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1825 J. B. Gilchrist & T. Williamson Gen. E. India Guide & Vade-mecum 173 To cool a room they [sc. punkahs] are swung backwards and forwards, the butt of the punkah-stick resting on the ground.

1828 C. D'Oyly Tom Raw, Griffin 86 The bearers from the toil of puncah pulling Eight months without cessation, cry, Wah! wah!

1870 J. W. Kaye Hist. Sepoy War II. v. ii. 273 There were..none to pull the punkah-ropes.

1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 41 Punkah fringes, 20 R[upees].

1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 41 The punkah boards and ropes are landlords' property.

1890 Electr. Engineer 10 Jan. 23/2 A cheap and efficient mechanical punkah-puller for use in India.

1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim v. 39 The archway from the anteroom was crowded with punkah-pullers, sweepers, police peons, the coxswain and crew of the harbour steam-launch.

1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Sept. 637 There is no class of native here to accept punkah-pulling as an occupation.

1959 Listener 13 Aug. 234/2 The Madras Government was still employing 714 ‘punkah-pullers’.

1989 J. Conway Road from Coorain (1990) vi. 131 At the Grand Oriental Hotel [in Colombo], an ancient ‘punkah boy’ slept on a mat outside my bedroom door in case I called for anything in the night.

2006 F. Dikötter Exotic Commodities 182 ‘Punkah’ fans were used instead [of electric fans], even in the electricity department of the International Settlement in Shanghai in the 1910s.