Cotton Cart
"Thousands of these carts, all over Bombay. 14/4/06"
Color
Bhopal Palace, Main Entrance
[Original caption] Bhopal Palace–Main Entrance. The rulers of Bhopal have also been very friendly towards the British and the alliance dates back beyond a century. The State maintains a a force of regulators and cavalry, highly efficient.
Tom, Tom Beaters
A beautiful studio portrait featuring the "thammattama," drums used in Buddhist rituals in Sri Lanka. They may be derived from a frame drum used in Tamil Nadu, and their sound is said to have irritated British colonists.
Hamburg. India Docks
One of those postcards that reminds us how extensive trade was at the turn of the century between India and continental Europe, in as much as the Germans published a postcard showing just the area in Hamburg harbour where ships for India were docked.
A Native Boat, Bombay
A nicely composed postcard showing the progression in the size of ocean-going vessels, from the small boat in the foreground, to the larger ship on right, and even larger ship in the distance on the left.
Orthodox Hindu Widow
An exquisite Dhurandhar portrait, this of a widow framed in front of a tree and a temple in the background. Orthodox widows were normally not permitted to remarry and had to obey strict dress codes like not wearing a blouse under her sari.
Hyderabad. Arms Sellers
[Original caption] Arms Sellers, Hyderabad. Hyderabad, the capital of the state of the same name, is celebrated for its swords and other arms.
Lascar
Lascars were sailors, mostly from the subcontinent, serving on European ships that sailed the world and who spoke their own multinational tongue, "Lascari." Throughout the 16th through 19th centuries many landed in Britain and America, with a few
Ajmir. General View No. 1.
Ajmer, in the middle of Rajasthan, is a known for its tomb of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, a Sufi Saint
Raja Ajay Pal Chauhan founded the city of Ajmer in the 11th century, although even older structures have been found in the area.
Benares. Ganga Mehal Ghat.
Ganga Mahal Ghat is one of the holiest ghats at Varanasi and was built in the 1830s. Note how the hand-tinting has highlighted, not too carefully, the sun umbrellas in the foreground.
