ALLEJA
s. This appears to be a stuff from Turkestan called (Turki) alchah, alajah, or alāchah. It is thus described: "a silk cloth 5 yards long, which has a sort of wavy line pattern running in the length on either side." ( Baden-Powell's Punjab Handbook , 66). [Platts in his Hind. Dict. gives ilācha , "a kind of cloth woven of silk and thread so as to present the appearance of cardamoms ( ilāchī )." But this is evidently a folk etymology. Yusuf Ali ( Mon. on Silk Fabrics , 95) accepts the derivation from Alcha or Alācha , and says it was probably introduced by the Moguls, and has historical associations with Agra, where alone in the N.W.P. it is manufactured. "This fabric differs from the Doriya in having a substantial texture, whereas the Doriya is generally flimsy. The colours are generally red, or bluish-red, with white stripes." In some of the western Districts of the Panjab various kinds of fancy cotton goods are described as Lacha . ( Francis, Mon. on Cotton , p. 8). It appears in one of the trade lists (see PIECE-GOODS ) as Elatches .]
Historical Citations (12)
"The improvement is visible ... secondly in the Safid Alchahs also called Tarhdárs...."—Āīn, i. 91. (Blochmann says: "Alchah or Alāchah, any kind of corded stuff. Tarhdár means corded.")
"Hold the Allesas at 50 Rs."—Danvers, Letters, i. 205.]
"The Nabob bestowed upon him 850 Mamoodies, 10 fine Baftas, 30 Topseiles and 30 Allizaes."—Dowton, in Purchas, i. 504. "Topseiles are Tafçilah (a stuff from Mecca)."—Āīn, i. 93. [See ADATI, PIECE-GOODS].
"1 pec. alleia of 30 Rs...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 64.
See Van Twist above, under ALCATIF. And 1673, see Fryer under ATLAS.
"Alaias (Alajas) est vn mot Indien, qui signifie des toiles de cotton et de soye: meslée de plusieurs couleurs."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 532.
"Alachas, or silk stuffs interwoven with gold and silver."—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 120-21.]
"It (Suratt) is renown'd ... both for rich Silks, such as Atlasses, Cuttanees, Sooseys, Culgars, Allajars...."—Ovington, 218.
"An Allejah petticoat striped with green and gold and white."—Advert. in Spectator, cited in Malcolm, Anecdotes, 429.
"Gold and silver Allegias."—Valentijn (Surat), iv. 146.
"Allachas (pieces to the ton) 1200."—Milburn, ii. 221.
"The cloth from which these pyjamas are made (in Swāt) is known as Alacha, and is as a rule manufactured in their own houses, from 2 to 20 threads of silk being let in with the cotton; the silk as well as the cotton is brought from Peshawur and spun at home."—M‘Nair's Report on Explorations, p. 5.
From Hobson-Jobson by Yule & Burnell, 1886.