Grand Oriental Hotel Colombo
Tea was one of those commodities that benefitted from the marketing that came with postcards, going back to the late 1890s.
Halftone
Veddahs. Wild men of Ceylon
This postcard of the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka [Ceylon] was made from a photograph by Charles Scowen, one of the great photographers of the 19th century, as was likely taken in the 1870s.
Fruit Seller
Note the rich character on this man's face in an image by M.V. Dhurandhar, one of India's most exceptional and prolific early 20th century painters and postcard artists.
Sent to Master E.
Madras Seven Pagodas
While we now believe that the temples date to the Pallava King Narasimharavan around 630 CE, much about their origins remains obscure. This is an embossed postcard, with the relief lines meant to simulate an old oil painting.
[Original caption] Seven
Birth of Shakuntala
Vishvamitra was a revered sage in ancient India; this postcard from one of Ravi Varma's most famous paintings shows how he rejects knowledge of his child by turning away and hiding his gaze with a dramatic gesture.
[Original caption] Menaka sent by
Cenotaph of Maharana Jai Singhji
Burial monument of the 17th century Rajput rule, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh (1688-1743) who built the state of Rajputana into a formidable independent kingdom, founded the planned city of Jaipur and founded major astronomical observatories both there
Lahore. Shalimar Garden.
[Original caption] Shalimar Garden, Lahore. These gardens were laid out in 1637 by order of Shah Jehan. They are divided into three parts on different levels. The whole extent is about three parts on different levels.
Ma-Hla-Byn (Miss Pretty and Fair)
Burmese women were a common postcard subject for firms like Tucks and D.A. Ahuja, the caption dripping stereotype and prejudice.
[Original caption] Ma-Hla-Byn (Miss Pretty and Fair). Although the Burmese women may not coincide with the Western idea
A Group of Lambanis
[Original caption] These folk are gypsies inhabiting the great Deccan of India. Their dress is decorated with shells, their arms are generally adorned with a large number of bracelets made of the bones of deer. [end]
The Banjara people, also
The Jumma Masjid, Delhi
The main Friday mosque in Mughal and contemporary Delhi.
[Original caption] The Jumma Masjid."In 1857, after the Mutiny, it was solemnly proposed to raze to the ground the Jumma Masjid at Delhi, the noblest ceremonial mosque in the world, and it was
