palkigari

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Hindi पालकी गाड़ी (pālkī gāṛī), from पालकी (pālkī, “palanquin, litter, sedan chair”) + गाड़ी (gāṛī, “cart, carriage, truck, car”), q.v.

Noun

palkigari (plural palkigaris)

  1. (India) A carriage or cart considered similar-looking to a palanquin, particularly (historical) those instituted for regular service between major towns in British India in the 1840s.
    • 1850 March, “Journeys in India”, in The Benares Magazine, volume III, number III, page 231:
      Once, during the last campaign we were in a great strait, to get up to Lahore from Allahabad, and, on applying one afternoon at the Post Office for a horsed palkee-garee we were informed, "that Major A. had engaged it with Captain B."—"Then, early to-morrow morning, could we have it?"—"No, it would not be back."—"Then, the following day?"—"No, two other officers had hired it for that day."—"Well, then, when ever can we have it," we rather angrily asked—"Oh!" said the dear Baboo, "on Saturday next" (that day being Wednesday) "if a lady and gentleman, at Mr. Berrill's hotel, do not take it..." Even in these "piping times of peace," we hear of people having to wait two or three days to get a public garee, along the main road of India.
    • 1884, “A Glossary of Indian Words and Expressions”, in Bradshaw's Through Route Overland Guide to India..., page 406:
      Palkigari, a vehicle on carriage springs, and four wheels, all the same size; with a spare cushion inside, which turns into a bed. It is pushed and dragged by men.
    • 1917 December 10, Samuel Perry O'Donnell, Resolution No. 3219/III–331, §1:
      They doubted whether good work would be done on tour by an elderly deputy collector, more especially as the invariable means of locomotion in those days was the palkigari.
    • 1994, Shankar Dayal Singh, Gandhi's First Step: Champaran Movement, page 205:
      ... a palkigari is so constructed that people inside cannot see what is going outside. These cumbersome carriages are no more in use in Bihar these days. They have been displaced by a cheaper and degrading mode of transport of rickshaws ...

Synonyms

  • palkee carriage, gharry (some contexts)

References

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