A Rajput of Rajgarh
A magnificent postcard by the Australian painter Mortimer Menpes (1860-1938), based on a visit to India he made for the 1903 Darbar. An ageing warrior is given life by dazzling colors.
Men
The "Dhoby"
Hobson Jobson (1903) the great dictionary of Indian words in English, defines "Dhoby, Dobie s. A washerman; H. dhobi [from dhona, Skt. [Sanskrit] dhav, 'to wash.'] In colloquial Anglo-Indian use all over India. A common H. [Hindustani] proverb runs:
Converted and unconverted Pariah
The word "Pariah" owes its origin to the Pariah caste of the Hindu society of India.
Too hot to write this week, the sun has dried up all the ink.
Moorli Dhur & Sons, at Ambala, a railway junction 130 miles away from Lahore, dominated the Punjab postcard market by 1910. Perhaps because of its distribution clout, it published a humorous series on different aspects of life for colonial foot
Master's Whisky
These kinds of offensive postcards seem to have been part of series by both Higginbotham's and their main competitor in South India, Spencer & Co.
Moplahs, Malabar
A rare postcard of Moplah men. Moplahs were the descendants of Arab traders on the Malabar coast and local women.
Dhobi (Washerman)
Another evocative card by M.V. Dhurandhar injects personality into the roving washerman. In the background is an edifice of the "new" Bombay while in the foreground we see the age-old profession of washermen cleaning the resident's laundry.
See the
D. Billimoria
Dinshaw Billimoria (1904-1942) was one of India's most famous silent film actors, and became best known for his success in R. S. Choudhury's Anarkali (1928). He made the transition to sound films successfully in the early 1930s, but died at the age
Shoe-lace Hawker
An early Dhurandhar postcard showing, as he was wont to do, the new types springing up in the city of Bombay as office workers and other people wearing Western shoes needed to replace their laces.
Master's Tooth-Brush
Part of an offensive series by both Higginbotham's showing domestic staff in various acts of revolt, dereliction or other transgressions that would have made colonists laugh and feel slightly uncomfortable.
