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{{Other uses|Ekka (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Ekka_Bihar.jpg|thumb|An ekka from Bihar (c. 1885)]]
An '''ekka''' (sometimes spelt '''hecca''',<ref name=carriages>{{cite book|author=Stratton, Ezra M. |title=The World on Wheels; or Carriages with their historical associations from the earliest to the present time. |year=1878|publisher=Self-published|place=New York|page=203 |url=https://archive.org/stream/worldonwheelsorc00stra#page/202/mode/2up/}}</ref> '''ecka'''<ref name=hobson /> or '''ekkha'''<ref>Devereaux, Captain ''Venus in India''. London: Sphere, 1969; pp. 125-36</ref>) is a one-horse [[carriage]] used in northern [[India]]. ''Ekkas'' (the word is derived from [[Hindi]] ''ek'' for "one"<ref name=hobson>{{cite book|title=Hobson-Jobson|author1=Yule, H. |author2=A. C. Burnell|editor=Crooke, William|publisher=John Murray|place=London|edition=2nd|page=336|url=https://archive.org/stream/hobsonjobson029985mbp#page/n388/mode/1up}}</ref>) were something like '[[trap (carriage)|traps]]' (of 'a [[pony]] and trap'), and were commonly used as [[Cabriolet (carriage)|cabs]], or private hire vehicles in 19th-century India. They find frequent mention in colonial literature of the period (for example, [[Kipling]]'s "[[The Three Musketeers (short story)|The Three Musketeers]]"). It is also said that some kind of ekkas were used by people of [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] (without the spoked wheel).
[[File:Ekka_Kipling.jpg|thumb|right]]

Ekkas were typically drawn by a single horse, pony, mule (or sometimes bullock) and had a pair of large wooden wheels (and traditionally, a wooden axle<ref name=carriages />) and the carriage had a flat floor with a canopy providing shade to the passengers and the driver.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/inlandtransporta035427mbp#page/n33/mode/2up|pages=22–23|title=Inland transport and communication in medieval India|publisher=Calcutta University Press|year=1925|author=Sarkar, Benoy Kumar}}</ref> Traditionally, they lacked springs and seats, with the passengers having to sit on their haunches and withstand the jolts transmitted by the wheels. [[John Lockwood Kipling]], artist and father of [[Rudyard Kipling]], described the ekka as a "tea-tray on wheels" with the passengers sitting like "compressed capital N's". Bells were attached to the cart so as to warn people to stay out of the way of the cart.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kipling, John Lockwood|year=1904|publisher=Macmillan and Co.|place=London|title=Beast and Man in India|pages=190–193|url=https://archive.org/stream/beastmaninindiap00kipliala#page/190/mode/2up}}</ref> The space below the carriage and between the wheels was available for baggage.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/peoplesofindia18gilb#page/20/mode/2up/|page=21|title=Peoples of India|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|place=Washington|year=1944|author=Gilbert, William H., Jr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=National Geographic Magazine|year=1907|volume=18|issue=11|url=https://archive.org/stream/nationalgeograph181907nati#page/694/mode/2up/|title=Queer methods of travel in curious corners of the world|author=Austin, O. P.|pages=687–714}}</ref> Wider versions with two bullocks have also been referred to as ekkas although larger two horse carriages with better seating are known as [[tanga (carriage)|tongas]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Forbes-Lindsay, C. H.|year=1903|publisher=Henry L. Coates & Co.|place=Philadelphia|title=India. Past and Present. Volume 2|page=98|url=https://archive.org/stream/gri_000233125012642746#page/n145/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Randhawa, M. S.|title=A History of Agriculture in India. Volume 3: 1757-1947|publisher=Indian Council of Agricultural Research|place=New Delhi|url=https://archive.org/stream/HistoryAgricultureIndia3/AgriHistory3#page/n225/mode/2up|pages=203, 205}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Carriages]]
[[Category:Animal-powered vehicles]]

{{vehicle-stub}}

Ekka (carriage) - Revision history

>Graeme Bartlett: bolding