22O Oranges and Lemons of India. 



The Pummelo. In the Upper Provinces it is mainly 

 known by two names the mahtdbi and the chakotra, 

 while for South India, a large number of extraordinary 

 names are given in Colonel Yule's " Glossary." The 

 derivations of mahtdbi and chakotra given by the 

 Pundits of Benares are very instructive. They show 

 how little reliance can be placed on any endeavour to 

 get at the derivation of a word by its resemblance to 

 some Sanskrit or other word. They say that mahtabi 

 comes from mahtdb, the moon, from the moon-like size 

 of the pummelo ; and that chakotra comes from chdk, 

 a wheel, from the huge size of certain pummelos. In 

 Bengal, however, the pummelo still retains a similarity 

 to the name with which it came to Calcutta, viz.: 

 batabi-lemboO) and this is no other than the citrus of 

 Batavia, whence it was first brought to Calcutta. The 

 word chakotra has an equally interesting derivation. 

 It was Mr. Growse that first called my attention to 

 p. 54 of Colonel Yule's u Glossary," under " Batavia." 

 He says : " It is the famous capital of the Dutch pos- 

 sessions in the Indies, occupying the site of the old city 

 Jakatra, the seat of the Javanese kingdom." So that 

 we have here both the new and the old names of the 

 capital of Java, amply accounting for both mahtdbi Z.K& 

 chakotra, the pummelo, which is known to have been 

 comparatively recently introduced into India from 

 Java. 



The names of the pummelo in South India, given in 

 Colonel Yule's " Glossary," p. 546, are curious. How- 

 ever, I think they indicate an introduction there inde- 

 pendently of that in Bengal. Colonel Yule states that 

 he has not been able to trace their origin. It will be 

 seen, however, that, with few exceptions, if the words 

 are properly divided, they resolve themselves into cor- 

 ruptions of the Dutch name Pompel-moes. What the 



