panda

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French panda, of unclear ultimate origin but probably from the second element of nigálya-pónya, a local name for the red panda recorded in Nepal and Sikkim by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 or 1801 – 1894), an ethnologist, naturalist and the British Resident of Nepal, possibly from Nepali निँगाले (nĩgāle, “relating to a certain species of bamboo”) (the adjectival form of निँगालो (nĩgālo), a variant of निङालो (niṅālo, “Drepanostachyum intermedium, a species of bamboo”)) + a regional Tibetan name for the animal (compare regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya, “messenger”)). Attributive uses of sense 2 (“giant panda”) generally refer to that animal’s distinctive black and white coat colour.

noun

1. (now rare without a qualifying word) The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail.
   The red panda's history in zoos begins some 40 years after its discovery. The first one to be seen outside of its natural range arrived at London Zoo on 22nd May 1869, … On arrival at the zoo, the last surviving panda was given into the care of Abraham Bartlett, the superintendent of the zoo. … The feeding instructions that came with the panda said it should be given milk, a little rice and grass each day. … Bartlett felt that the suggested diet was not adequate and set out to find what the animal would accept; … Unfortunately, although it ate well, this first zoo red panda was not destined for a long life, it died suddenly during the night of 12 December 1869, a little over 6 months after its arrival. 2011, Angela R. Glatston, “Introduction”, in Angela R. Glatston, editor, Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda, London, Burlington, Mass.: Academic Press, page 7
2. (colloquial, also attributively) Short for giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”).
3. (Britain, law enforcement, colloquial) Short for panda car (“a black-and-white police car”).
   Before the confrontation, the youth sighted a police personnel carrier, two dog patrol vans, a motorway style car, at least two pandas and one unmarked police car. 1975, Darcus Howe, editor, Race Today, London: Race Today Collective, →OCLC, page 279

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Hindi पंडा (paṇḍā) and Punjabi ਪਾਂਡਾ (pāṇḍā), both from Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita, “learned, wise; learned man, pundit, scholar, teacher; Hindu Brahmin who has memorized a substantial proportion of the Vedas”). Doublet of pundit.

noun

1. (Hinduism) A brahmin who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat or temple, and is regarded as knowledgeable in matters of genealogy and ritual.
   There are therefore in this district no Varna or degraded Brahmans nor are those at all disgraced who officiate in any temple as Pandas. 1811–1812, Francis Buchanan, “Religion and Sects”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] W[illiam] J[ames], editor, An Account of the Districts of Bihar and Patna in 1811–1812[…], Patna, Bihar: Published by the Bihar and Orissa Research Society and printed by the Calcutta Oriental Press[…], published [1926], →OCLC, book II (Of the People), section II (Of the Hindus), page 380
   PANDA: PUNDA. Hind[i] and Beng[ali]. The proprietary or presiding priest of a Hindoo temple of Siva usually though not invariably a Brahman. The office is hereditary, and in some places, as at Benares, the Panda officiates only on particular occasions, the duties of daily worship being performed by inferior priests or Pujaris in his employ. The term is also applied to a priest who is stationary at any particular place or shrine.] [1862, “PANDA: PUNDA”, in Edward Balfour, editor, The Second Supplement, with Index, to the Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia,[…], Madras, Tamil Nadu: Printed for the editor at the Athenæum Press, Adelphi Press and Union Press, by Messrs. Pharaoh and Co., Gantz Brothers, and Cookson and Co., →OCLC, page 83
   The pilgrims are required first to bathe in the Marnikarnika Kund (or tank) near the ghât of that name, taking with them flowers and uncooked rice. … [T]hey must make presents to the pandas, who are certain privileged hereditary Brahmins. Whilst the pilgrim is in the water, the pandas repeat some Sanscrit verses; … 1879, Mrs. J. C. Murray Aynsley [i.e., Harriet Georgiana Maria Murray Aynsley], chapter XI, in Our Visit to Hindostán, Kashmir, and Ladakh, London: W[illia]m H. Allen & Co.,[…] publishers to the India Office, →OCLC, page 155
   Whenever there is a death in the family, someone will go to Hardwar to immerse the ashes of the departed. There our family has its own panda, as these priests are called, who at his death is succeeded by his son. He maintains the family records in long, old-fashioned Indian ledgers, covered in red cloth, in which he writes down the length of the page. … When I first visited Hardwar I only had to say I was a Tandon from Gujrat, and from a crowd of pandas our priest came forward and reeled off our whole family tree for several generations. 1961, Prakash Tandon, chapter 1, in Punjabi Century: 1857–1947, London: Chatto and Windus, →OCLC; republished Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, 1973, page 9
   'The mafia-like activities' and 'growing internal competition' of the contemporary panda community are the consequence of an almost complete breakdown of the old configuration. Durable long-term relations between priests and their patrons have been replaced by 'the emergence of a totally impersonal religious market' …, a controlled trickle of elite donors by a torrent of hoi polloi pilgrims, and the relationship between panda and pilgrim has been replaced by that between panda and agent as the pivot of the system. 1994, Jonathan P. Parry, “Shares and Chicanery”, in Death in Banaras (Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures; 1988), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, part II (Death as a Living), page 108
   Many a time, the temple received unkind ravishments from the non-Hindu attackers. … The frightened pandas of Puri considered Lord Jagannatha to be the living and loving god, the caretaker of their beings and their country. They had no other option but to hide the Lord from the clutches of the javanas. It is learnt from history and the contemporary literature that the pandas used to carry the Lord to distant hills and mountainous ranges. 1998, Salabega, “Where Do You Take My Lord”, in Niranjan Mohanty, transl., White Whispers: (Selected Poems of Salabega): Translated from the Oriya Original, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, page 50
   I may be man of commerce in your eyes, Miss—and in this age of evil, who is not?—but are you aware that eleven generations of my ancestors have been pandas at one of Nabadwip's most famous temples? 2009, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, London: John Murray; republished New York, N.Y.: Picador, 2009, page 135
   As at most Hindu pilgrimage sites, Hardwar has a group of local brahmins who serve as hereditary pilgrim guides. The most respectful name for them is tirtha purohit (a tirtha "priest'), but the more common name is panda, a short form of pandita ("a learned man"). Pandas arrange for their clients' material and ritual needs, and they also officiate at certain life-cycle ceremonies (samskaras). In return, their clients give them fees and gifts. 2010, James G. Lochtefeld, “The Hardwar Pandas”, in God’s Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, page 124
   Trouble broke out at Kalighat temple on Monday morning after police barred pandas from near the sanctum sanctorum. Angry pandas, some armed with sticks, allegedly assaulted members of the temple committee. … Temple sources said the cop crackdown was a knee-jerk reaction to a complaint filed by an NRI [non-resident Indian] woman on Sunday against the pandas. 9 March 2010, Rith Basu, “Panda-monium at Kalighat temple”, in The Telegraph, Kolkata, West Bengal: ABP Pvt. Ltd., →OCLC