1838.—"Her Highness the Bāiza Bā'i did me the honour to send me a Kharītā, that is a letter enclosed in a long bag of Kimkhwāb (see [KINCOB]), crimson silk brocaded with flowers in gold, contained in another of fine muslin: the mouth of the bag was tied with a gold and tasseled cord, to which was appended the great seal of her Highness."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim (Mrs. Parkes), ii. 250.
In the following passage the thing is described (at Constantinople).
1673.—"... le Visir prenant un sachet de beau brocard d'or à fleurs, long tout au moins d'une demi aulne et large de cinq ou six doigts, lié et scellé par le haut avec une inscription qui y estoit attachée, et disant que c'estoit une lettre du Grand Seigneur...."—Journal d'Ant. Galland, ii. 94.
KAUL, s. Hind. Kāl, properly 'Time,' then a period, death, and popularly the visitation of famine. Under this word we read:
1808.—"Scarcity, and the scourge of civil war, embittered the Mahratta nation in A.D. 1804, of whom many emigrants were supported by the justice and generosity of neighbouring powers, and (a large number) were relieved in their own capital by the charitable contributions of the English at Bombay alone. This and opening of Hospitals for the sick and starving, within the British settlements, were gratefully told to the writer afterwards by many Mahrattas in the heart, and from distant parts, of their own country."—R. Drummond, Illustrations, &c.
KAUNTA, CAUNTA, s. This word, Mahr. and Guz. kānṭha, 'coast or margin,' [Skt. kanṭha, 'immediate proximity,' kanṭhī, 'the neck,'] is used in the northern part of the Bombay Presidency in composition to form several popular geographical terms, as Mahi Kānṭhā, for a group of small States on the banks of the Mahi River; Rewā Kānṭhā, south of the above; Sindhu Kānṭhā, the Indus Delta, &c. The word is no doubt the same which we find in Ptolemy for the Gulf of Kachh, Κάνθι κόλπος. Kānṭhī-Kot was formerly an important place in Eastern Kachh, and Kāṇṭhī was the name of the southern coast district (see Ritter, vi. 1038).
KEBULEE. (See [MYROBOLANS].)
KEDDAH, s. Hind. Khedā (khednā, 'to chase,' from Skt. ākheṭa, 'hunting'). The term used in Bengal for the enclosure constructed to entrap elephants. [The system of hunting elephants by making a trench round a space and enticing the wild animals by means of tame decoys is described by Arrian, Indika, 13.] (See [CORRAL].)
[c. 1590.—"There are several modes of hunting elephants. 1. k'hedah" (then follows a description).—Āīn, i. 284.]
1780-90.—"The party on the plain below have, during this interval, been completely occupied in forming the Keddah or enclosure."—Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 191.