mohafa

English

François Balthazar Solvyns's 1790s "Mohafa", depicting a Kolkata mihaffa

Etymology

From Hindi मुहाफ़ा (muhāfā) and Urdu محافہ (muḥāfa), from Persian محافه (miḥâfah) and Arabic مِحَفَّة (miḥaffa), related to Arabic حَفَّ (ḥaffa, “to enclose, to border”).

Noun

mohafa (plural mohafas)

1. Alternative form of mihaffa.
   • 1785, James Capper, Observations on the Passage to India, through Egypt, Also by Vienna through Constantinople to Aleppo, and from Thence by Baghdad, and Directly across the Great Desert, to Bassora..., pages 187-188:

     Khawja Rubens agreeably to his promiſe ſent ſixty-two camels for thirty-one loads, and we had nineteen camels for carrying our tents, proviſions and water, besides two alternately to carry a mohafa... The walk we found diſagreeable, and at firſt a great ſtrain on the loins and back, but the amble is like the ſame pace of a large horſe and not unpleaſant. Cadeo being ill was put into the mohafa.

   • 1811, F. Baltazard Solvyns, Les Hindoûs, Vol. III, Plate IV:

     Mohafa. This is the palanquin of rich females... it is entirely covered with a red lianging, and has no other ornament than a ball of copper at the top of the bambou... The Mohafa is carried by four servants, and attended by a number proportioned to the rank of the lady... Nevertheless the women who conform strictly to the precepts of their religion, are attended but by four bearers, however great their fortune.