Mumbai Bombay

Bombay Police

Bombay Police

A rare lithograph from 1907 or beyond. Note the British policeman in side profile, the local constable saluting him. They are nearly the same height. The background reveals itself to be a cutout of the city, the policeman's terrain.

Sardar Bhagat Singh

Sardar Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh, who was hung in a Lahore jail on March 23, 1931 is the subject of continuing dispute in Lahore. Motions have been filed to name what is now a traffic chowk after Bhagat Singh. From The Times of India story: "Bhagat Singh Memorial

A Mountebank

A Mountebank

A curious case of an Italian word finding itself stamped upon a postcard of a characteristic type in India (the fakir, in this case a mendacious one). Mountebank is an old word for a charlatan, or salesman of quack medicines.

Hindoo Ayahs

Hindoo Ayahs

An early court-sized card made from an albumen photograph with the studio inscribed in the glass negative at the bottom.

Hobson-Jobson defines "AYAH, s. A native lady's-maid or nurse-maid.

Tatawadha

Tatawadha

[Original caption] Jatayu-Vadha: - Ravana, while carrying away Sita, is being attacked by the bird Jatayu, with whom he fights. [end]

Jatayu, the holy bird, lived in Panchavati close to the hut of Rama.

Maner Bihar

Maner Bihar

This unusual, sepia-ish lithographic postcard is probably by Paul Gerhardt at the Ravi Varma Press even though it is not signed by him with the Press imprint.

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