Snake Charmer, Jaipur
Not many snake charmers make it into a photographer's studio, but here the soft floral backdrop and line of the flute reinforces the sense of the cobras emerging gracefully from their basket.
People
Madras Central Station
[Original caption] Madras, Central Station. This is one of the largest and finest stations in all India.
Calcutta Coolies
[Original caption] Calcutta Coolies. The Coolies of Calcutta, otherwise porters or carriers, are men of fine physique, and are able to carry exceptionally heavy weights supported on their heads.
Parsee Priest
From Dhurandhar's earliest postcard series featuring the people of Bombay. Once again, a gesture defines character, with the white space next to the priest space for the sender to write a message.
High Class People [handwritten]
![High Class People [handwritten]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/high-class-people_0.jpg?itok=Qp0_hSBg "High Class People [handwritten]")
An unusual humorous hand-painted postcard, as if riding high on a camel makes someone "high class." Hand-painted postcards seem in style to echo much earlier 19th century Company painting styles.
The Bazaar, Mooltan City
A rare postcard from inside the city of Multan, one of the oldest cities in Punjab if not South Asia.
A Hill Coolie Girl
Although a coolie – "a hired labourer, or burden-carrier"(Hobson-Jobson, p. 249) – were at the bottom of the social ladder, and the word is said to originally come from Kolis, a hill-people in the Western Ghats, "whose savagery, filth and general
Playing the Game in India
A humourous card from Moorli Dhur & Sons referring to gambling, a habit which many British soldiers in particular – at least from the postcard evidence – seem to have indulged in. The servant on the left is saying "Mrs.
A Pathan
[Original caption] An inhabitant of North-West India unsurpassed as a hill fighter. Although Mahomedans, the Pathans rebelled against the Mogul Emperors round about the sixteenth century and were in consequence forced to keep to the hills. [end]
Rukmoni - The Famous Madras Beauty - Rangoon
To be a named "beauty" on a postcard was quite an honor at the turn of the century. Rukmoni is shown here in a studio with colorized backdrop.
