nalki
English
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Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]nalki (plural nalkis)
- (India, chiefly historical) A princely open litter, borne by many men using multiple poles.
- 1810, Thomas Williamson, East India Vade-Mecum..., pages 314-315:
- ... I shall commence with a description of the naulkeen, or naulkee, it being the first in rank among the contrivances of this description. This immense carriage is only used by crowned heads, and may be compared to a portable throne, on which the prince sits with his feet crossed, and tucked up under his hams, (the usual sitting position of Asiatics,) having at his back an immense pillow, and under him a suitable bedding, both sumptuously ornamented; besides these, many smaller pillows lie scattered about, to be applied as may be found agreeable. The frame of the naulkeen may be about five feet long by four broad, well secured at the corners, and taped at the bottom in a very close manner, both lengthwise and breadthwise, so as to leave no interstices. The sides are raised with richly carved wood-work, generally gilded in a very shewy style. The naulkeen is carried, like a litter, by eight men, who support two poles, one running under each side-bar, and projecting before and behind; two bearers being at each extremity, the same as in a palanquin.
- 1844, William Henry Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Vol. I, p. 175:
- After he had sat with me an hour and a half he took his leave; and I conducted him to the door, whence he was carried to his elephant in his litter, from which he mounted without touching the ground. This litter is called a Nalkee. It is one of the three great insignia which the Mogul Emperors of Delhi conferred upon independent princes of the first class, and could never be used by any person upon whom, or upon whose ancestors they had not been so conferred. These were the Nalkee, the order of the Fish, and the fan of the peacock's feathers. These insignia could be used only by the prince who inherited the sovereignty of the one on whom they had been originally conferred.
- 2021, Bazm-i Aaskhir, translated by Ather Farouqui, The Last Gathering: A Vivid Portrait of Life in the Red Fort, page 32 & 61:
- Look at the canopied rostrum, designed like a nalki (a canopied palanquin), with glass on all sides... Water carriers are sprinkling water ahead of the procession to settle the dust. The covered rostrum and nalki both have six poles each... At the gate, the emperor switches to the palanquin and the crown prince takes his place on the nalki.
- (India, inexact) Synonym of litter, especially one used by the bride or groom at a wedding.
- 1877, D. B. Allen et al., “A Statistical Account of Bengal”, in Districts of Gayá and Sháhábád, volume 12, page 82:
- The nalkí is used at marriage ceremonies. It is like a dhulí with a cloth hood. The bamboo on which it is slung is curved at each end like a swan's neck.
- 2013, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, The Mirror of Beauty, page 303:
- On her outings she travelled in a nalki. A closed, hard-roofed palanquin with a door and sunshade or a balcony at the front, a nalki was permitted only to the rich and powerful.