nalki

Noun

nalki (plural nalkis)

1. (India, historical) A princely open litter, borne by many men using multiple poles.
   • ... 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...1810, Thomas Williamson, East India Vade-Mecum..., pages 314-315
   • 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...1844, William Henry Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Vol. I, p. 175
2. (India, inexact) Synonym of litter, especially one used by the bride or groom at a wedding.
   • 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.1877, D. B. Allen et al., “A Statistical Account of Bengal”, in Districts of Gayá and Sháhábád, volume 12, page 82
   • 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.2013, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, The Mirror of Beauty, page 303

   Synonyms:

   litter