Group of famine stricken victims
There were numerous famines during the Raj, some like this one around the turn of the century, often simultaneous with plagues that came to Bombay by ship.
There were numerous famines during the Raj, some like this one around the turn of the century, often simultaneous with plagues that came to Bombay by ship.
An Indian Bungalow or single story house.
The word bungalow derives from the Gujarati word baṅglo and means "Bengali", used to communicate "house in the Bengal style". Such houses were traditionally small, thatched and had a wide veranda.
The Kolam tradition of creating complex geometric patterns, often passed down from mother to daughter, out of rice flour or chalk in front of the home is an ancient tradition in South India and elsewhere.
Buddhism had largely departed India by this time, having flourished between the 3rd century BCE and 13th century CE, but its temples still stood and were frequently subjects of postcards.
The Delhi Durbar of 1911 was one of the most "postcarded" events of the Raj, and the first time a reigning British monarch, George V and his wife Queen Mary (an avid postcard collector) attended.
The bicycle was something quite new in Bombay at the turn of the century, and often featured on postcards, frequently with women as drivers.
Ahuja's colorful halftones with inscribed titles are distinctive. His postcards covered not only Burma, but many of the Indian singers and others settled in this British colony loosely attached to the Raj, as well as Indian cities like Amritsar.
It is unclear whether "Haji Yusuf Haji Mohammed. Pictures, Post-cards & Cutlery Merchant.
A beautiful embossed card showing exchange rates between Indian and European currencies, in those days usually stable for long periods of time.
The H.S.M. in the top left corner stands for Hugo Semmler, Magdeburg, per Helmfried Luers in his The
[Original German] Der Grosse Verbrennungs Platz in Benares [end]
One of the earliest artist-signed postcards of India.