The Mahratta princes,
who reigned at Poonah and Sattara, had the title of Ch'hatra-pati,
"Lord of the Umbrella." Ch'hatra or ch?ta has been suggested as the
derivation of _satrapaes_ (_exatrapaes_ in Theopompus), and
it seems a probable derivation enough. The ch?ta of the Indian and
Burmese princes is large and heavy, and requires a special attendant,
who has a regular position in the royal household. In Ava it seems to
have been part of the king's title, that he was "King of the white
elephant, and Lord of the twenty-four Umbrellas." Persons of rank in
the Mahratta court, who were not permitted the right of carrying an
Umbrella, used a screen, a flat vertical disc called AA'-ab-gir,
carried by an attendant. Even now the Umbrella has not lost its
emblematic meaning. In 1855 the King of Burmah directed a letter to
the Marquis of Dalhousie in which he styles himself "His great,
glorious, and most excellent Majesty, who reigns over the kingdoms of
Thunaparanta, Tampadipa, and all the great Umbrella-wearing chiefs of
the Eastern countries," &c.
Thus we see that the same signification which was attached to the
Umbrella by the ancient people of Nineveh, still remains connected
with it even in our own time.
In the Great Exhibition of 1851 was the splendid Umbrella belonging
to his Highness the Maharajah of Najpoor. The ribs and stretchers,
sixteen in number, divided the Umbrella into as many segments,
covered with silk, exquisitely embroidered with gold and silver
ornaments.
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