Henry Yule

“ VISS, s. A weight used in S. India and in Burma; Tam. vīsai, 'division,' Skt. vihita, 'distributed.' In Madras it was 1⁄8 of a Madras maund, and = 3lb. 2oz. avoirdupois. The old scale ran, 10 pagoda weights = 1 pollam, 40 pollams = 1 viss, 8 viss = 1 maund (of 25lbs.) , 20 maunds = 1 candy. In Burma the viss = 100 tikals = 3lbs. 5 51⁄3. Viss is used in Burma by foreigners, but the Burmese call the weight peiktha, probably a corruption of vīsai. ”

“ A quotation from San Roman below illustrates this in a general way. And in a constitution of Gregory XV. dated January 31, 1623, there is mention of rites called Haiteres and Tandié, which doubtless represent the Vedic names Aitareya and Tāṇḍya (see Norbert, i. 39) . Lucena's allusion below to the "four parts" of Hindu doctrine must have reference to the Vedas, and his information must have come from reports and letters, as he never was in India. ”

“ Is it not, however, possible that barāmada, the literal meaning of which is 'coming forward, projecting,' may be a Persian 'striving after meaning,' in explanation of the foreign word which they may have borrowed?
Williams, again, in his Skt. Dict. (1872) gives 'varaṇḍa ... a veranda, a portico....' Moreover Beames in his Comparative Grammar of Modern Aryan Languages, gives Sansk. baraṇḍa, 'portico,' Bengali bārāṇḍā, Hind. varaṇḍā, adding: "Most of our wise-acre literateurs (qu. littérateurs?) in Hindustan now-a-days consider this word to be derived from Pers. ”

“ Le mot Vedam signifie science."—Encylopédie, xxx. 32. This information was taken from a letter by Père Calmette, S.J. (see Lett. Edif.) , who anticipated Max Müller's chronological system of Vedic literature, in his statement that some parts of the Veda are at least 500 years later than others.
1765.—"If we compare the great purity and chaste manners of the Shastah (Shaster) , with the great absurdities and impurities of the Viedam, we need not hesitate to pronounce the latter a corruption of the former."—J. Z. Holwell, Interesting Hist. Events, &c., 2nd ed. i. 12. ”

“ In Ceylon, the title of a village head man. "The person who conveys the orders of Government to the people" (Clough, s.v. vidán) . It is apparently from the Skt. vadana, "... the act of speaking ... the mouth, face, countenance ... the front, point," &c. In Javanese wadana (or wadono, in Jav. pronunciation) is "the face, front, van; a chief of high rank: a Javanese title" (Crawfurd, s.v.) . The Javanese title is, we imagine, now only traditional; the Ceylonese one has followed the usual downward track of high titles ”

“ It is probable that the information concerning the Hindu religion and sacred books which was attained even in Europe by the end of the 16th century was greater than is commonly supposed, and greater than what we find in print would warrant us to assume. ”

“ They speak the Chingalayes Language. They kill Deer, and dry the Flesh over the Fire ... their Food being only Flesh. They are very expert with their Bows.... They have no Towns nor Houses, only live by the waters under a Tree."—Knox, 61-62.
1770.—"The Bedas who were settled in the northern part of the island (Ceylon) ... go almost naked, and, upon the whole, their manners and government are the same with that of the Highlanders of Scotland." (!) —Raynal (tr. 1777) , i. 90.
VELLARD, s. This is a word apparently peculiar to the Island of Bombay, used in the sense which the quotation shows. ”

“ This gentleman also talks of the Bhades and the Viedam in the same line without a notion that the word was the same (see ibid. Pt. ii. 15, 1767) . c. 1770.—"The Bramin, bursting into tears, promised to pardon him on condition that he should swear never to translate the Bedas or sacred volumes.... From the Ganges to the Indus the Vedam is universally received as the book that contains the principles of religion."—Raynal, tr. ”

“ Both forms, Bed and Vedam, are known to Fleury, as we see below.
On the subject of the Vedas, see Weber's Hist. of Indian Lit., Max Müller's Ancient Sanskrit Lit., Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies, vol. i. [and Macdonell's Hist. of Sanskrit Lit., pp. 29 seqq.] .
c. 1590.—"The Brahmins. These have properly six duties. 1. The study of the Bedes."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 393; [ed. Jarrett, iii. 115] . " "Philologists are constantly engaged in translating Hindí, Greek, Arabic, and Persian books ... ”

“ It was probably taken from the name of some Portuguese office of the same kind. [In the quotation given below from Owen it seems that the word was in familiar use at Johanna, and the context shows that his duty was somewhat like that of the chowdry, as he provided fowls, cattle, fruit, &c., for the expedition.]
1781.—From an advertisement in the India Gazette of May 17th it appears to have been an euphemism for Auctioneer; [also see Busteed, Echoes of Old Calcutta, 3rd ed. p. 109] . " "Mr. Donald ... ”

“ Res. xi.) . The first information regarding the real Vedas was given by Colebrooke in 1805 (As. Res. viii.) . Orme and some authors of the 18th and early part of the 19th century write Bede, which represents the N. Indian vernacular form Bed. ”