An uran khatola ( Hindustani: उड़न खटोला, اُڑن کهٹولا) is a flying vehicle in the traditional folktales of

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

.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 ...'' 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 Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...

, it can refer to any vehicle that flies (such as a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

or an

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurat ...

) or appears to glide through the air (such as a

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate sup ...

).Export-Import and Logistics Management
Usha Kiran Rai, pp. 257, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2007, , ''... 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) ...''

References

{{reflist, 2 Indian folklore Pakistani folklore

See also

References