Dâk-bungalow

A dak bungalow, dak-house or dâk-bungalow was a government building in British India under Company Rule and the Raj. It may also refer to some similarly-built or -used structures in modern India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

The dak bungalows carried on a tradition of caravanserais, dharamshalas, and other guesthouses erected by Indian rulers for both Hindu and Muslim pilgrims.

The India Office possesses a diary with the entry for 25 November 1676 noting "It was thought fitt... to sett up Bungales or ... for all such English in the Company's Service as belong to their Sloopes & Vessells". The dak bungalows proper were first erected in the 1840s, serving as staging posts for the dak, the imperial mail service.Rudyard Kipling's father J. Lockwood Kipling described them as "about as handsome as a stack of hay" and forming a kind of "'irreducible minimum' of accommodation". Each was about 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 km) from the next along the major roads of the subcontinent.

The buildings provided free accommodation for government officials and, upon their permission, "incomparably cheap" lodging for other travellers. The structures are therefore sometimes also known as posthouses, resthouses, or travellers' bungalows. Officials at the dak bungalows included the dakwala (postman), the durwan (caretaker), and sometimes a khansamah (attendant). Fees were set by the government; in the 1920s; 8 annas a day for single persons and 12 for married couples(Rs. ½ or ¾; 6 or 9 g of .917% silver). Guests were liable for reimbursing them for any damage and for the costs of supplies used, including grass for the horses, firewood, and food. Beds were uncommon, as the Raj officials were expected to travel with their own bedding and servants. The khansamah could provide dining for those without their own cook, the common fare being eggs and chicken dishes.

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