WATER COOLER -AIR CONDITIONING -BEFORE ELECTRICITY -The Aubdaur or Water Cooler.W.Daniell, steel engraving, hand coloured, circa 1842.

An indigenous cooling device adopted by the sahibs was the installation of tatties made of khus-khus grass over all openings — windows and doors — of a house. Tatties were kept continually wet by a bhishtee,



BY CONSTANTLY WETTING WITH POT FULL OF WATER A WALL TO WALL 'TATTIE' MADE OF 'VETTIVER' GRASS ;ROOM WAS COOLED TO TOLERABLE TEMPERATURE

 Tatties[MAT] made of khus khus Summer Curtain Made with Vetiver Roots

water carrier, engaged to throw water against these from outside.

bhishtee,or a water carrier,


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                    native ice produced in ice pits 


during winter nights and preserved for the summer, entailing colossal wastage. Small earthen pots filled with water were placed in an open field, and in the morning the coating of ice formed in the cold temperature of the night was collected and stored in ice-pits.



Icepits near Allahabad. Drawing by Fanny Parks c. 1830