Definition of "sesamum"

While at play for this extraordinary stake, they have a fire by them, on which a small pot of walnut oil, or oil of sesamum, is kept boiling; and when one has won a game, he chops off the end of the loser's finger, who immediately dips the stump into the boiling oil, to stem the blood; and some will persist so obstinately, as to have all their fingers thus mutilated.

1760, Robert Kerr, A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1‎

The latter is called the feast of 'six sesamum acts,' for sesamum is a holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part.

1896, Edward Washburn Hopkins, The Religions of India‎