Museum objects, artifacts, and archival items from the Sarmaya collection.
Shalihotra was a 3rd Century BC expert on animal rearing and healthcare. The veterinary treatise (Samhita) that he composed consists of 12,000 verses, and has been translated into Persian, Arabic, Tibetan, and English. This copy of Shalihotra Samhita dates from the late 18th century. It contains 160 illustrations of elephants and horses, illnesses and conditions… Read more »
This is a French map of South India and Ceylon from 1780. Its publisher, Louis Brion de la Tour, was the Cartographer Royal to the King of France, and had an illustrious career publishing several important atlases such as the Atlas Géneral. However very little is known about him. He had a son with the… Read more »
The Campaign in India 1857-58 rare book comes from Captain George Franklin Atkinson (1822–1859), the famous author of Curry and Rice, and is illustrated with forty plates. Atkinson was a Captain of the Bengal Engineers, part of the British Indian Army stationed in the Bengal Presidency. The book illustrates the British response to the Uprising… Read more »
A jatri poti/boti or jatra patta is a pilgrimage scroll that a devotee brings back with him as a souvenir. It also acts as a mobile shrine for anyone unable to visit the temple. This particular Patta depicts different icons and practices of Lord Jagannatha, considered an incarnation of Vishnu. Lord Jagannath’s siblings – Balabhadra… Read more »
‘Divine Light’ by Vishwanath Nageshkar depicts the resurrection of Christ after his crucifixion. In the composition, Nageshkar uses a mellow color palette, wherein the figure of Christ itself is painted green – biblically this was meant to be a scene of redemption. Yet due to the gruesome nature of Christ’s death, this scene has a… Read more »
This map titled, A Map Of The Country Extending Ten Miles To The West, And Eighteen To The East Of Tritchinapoly, was created by cartographer and engraver Thomas Kitchin. Trichinopoly was a central backdrop to the Carnatic wars in mid 18th century India. The Seven Years’ War interaction on the Indian subcontinent between 1757 to… Read more »
Following the Uprising of 1857, the British started to use photography to gather data on races, castes and communities to better understand the ethnic diversity of the subcontinent. This photograph is from ‘The Photographs of Western India’ (Vol.1), 1855-1852, one of the earliest photographic compendiums to be produced on ethnographic portraiture, taken by William Johnson… Read more »
This photograph of the Taj Mahal was taken by V Pont, who can be seen standing towards the left of the first rectangular fountain in the foreground. V & E Pont were two British servicemen who set up a photo studio in Calcutta during the 1860s, when it was the bustling capital of the British… Read more »
KH Ara acquired a somewhat avuncular air in the art scene of 1940s-50s Mumbai. That was rudely challenged when he got into nudes. And he got into nudes in a big way—the word ‘obsessive’ has been used to describe this sudden fascination. But Ara’s nudes came in for a lot of criticism. Compared to those… Read more »
Sawai Madho Singh II (1862-1922) was the adoptive son of Ram Singh II, Maharaja of Jaipur. On 30 September 1880, at the age of twenty, he ascended the throne. In this photograph, he stands with his two beloved sons, Ganga Ji and Gopal Ji, dressed in European attire. He was one of several important Indian… Read more »
Although black and white photography rose in popularity and acquired a mark in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Indian aristocrats sought to go a bit further to fully enjoy the medium. They ordered for their portraits to be coloured by hand, often using bold colours. Photo studios accordingly worked in collaboration with artists… Read more »
Kalal Laxma Goud is a master of many mediums. He works with drawings, etchings, silkscreen, watercolours and gouache, as well as clay, ceramic, terracotta and bronze sculptures. He took to printmaking shortly after he graduated from Baroda School, and says he draws immense pleasure from the medium, the tools and especially the drawing of the… Read more »
K Laxma Goud is a master of many mediums. He works with drawings, etchings, silkscreen, watercolours and gouache, as well as clay, ceramic, terracotta and bronze sculptures. He took to printmaking shortly after he graduated from Baroda School, and says he draws immense pleasure from the medium, the tools and especially the drawing of the… Read more »
This is a photograph of six boatmen from Kashmir taken by Francis Frith in 1875. Francis Frith, a grocery business owner, developed interest in photography in Liverpool around 1851. By 1856 he had his first photographic exhibition at the London Photographic Society. In 1859, he established his photography company Francis Frith & Co., which specialised… Read more »
This is a photograph taken by Francis Frith in 1875 of three members of the Dardic community. One of them holds something that resembles a smoking pipe. Francis Frith, a grocery business owner, developed interest in photography in Liverpool around 1851. By 1856 he had his first photographic exhibition at the London Photographic Society. In… Read more »
This is a photograph taken by Francis Frith in 1875 of four members of the Dogra community from Jammu & Kashmir. Francis Frith, then an owner of a grocery business, developed interest in photography in Liverpool around 1851. By 1856 he had his first photographic exhibition at the London Photographic Society. In 1859, he established… Read more »
This is a photograph taken by Francis Frith in 1875 of two Kashmiri Brahmins who are cloth sellers by profession. Francis Frith, then an owner of a grocery business, developed interest in photography in Liverpool around 1851. By 1856 he had his first photographic exhibition at the London Photographic Society. In 1859, he established his… Read more »
This untitled portrait of two ethnically dressed women engaging in conversation is very much in keeping with Kalal Laxma Goud’s typical subject matter and style of painting. Born in 1940 in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the artist began his career under the tutelage of KG Subramanyam in Baroda. Early on in his career, Goud was known… Read more »
This untitled portrait of a lady is very much in keeping with Kalal Laxma Goud’s typical subject matter and style of painting. Born in 1940 in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the artist began his career under the tutelage of KG Subramanyam in Baroda. Early on in his career, Goud was known for his erotic figures, which… Read more »
This is an ethnographic photograph from the People of India album. It shows the Toda tribe of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. They were traditionally pastoralists who used shoals (Nilgiri copses) as building materials, shade and centres for ritual activities. The original People of India albums were issued in 1868. They were initially conceived as… Read more »