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[[File:1792 painting of a Hindu temple and choultry (a travellers' rest house), Binjaveram Tinnevelly district, Tamil Nadu India.jpg|thumb|A 1792 painting of a Hindu temple and choultry (a travelers' rest house).]]
'''Choultry''' is a resting place, an inn or caravansary for travelers, pilgrims or visitors to a site, typically linked to Buddhist, Jain and [[Hindu temple]]s. They are also referred to as {{transl|hi|italic=no|'''chottry''', '''choultree''', '''chathra''', '''choltry''', '''chowry''', '''chawari''', '''chawadi''', '''choutry''', '''chowree''' or '''tschultri'''}}.<ref name=stanfchoul>[https://books.google.com/books?id=F4sSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA244 ''The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases Edited for the Syndics of the University Press''] by Charles Augustus Maude Fennell, [[John Frederick Stanford]], pages 244, 235, 242, 781</ref><ref name="Goetz1959p183">{{cite book|author=Hermann Goetz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LH1pAFJEo0AC|title=India: Five Thousand Years of Indian Art|publisher=Crown|year=1959|page=183}}, Quote: "Here pilgrims could rest, or look at the processions, or buy house-idols, lamps, rosaries or various souvenirs. These mandapas (or chavadi, choultry) are of two types: (...)"</ref> This term is more common in South India, Central India and West India, while in North India similar facilities are called Dharmshalas. They are known as a chatra, satram, chatram or [[Dharamshala (type of building)|dharmasala]] in eastern regions of India.<ref>{{cite book|author=James Lochtefeld|title=God's Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYB2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT103|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045264-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Surinder M. Bhardwaj|title=Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XJFokSJzEC&pg=PA219|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04951-2|pages=219 footnote 4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=S. M. Dubey|title=North East India: A Sociological Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HkR4Fv37URkC&pg=PA193|year=1978|publisher=Concept |page=193}};<br></ref> The choultry concept and infrastructure in South Asia dates back to at least the 1st millennium, according to epigraphical evidence such as stone and copper plate inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Sewell|title=Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras|year=1882|url=https://archive.org/details/listsantiquaria00sewegoog|publisher=Government Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/listsantiquaria00sewegoog/page/n304 289]–290, 104, 115, 122, 123–125}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ramendra Nath Nandi|title=Religious Institutions and Cults in the Deccan, c. AD 600-1000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HRgstuWe6EC&pg=PA8|year=1973|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-0-8426-0564-9|pages=7–9, 79–83}}</ref>

A choultry provides seating space, rooms, water and sometimes food financed by a charitable institution. Its services are either at no cost, or nominal rates, or it is up to the visitor to leave whatever they wish as a donation. They were also used by officials traveling on public business.<ref name=stanfchoul/> Many major temples have [[mandapam]] and pillared halls, some called Thousand pillared halls with an attached kitchen for servicing pilgrims and travelers to the temple. The term choultry may overlap with a ''mandapa''.<ref name="Goetz1959p183"/><ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choultry Choultry], Merriam-Webster</ref><ref name="MurphyArcher1992p40">{{cite book|author1=Veronica Murphy|author2=Mildred Archer|author3=Graham Parlett|title=Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYlHAQAAIAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|pages=40–41}}</ref> Many Hindu monasteries ([[matha]]) also built and operated such choultries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Office of the Registrar General of India|title=Census of India, 1961|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dAcAQAAMAAJ|year=1965|publisher=Manager of Publications|pages=2, 111–112}}</ref>

==Etymology==
In [[Telugu language|Telugu]] and [[Tamil language|Tamil]] ''chaawadi'', [tsavadi, chau, Skt. chatur, 'four,' vata, 'road, a place where four roads meet]. Alternatively, it is derived from ''chatra'' (छत्र) which means "umbrella, cover", or 'shraaya'' (श्राय) which means shelter.<ref name="Bajpai1972">{{cite book|author=K. D. Bajpai|title=Studies in History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PB46uzjd5qgC|year=1972|publisher=Munshilal|page=192}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Deve Gowda Javare Gowda|title=Village Names of Mysore District: An Analytical Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sU5A5SG9GWcC&pg=PA56|year=1998|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-1390-4|page=56}}</ref> ''The wordsatram'' (సత్రం,'' സത്രം'')'' is used for such buildings in the Telugu states and in Kerala''.'' In [[West India]] the form used is chowry or chowree (Dakhan. chaori). A pillared hall, a shed, or a simple loggia, used by travellers as a resting-place.

==Other usages==
In South India, especially in [[Karnataka]] a choultry can also denote a Hindu wedding hall.{{cn|date=November 2017}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:1798 aquatint painting of Tirumala Nayak Choultry, Meenakshi Hindu temple, Madurai Tamil Nadu.jpg|A Madurai Hindu temple choultry
File:1806 painting of Srirangam from across the river, a Hindu temple pilgrim rest house choultry on right, Tamil Nadu India.jpg|A Srirangam temple choultry
File:Raja Tirumala Nayak Choultry at Madurai Hindu temple, a pilgrim traveler rest house.jpg|A choultry built during the Nayaka dynasty rule in Tamil Nadu
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[Caravanserai]]
* [[Colonnade]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hotel types]]
[[Category:Living arrangements]]
[[Category:Architecture of India]]
[[Category:Hindu temple architecture]]

Choultry - Revision history

UpdateBot at 10:32, 13 February 2022