{{short description|Horse-drawn cab used especially in India}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{hatnote|Not to be confused with the African gari, a cart}} thumb|A gharry (1890s) thumb|A modern gharry (2004)
A '''gharry''' or '''palkigari''' is a four-wheel horse-drawn carriage of India used as a hackney carriage (carriage for public hire). It has been spelled '''gharri''', '''gari''', '''garry''', and other variations. The driver is called a gharry-wallah.
== Design ==
thumb|The two gharry in the foreground illustrate the slatted blinds (1865) The gharry has four-wheels, is pulled by one or two horses, and has an elevated driver seat in front of the body. It is shaped somewhat like a sedan chair on wheels. It traditionally had sliding door panels on the sides for entry, and slatted blinds over window openings to allow ventilation while excluding the sun — though for contemporary tourist sightseeing the doors have been replaced with hinged doors and the blinds omitted. Passengers sit inside, face to face, one seat facing forward and the other backward. The gap of its double roof provides a ventilated cavity for buffering the sun's heat.{{r|berkebile1978|smith}}
== Historical context ==
thumb|Palkigari in British India (circa 1870) The word gharry has been spelled ''gharri'', ''gari'', ''garry'' and other variations from the romanization of words from languages of India including {{indic|lang=hi|indic={{linktext|गाड़ी}}|trans=gāṛī}} and {{langx|ur|گاڑی}} — meaning cart or carriage, and now also car or truck. ''Gari'' is an ellipsis (shortening) of ''palkigari'', meaning a carriage shaped like a palanquin (litter).{{r|dicts}}
A fleet of palkigaris were maintained along the main post roads of British India from the 1840s.
==See also== * Transport in India
== References ==
{{Commons category|Palkigaris}} {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="berkebile1978">{{Cite book |last=Berkebile |first=Donald H. |title=Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary |year=1978 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |isbn=9781935623434 |ol=33342342M |pages=154-155}}</ref>
<ref name="dicts">{{Multiref2 |1={{Cite web |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?qs=gari&matchtype=default |title=gari |series=A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English |website=Digital Dictionaries of South Asia |publisher=W. H. Allen & Co. |orig-date=1884 |first=John T. |last=Platts}} |2={{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/platts-a-dictionary-of-urdu-classical-hindi-and-english-1884/Platts%2C%20A%20Dictionary%20of%20Urd%C5%AB%2C%20Classical%20Hind%C4%AB%2C%20and%20English%20%281884%29%20-%20Part%201/page/562/mode/1up |title=A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English |entry=dak gari |first=John T. |last=Platts |date=1884 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Company |location=London |page=562}} |3={{Cite web |url=https://hamariweb.com/dictionaries/gari_urdu-english-meaning.aspx |title=Gari Meaning in English |website=hamariweb.com}} |4=See also Wiktionary: {{Linktext|gharry}}, {{Linktext|palkigari}}, {{Linktext|गाड़ी}}, {{Linktext|گاڑی}} }}</ref>
<ref name="smith">{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles |first=D.J.M. |last=Smith |year=1988 |publisher=J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. |isbn=0851314686 |ol=11597864M |pages=79, 84, 85}}</ref>
}}
{{Horse-drawn carriages}} Category:Carriages