In the next quotation the terms apply to the temporary or permanent character of the appointments held.
1866.—"Susan. Well, Miss, I don't wonder you're so fond of him. He is such a sweet young man, though he is cutcha. Thank goodness, my young man is pucka, though he is only a subordinate Government Salt Chowkee."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, 222.
The remaining quotations are examples of miscellaneous use:
1853.—"'Well, Jenkyns, any news?' 'Nothing pucka that I know of.'"—Oakfield, ii. 57.
1866.—"I cannot endure a swell, even though his whiskers are pucka."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. 220.
The word has spread to China:
"Dis pukka sing-song makee show
How smart man make mistake, galow."
Leland, Pidgin English Sing-Song, 54.
PUCKAULY, s.; also PUCKAUL. Hind. pakhālī, 'a water-carrier.' In N. India the pakhāl [Skt. payas, 'water,' khalla, 'skin'] is a large water-skin (an entire ox-hide) of some 20 gallons content, of which a pair are carried by a bullock, and the pakhālī is the man who fills the skins, and supplies the water thus. In the Madras Drill Regulations for 1785 (33), ten puckalies are allowed to a battalion. (See also Williamson's V. M. (1810), i. 229.)