Devika Rani
Devika Rani was a pioneering figure in Indian cinema, often hailed as the "First Lady of Indian Cinema." Born on March 30, 1908, in Visakhapatnam, she was the grand-niece of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore.
People
Young Madras
Postmarked January 30, 1909, mailed to E.G. Joeloor [sp?] Esq., Chapel House, Chapel St. , Camborn, Cornwall, England with this message: "How would you like to go around the promenade like these two kids. Eh? Did you get the money alright? I hope so.
A Charcoal Seller, Dalhousie
A charcoal seller she may have been, but the nose ring, choker and hookah suggest she had other skills too. This is likely a woman as she seems to be dressed in a typical Pahari style of the era.
Indian Fakir [Indischer Fakir]
![Indian Fakir [Indischer Fakir]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/indischer-fakir.jpg?itok=M4M-SrmQ "Indian Fakir [Indischer Fakir]")
An Austrian cyanotype (blue-dyed) postcard, where imprinted on the back before the name is "Wohlgeboren Herrn/Frau" which literally means "well born" or "of good birth," which translates into English as "Honorable" or "Esquire." THe honorific was
Prisoners Spinning Yarn, Yarrowda Jail
Yerwada jail was originally built outside the city limits of Pune in 1871 by the British, but over time, as Pune expanded, Yerwada became integrated into the city, making the prison more centrally located within the urban area.
Famine relief Work. Digging the big well
While it is unclear where and when this postcard was taken, it could have been in 1899-1900 when there was a large famine in Hyderabad with relief works photographed by Raja Lala Deen Dayal.
Opium Shop
Although opium was a major crop in the rise of the East India Company, and India the major producer of opium sent to China, with production carefully taxed and recorded, barely a handful of postcards seem to acknowledge the crop and its manufacture.
A Lady in Dandy
While the word "dandy" suggests being fashionable, and may be a secondary meaning, the word is said to actually come from "dandi" or the Hindi/Urdu word for stick, which are used to distribute the woman's weight across them men's shoulders.
Another
Taziahs in the Mohurruan at Peshawar
Not too far back, the local Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities would participate in the Shia Taziah processions in Peshawar.
Hillman Carrying Wood
Many postcards speak to the physical labor that allowed residents of hillstations to warm their homes and cook their food, often leading men and women with permanently bent backs.
