Kalgi

The herons of Kashmir were the main source of supply of feathers which were in great demand for plumes (Kalgis) worn by the Sikh Ministers, Officers of high ranks and other men of importance.

But on turban they painted peacock feathers in place of kalgi and sometimes half bloomed lotus with all the decoration of jewellery and pearls.

[…] Singh during the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 show him dressed like royalty of the times: a round turban with a plume or kalgi, a cummerbund (kamar kassa), carrying a silver arrow, stirring the Amrit with a double-edged sword.

Ranjit Singh is seen in this image wearing a highly decorated turban with three kalgis or plumes and several different jewels and ornaments.

When the question of kalgi and its whereabouts arose, Archer candidly stated that he could not find any kalgi with Lady Broun Lindsay , a descendant of Lord Dalhousie from whom the weapons of Guru Gobind Singh were acquired and nor was it in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Shah Jahan's aesthetics transformed the heron's feather into the extravagantly jewelled kalgi.

An embassy to the governor of the French settlement at Isle de France (Mauritius) in 1798 took kalgis and sarpeches' (turban ornaments) , jewelled rings and earrings described as 'the invention of the khodadad sarkar' ( the 'God-Given Ruler, or Overseer' ).

'Please, with your own hands, Mai ji, give us the kalgi of the Sarkar, it shall adorn the Kanwar's head, it shall be a blessing for his life, a charm for his rule.' 'There is nothing in the kalgi,' said the angry Rani, 'it is all in the will of the Almighty.'