General View of Peshawar City
An uncommon shot of Peshawar, showing the density of habitation. In the far left is the Mahabat Khan mosque, built in the 1860s.
Mela Ram & Sons
Phatani Begging Woman
Women are often shown as dancers, rarely this elderly as beggars on postcards. This photograph was likely taken in a studio, with the woman sitting on a stone which might be covered with animal skins.
H.R.H. Prince of Wales coming out from Khyber Pass
A rare visit by the Prince of Wales to the edges of Empire; note the car in the foreground and mid-ground. Edward VIII later gained notoriety for abdicating in 1936 after choosing to marry a divorced America woman, Wallis Simpson.
A Mohmand Grass Cutter
Mela Ram was a photographer who might have warmly welcomed the advent of the real-photograph as a way for his art to take precedence over the vagaries of publishing in collotype or halftone using hand-tinted color to enhance images (there are few
Phatani [Pathan] Dancing Girls
![Phatani [Pathan] Dancing Girls](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/pathan-dancers_0.jpg?itok=brZPDF7- "Phatani [Pathan] Dancing Girls")
An annual tradition in Peshawar in the early part of the 20th century and probably well beforehand, Peshwar's nautch women would dance through the streets watched and cheered by thousands of onlookers.
Tirah Field Force
The original image this postcard is based on was very popular and shows General Lockhardt on June 4, 1897 in the Arhanga Pass above Swat Valley in the then North West Frontier Province (NWFP, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). It commemorated a British victory
A Mhamadan [Mohammadan] Mullah, N.W.F.P.
![A Mhamadan [Mohammadan] Mullah, N.W.F.P.](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/mullah-2-3.jpg?itok=h_I8TBnC "A Mhamadan [Mohammadan] Mullah, N.W.F.P.")
The word Mullah owes its origin to the Arabic "mawla", or "guardian." A mullah is the Muslim equivalent of a priest or religious authority and guide.
Mahajrins going to Kabul
Muslims assembling for flight to Kabul during the Khilafat Movement.
This rare image, probably taken in the summer of 1920, was taken during the height of the Khilafat Movement against British rule.
