Collotype

The publisher seems to speak to the Indian customers with this translation perpendicular to the image, and perhaps educate European ones:

[Recto]"Translation in English from the Arabic written on her tomb"
"He is alone everliving and everlasting".

Kolams or muggulu are thought to bring prosperity to homes. These intricate rice flour decorations are made by women in front of doorsteps primarily in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Feeding a Thousand Souls Women, Ritual, and Ecology in

Peshawar's city gate facing Kabul decorated for what was likely the then Prince and Princess of Wales visit (later King George V and Queen Mary) to the city on December 2, 1905.

Nicholas Studios in Madras and Ootacamund was one of the premiere South Indian photography firms starting in the 1850s. Their long history and that of A.T.W. Penn is nicely covered in the book by Christopher Penn, The Nicholas Brothers and A.T.W.