Punkah - Wikipedia Church interior with an intricate system of punkahs c 1900 A punkah, also pankha (Urdu: پَنکھا, Hindi: पंखा, paṅkhā), is a type of fan used since the early 6th century BC The word pankha originated from pankh, the wings of a bird which produce a current of air when flapped
The punkah and its pullers: A short history | Servants Pasts Between colonial sleep and Indian labour, the history of punkah wallahs is buried Ritam Sengupta brings to light the long history of labour, law, and violence that this labouring group underwent in the long nineteenth century
The Punka: Cooling the Souths Dining Rooms Before the Ceiling Fan The punka (the word can be alternately spelled punkah) was a large wooden fan hung from the ceiling Slaves or servants would pull the fan back and forth by one or two ropes, providing cooling to the diners and perhaps helping to keep flies and other insects off the food below
The Invisible Hands of Colonial Comfort: The Life and Labor of . . . The word punkah derives from the Hindi pankh, meaning "wing," as the motion of the fan mimicked the flapping of a bird’s wings The suffix wallah refers to a person who carries out a particular job or service The punkahwallahs usually worked out of sight, pulling the fan from a distance via a cord or pulley system Sometimes, however, they used smaller hand-held fans, especially in more
Punka Definition Meaning - YourDictionary Punka definition: A fan used especially in India, made of a palm frond or strip of cloth hung from the ceiling and moved by a servant
Punka - definition of punka by The Free Dictionary Define punka punka synonyms, punka pronunciation, punka translation, English dictionary definition of punka or pun·kah n A fan used especially in India, made of a palm frond or strip of cloth hung from the ceiling and moved by a servant
Punkah-wallahs (1900) - The Friday Times T his photograph shows three punkah-wallas (ceiling fan coolies) on a veranda pulling strings When the British first came to India, they had to learn to adapt to an unfamiliar climate The main thing they had trouble getting used to was the heat