'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1865 to December 1867. (Edited by the Honorary Secretary.) Volume XVIII.' [‎102] (129/268)

1
peocebdings op the
The inextricable confusion in which neglect and indifference have in
volved the spellings of Indian names of places, render it often a matter
of difficulty for a stranger to India to find the place he wants either on
a map or in a Gazetteer. Every one seems to have a way of spelling of
his own. Ramuagar is spelt about eleven different ways in Ihornton’s
Gazetteer, and the prefix Fateh is spelt eleven ways, all wrong ; gar h
is spelt ghur in one line, gurh in another, and gur in a third ; “ pur ”
is spelt poor, pore, pour, par, pora, &c. A few months ago I met
with Peenee Put in a newspaper, and could only guess that Panipat
was meant. Kanhpur is the city of Krishna,—in one author it is
Cunpoor, in another Caunpoor, and in Orme Champ ore,—apparently
intended for “Khanpur”—a Musalman,—in place of a Hindu name,—
and scores of instances of the same kind, whereby the etymology is
completely disguised by the mis-spelling, might be adduced by one
acquainted with the country.
From this multiplicity of spellings, certain forms become for a while
fashionable, and then give place to others : thus, thirty years ago, our
best maps bad C ashmeer , Cur ache e, Baroche, Boglipour, Nassuck, Mow,,
Churapoonjie, Rutnageeree, Thenkaushee, Paulytanna, &c. All these
names are now altered, more or less, most of them for the better. But
a spirit of reform is getting abroad in this matter, and if slowly, is yet
surely working its way. The last edition of Elphinstone’s History, by
my friend Professor E. B. Cowell, has greatly improved the spellings,
and the students of that excellent work may be expected to some ex
tent to adopt the orthography they will there become familiar with.
Dr. Keith Johnstone in his ts Royal Atlas 55 has also adopted a large
number of improved spellings, and other authors are following in the
same track : even in some of our school-books reform is visible.
The difficulty Geographers find, however, is to discover, among the
multiplicity of disguised forms, what the true spelling is and out of
India it is next to impossible to know how many an Indian name
ought to be spelt. Even in a Marathi Geography I have found Eng
lish nicknames and mis-spellings transliterated into the Vernacular,—
so that we seem even in some danger of losing the correct names
altogether. Now it has occurred to me that the Geographical Society
of Bombay, or a Committee of it, would be able to get up a good list
of the names of Indian towns, rivers, &c., which might be in many ways
extremely useful It would probably be impossible for the Society to