This 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.
Before the arrival of electricity, it was common for people to sleep outside their homes under the shade of a tree, where it was cooler, or in the veranda with a handheld fan. Those who could afford had punkahs, or ceiling fans, which were swung with the help of a long string to produce a cooling draft.
A punkah was usually rectangular in shape and was made from cane, or a flat wooden frame covered with cloth. It was suspended from the ceiling of a room and pulled by the means of a rope and pulley by servants or slaves called punkah-wallah. The rhythmic to and fro movement of the punkah generated a gentle breeze that allowed the British expats and wealthy Indians to work and sleep in comfort.
Punkahs were a luxury found only in palatial homes and government bungalows and offices. One British resident described, “You have a punkah over your bed, another over your bath-tub, another at your dressing-bureau, another over your dining-table, and another above your desk. Your body servant calls out to your punkah-wallah and has him shift from one cord to another as you move about your room, or go from one room to another. You have the punkah in motion all day and all night somewhere, and for this purpose you must have two men to relieve each other. When you go to bed…you are fanned to sleep.”
The punkah-wallah sat in the corner of the room and pulled the rope keeping the fan in motion. Because he was always within earshot, many employers preferred punkah-wallahs who were deaf so that they could discuss private and confidential matters without getting eavesdropped. Sometimes, the rope would pass through a small hole in the wall near the ceiling so that the punkah-wallah could sit on the other side of the wall outside the room, or even outside the house.
The job of a punkah-wallah was not hard, but it was tedious. In The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, authors Steel and Gardiner suggest that punkah-wallahs were quite lazy: “in regard to punkah, in the writer’s opinion they are comparatively of little use except to keep away mosquitoes, or when sleeping on the roof. At mealtimes they are a necessity. But they are too intermittent a palliative to be satisfactory. The presence of a punkah rope in a coolie’s hand seems positively to have a soporific effect on him...”
Punkah coolies came from the poorest groups in society. They received a paltry sum for their services, yet they were indispensible in the tropical climate of India.
Punkahs eventually started appearing in many places beyond the Indian subcontinent. They became a notable fixture in the homes of many plantation owners in the southern states of America, where there was certainly no shortage of punkah-pullers.
The advent of electricity and the development of the electric ceiling fan in the late 19th century signalled the end of the road for those involved in the profession.
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.
Before the arrival of electricity, it was common for people to sleep outside their homes under the shade of a tree, where it was cooler, or in the veranda with a handheld fan. Those who could afford had punkahs, or ceiling fans, which were swung with the help of a long string to produce a cooling draft.
A punkah was usually rectangular in shape and was made from cane, or a flat wooden frame covered with cloth. It was suspended from the ceiling of a room and pulled by the means of a rope and pulley by servants or slaves called punkah-wallah. The rhythmic to and fro movement of the punkah generated a gentle breeze that allowed the British expats and wealthy Indians to work and sleep in comfort.
Punkahs were a luxury found only in palatial homes and government bungalows and offices. One British resident described, “You have a punkah over your bed, another over your bath-tub, another at your dressing-bureau, another over your dining-table, and another above your desk. Your body servant calls out to your punkah-wallah and has him shift from one cord to another as you move about your room, or go from one room to another. You have the punkah in motion all day and all night somewhere, and for this purpose you must have two men to relieve each other. When you go to bed…you are fanned to sleep.”
The punkah-wallah sat in the corner of the room and pulled the rope keeping the fan in motion. Because he was always within earshot, many employers preferred punkah-wallahs who were deaf so that they could discuss private and confidential matters without getting eavesdropped. Sometimes, the rope would pass through a small hole in the wall near the ceiling so that the punkah-wallah could sit on the other side of the wall outside the room, or even outside the house.
The job of a punkah-wallah was not hard, but it was tedious. In The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, authors Steel and Gardiner suggest that punkah-wallahs were quite lazy: “in regard to punkah, in the writer’s opinion they are comparatively of little use except to keep away mosquitoes, or when sleeping on the roof. At mealtimes they are a necessity. But they are too intermittent a palliative to be satisfactory. The presence of a punkah rope in a coolie’s hand seems positively to have a soporific effect on him...”
Punkah coolies came from the poorest groups in society. They received a paltry sum for their services, yet they were indispensible in the tropical climate of India.
Punkahs eventually started appearing in many places beyond the Indian subcontinent. They became a notable fixture in the homes of many plantation owners in the southern states of America, where there was certainly no shortage of punkah-pullers.
The advent of electricity and the development of the electric ceiling fan in the late 19th century signalled the end of the road for those involved in the profession.