Parsis in India originally came from Iran (Persia), and Parsi ladies were among the first Indian women to have had an active public life, no doubt helped by a high literacy rate in the community (there is a postcard or letter in the woman's hand).
The tea industry was so important to Ceylon, that postcards illustrated each step in the process of picking, drying and transporting tea to the harbor at Colombo from where it was shipped abroad.
The bhistee or water carrier was a critical support to urban life before running water became widespread and reliable, and is one of the most frequent postcard subjects.
This was one of Gobindram Oodeyram's most popular postcards (also called Mohamedan Dancing Girl in other versions). The hand-applied coloring is exceptional – not only the pink, the signature color of Jaipur and the firm's postcards, but also the use
Mayo College in Ajmer, Rajasthan, which bills itself as the best boys boarding school in India, was founded in 1875 by the the 6th Earl of Mayo who was also the Viceroy of India from 1869 until 1872, when he was assassinated by a convict on the
Some places during the Raj were photographer much less than others - one things of Assam (besides missionary cards), the whole of East Bengal (now Bangladesh), cities like Shikarpur and Abbottabad, of which this is a rare card.
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
This early and rare double-view "Greetings from" postcard was made for the Royal Sussex Regiment, then stationed in both Peshawar and (presumably during the winter) in Cherat hillstation. The frames around both images are embossed. K.C.
A woman balancing water pots on her head is a common site across the Indian subcontinent.
Moplahs are the Muslim descendants of Arab traders who married local women and settled along the Malabar coast over the centuries.
