Indian Dancing Girl
One of the more elaborately framed and coloured portraits of a nautch girl.
Halftone
Historic India. Ravages of White Ants. Beams Eaten Out.
An unusual "natural history" postcard from Tucks.
[Original caption] Ravages of White Ants: beams eaten out. The insect tribes of India may be said to be innumerable.
Bearer
Although Hobson Jobson (1903, p. 77) defines Bearer as, besides a palanquin carrier, also as "b. (In the Bengal Presidency) a domestic servant who has charge of his master's clothes, household furniture, and (often) of his ready money.
Best Christmas Wishes 1908
A 101 years later, a look at a Christmas card from a major Calcutta retailer.
Parsee Ladies at Seaside
Dhurandhar and other J.J. School students spent so much time sketching at the beach on Marine Drive, they could hardly have failed to pick-up a sight like this. The daughter in Parsee Ladies at Seaside is even more Westernized than her mother.
The Durbar Hall. Mysore State Palace.
[Original caption] The Durbar Hall. Mysore State palace. The palace is built in Hindu style, the front supported by four fantastically carved wooden pillars.
The Gorgeous East - A Viceregal Party
An early Tuck's painted postcard made to celebrate the 1903 Delhi Darbar. Viceroy Lord Curzon and his wife Mary are atop the elephant, their arrival opened the Darbar.
Bengalee Babu
Another classic, empathetic Dhurandhar portrait that seems to capture well Hobson Jobson's (1903, p. 44) definition: "BABOO , s. Beng. and H. Bābū [Skt. vapra, 'a father']. Properly a term of respect attached to a name, like Master or Mr., and
His Majesty's Indian Army
Grand Review of Troops held before the Amir of Afghanistan Habibullah Khan at Agra in January 1907 when he was invested by Lord Minto with the Order of the Bath. A. Vivian Mansell & Co. were one of Britain's most high-end postcard publishers.
The Burning Ghat, Benares
[Original caption] General View of Ghats, Benares. The landing places leading to the many temples which look down upon the River Ganges, whose waters are held so holy that they can wash away all sin. [end]
