Elchies."—Hakluyt, Voyages, II. ii. 67 (Stanf. Dict.).]