Sita's Marriage
[Original recto] Sira's Marriage :–Marriage of Sita with Rama. [end]
"Sita's Marriage" is a treasured story from the great Indian epic, the Ramayana.
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Shoe Maker
This is a hand-painted postcard from around 1905, rather rare in India compared to, say, China where at the time numerous hand-painted postcards were being sent abroad.
The Grand Orient Hotel, Colombo
The Grand Orient Hotel is located on the waterfront in the Fort area of Colombo. The GOH (note initials at top of the building) as it is commonly known, was built in 1837 for British soldiers. In 1875 it was converted into a hotel.
Lahore. The Golden Mosque.
This is an intriguing postcard because the mosque's domes are actually golden, from which it derives its name. Here they are rendered as blue.
Raja Sandow
P.K. Raja Sandow (1894/5-1943) was one of the most famous silent film actors of India, and later a producer and director as well. Born in Tamil Nadu, he was given the name "Sandow" after a well-known German body-builder of the time.
Madras, Temple at Tirvalur
[Original caption] Madras, Temple at Trivalur.
Chetty Rice Merchant and Money Lender. Ceylon
[Original caption] The Chettya are one of the trading castes of India whose mercantile activities take them far afield.
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.
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.
In the Mosque of Machii-Kaman
Possibly the earliest postcard of Hyderabad, by the Austrian artist Josef Hoffman who painted this scene during a visit to India in 1893-94 when he was in his sixties.
