Rangoon Jail
D.A. Ahuja was a Punjabi photographer based in Rangoon [now Yangon] whose studio was said to have been open through the 1960s. He published a number of Rangoon jail postcards, not a typical subject for the medium.
D. A. Ahuja
D. A. Ahuja, a Punjabi photographer settled in Rangoon (Yangon) was the major postcard publisher in Burma (Myanmar). The firm published a distinctive series of colour postcards, both from its own work and likely from other photographers, including Beato and P. Klier, possibly without permission of those photographers (he was sued by the latter at least once for using images without permission). Nevertheless, Ahuja's postcards provide exceptionally broad and interesting views of this former colony, and covers select locations in British India. The firm is said to have lasted well into the 1960s.
Rangoon Jail - Prisoners waiting for breakfast
Ahuja's colorful halftones with inscribed titles are distinctive. His postcards covered not only Burma, but many of the Indian singers and others settled in this British colony loosely attached to the Raj, as well as Indian cities like Amritsar.
Burmese Racing Canoes
An unusual scene in this postcard by what was British Burma's premiere postcard publisher. The 1900 guide Burma by Max and Bertha Ferrars describes the use of these canoes: "The boat-races are held at the Thadindyut festival.
Shipping Elephants
On the back of this self-explanatory card is a an ink blind-stamp "Greetings from My 1910 Cruise Around the World" and "Rangoon Burma Maters [sp?]." The card is postmarked Darjeeling, April 10, 1910 and addressed to "Oscar Schulze, Allegheny,
A Burmese Beauty
A skirt or longyis is topped by a loosely fitted long sleeve shirt and the lady wears two necklaces, one a choker and another a longer one.
Gohar Jaan
The former Angelina Yeoward (1873-1930) became one of the most famous singers in India, and one of its first gramophone-recorded artists.
Calcutta - Grand Hotel - Chowringhee
"Vast indeed have been the changes that have occurred in Calcutta during the past few decades," writes Allister Macmillan in Seaports of India and Ceylon, "but none has been more remarkable than that represented by the Grand Hotel, which occupies an
The Sampan Pagoda - Shwegyeen
The significance of Buddhism in Burma [Myanmar] reflected in a landscape dotted with pagodas. Shwegyin is close to the Indian border on the western side of Myanmar.
Burmese Snake Charmers
While postcards of snake charmers were common in India, one of the more striking such views might be this one from Ahuja's studio in Rangoon, Burma. While one man touches a snake, the other uses not a flute but cymbals to manage the snakes.
Rukmoni - The Famous Madras Beauty - Rangoon
To be a named "beauty" on a postcard was quite an honor at the turn of the century. Rukmoni is shown here in a studio with colorized backdrop.
