The Dhangar
The word "Dhangar" owes its origin to the Sanskrit word "Dhenu" (cow), and apparently refers to a caste of people associated with herding primarily in Maharashtra, but also throughout India.
Postcard
Greetings from Darjeeling Himalaya
An early "Greetings from" postcard of Darjeeling by its premiere early photographer Thomas Paar. Clare Harris in her excellent book Photography and Tibet (Reaktion, 2016) "deconstructs" the figure on the left, whom she correctly calls a 'poster boy'
A Brahmin Astrologer
Taraporevala & Sons was the premiere Bombay bookstore and publisher, stock full of 19th century illustrated magazines and images eagerly bought and saved in trunks by artists like Ravi Varma as inspiration.
Wellawatta Canal
[Original caption] Wellawatta Canal. The length of the island of Colombo is 270 miles, its width 140 miles, an area about four-fifths the size of Ireland.
The Tatschali Line in Bombay
Handwritten on the back is this message: "Bombay, March 3, 1903: “Dear little General. This is a picture of the native portion of this city – we do not dare go in it because there are so many cases of plague.
A Bhil Couple
Bhils are a name for ancient tribes across a wide swathe of India, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan as well as in parts of far-eastern India. Although Hobson-Jobson claimed that "no distinct Bhil language survives" (p.
State Elephant
In India, elephants are revered as symbols of wisdom and good luck. Once it was common to find elephants on the roads of Mumbai.
Buddha's Image
A superbly coloured postcard by D.A. Ahuja. It has probably been coloured with stencils given the inaccuracy around some of the edges, but the colours also seem well woven into the card so could have been part of the German printer's process.
A Street Scene, Delhi
Mortimer Menpes versatility as an artist in command of color and line is manifest in a 12 card series he did for Tuck's. Menpes was one of the few signed India postcard artists to supply more than one publisher.
[Original caption] A Street Scene,
Canal Scene in Tamaku Taluq
Just a beautiful postcard, where photography, color, and embossed frame gang up to offer visual delight.
Tamuku Taluk is in West Godavari District, Andhra Prades, near the northern part of the Bay of Bengal.
