CULGEE, s. A jewelled plume surmounting the sirpesh or aigrette upon the turban. Shakespear gives kalghī as a Turki word. [Platts gives kalghā, kalghī, and refers it to Skt. kalaśa, 'a spire.']
c. 1514.—"In this manner the people of Bârân catch great numbers of herons. The Kilki-saj ['Plumes worn on the cap or turban on great occasions.' Also see Punjab Trade Report, App., p. ccxv.] are of the heron's feathers."—Baber, 154.
1715.—"John Surman received a vest and Culgee set with precious stones."—Wheeler, ii. 246.
1759.—"To present to Omed Roy, viz.:—
| 1 Culgah | 1200 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 Surpage (sirpesh, or aigrette) | 600 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 Killot (see Killut) | 250 | 0 | 0 | " |
—Expenses of Nabob's Entertainment. In Long, 193.
1786.—"Three Kulgies, three Surpaishes (see [Sirpech]), and three Puduks (?) [padak, H. 'a badge, a flat piece of gold, a neck ornament'] of the value of 36,320 rupees have been despatched to you in a casket."—Tippoo's Letters, 263.
[1892.—Of a Banjara ox—"Over the beast's forehead is a shaped frontlet of cotton cloth bordered with patterns in colour with pieces of mirror sewn in, and crowned by a kalgi or aigrette of peacock feather tips."—L. Kipling, Beast and Man in India, 147.
[The word was also applied to a rich silk cloth imported from India.
[1714.—In a list of goods belonging to sub-governors of the South Sea C.—"A pair of culgee window curtains."—2 ser. Notes & Q. VI. 244.]