An uran khatola (Hindustani: उड़न खटोला, اُڑن کهٹولا) is a flying vehicle in the traditional folktales of North India and Pakistan.[1] The term literally means 'flying bedstead' or 'flying cot' but in folklore the term is used more expansively to cover any flying vehicle. In modern-day Indian and Pakistani slang, it can refer to any vehicle that flies (such as a helicopter or an airplane) or appears to glide through the air (such as a gondola lift).[2][3][4]
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edit- ^ The popular dictionary in two parts: English and Hindustani, and Hindustani and English, Thomas Craven, pp. 203, Methodist Publishing House, 1889, ... Uran khatola, n. the flying car of Indian fairy tales in which mortals are conveyed through the air ...
- ^ Export-Import and Logistics Management, Usha Kiran Rai, pp. 257, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2007, ISBN 9788120332041, ... The famous 'Uran Khatola Jagdamba' in Gujarat that carries pilgrims to the temple is an example of a ropeway transport, which carries more than 100 passengers at a time ...
- ^ Ritual Songs and Folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam, Usharbudh Arya, pg=PP4, Brill Archive, 1968, ... For example the uran-khatola, a flying bedstead, is re-interpreted as an aeroplane ...
- ^ Frontline, Volume 12, Issues 1-8, S. Rangarajan for Kasturi & Sons, 1995, ... Chief Election Commissioner T. N. Seshan might have clipped the wings of the indomitable Chief Minister but that has not stopped him from flying high on his favourite 'uran khatola' (this is what he calls the helicopter) ...