Museum objects, artifacts, and archival items from the Sarmaya collection.
This is a portrait of an unidentified prince of Rewa, an important princely state in Central India, second only to Gwalior. Rulers in the Indian Subcontinent were typically chosen from the ranks of warrior nobility and given legitimacy by a council of ministers and nobility. Kingship was often hereditary and princes—and, less frequently, princesses born… Read more »
Wadiyars served as vassals of the Vijayanagara rulers but as that empire weakened in the 16th century, the they asserted their dominance as independent kings. After the final Anglo-Mysore war ( 1798–99) ended the era of Tipu Sultan, Mysore was returned to the Wadiyars to rule as a subsidiary to the East India Company. Chamarajendra… Read more »
This is a studio photograph of an unidentified woman by an unidentified photographer. Early Indian photography was defined by the gaze of the coloniser. So, these images are accompanied by information meant to serve the British administration in tidily cataloguing by community, profession or faith the diverse populations of the Subcontinent. Towards the end of… Read more »
Derived from the Sanskrit’ sthagati’ for ‘he covers/deceives’, the word as it is used in the caption of this photo—’A Group of Thugs’—referred to men who were hereditary murderers and thieves. Some historians argue they killed to appease their deity, Goddess Kali, and the stealing was just incidental; others make the case that they were… Read more »
This photograph is of Jayajirao Scindia (1834-1886), the Maharaja of Gwalior, with his counsels. The Maratha Confederacy was an invincible force in 18th-century India. Ranoji Shinde, a Peshwas lieutenant who was pivotal in the Peshwas’ fight against the Mughals in Malwa, was one of the army’s rising stars. In 1731, Ranoji established his rule in… Read more »
This is a Carte de Visite portrait of the Begum of Bhopal, Shah Jahan Begum (1838-1901). The state of Bhopal was unique in Indian history for being ruled exclusively by women for over a hundred years. Their line began with the 19-year-old widow of the second Nawab of Bhopal, Qudsia Begum. A remarkable matriarch, Qudsia fought… Read more »
This photograph of the Palanquin Bearers was taken by William Johnson in Bombay. The root-word for the English ‘palanquin’ is the same as the one for the Hindi ‘palang’: ‘palyanka’, Sanskrit for bed. Baked into the word itself is a promise of comfort. Palanquins were the transport of choice for wealthy travellers in 18th- and… Read more »
Oude is the anglicisation of Awadh—itself a derivation of Ayodhya, capital of the ancient kingdom of Kosala. Awadh was one of the 12 original provinces or subahs defined by Mughal emperor Akbar. It was governed by a subedar, under whom sprawled a network of taluqdars, members of a land-owning aristocracy responsible for collecting revenues from… Read more »
This is a Carte de Visite portrait of the sixth Nizam, Asaf Jah VI Mir Mahboob Ali Khan Siddiqi, who reigned from 1869 to 1911. During this time, he developed the railways and established cotton and silk mills in the State. In popular culture, Mahboob Ali Khan is probably best remembered for his legendary collection of gemstones,… Read more »
This is a studio portrait of Thakur Sahib Maharaja Lakhdirji Waghji and the young Mahendrasingh of Morvi. They represent two generations of the Jadeja Rajputs who ruled the state of Morvi on the Kathiawar peninsula. In 1807, the East India Company declared the state of Morvi a British protectorate, a system by which local rulers… Read more »
This is a studio portrait of an unidentified woman by Lafayette studios. In the late 19th century, a Dubliner called James Stack Lauder changed his surname and the name of the family photo studio to Lafayette. The rebranding was auspicious, and Lafayette Studio became the portrait studio of choice for the Irish aristocracy. In the… Read more »
This is a portrait of Jagatjit Singh, Maharaja of Kapurthala from the album Delhi Coronation Durbar, 1st January 1903 by Wiele and Klein. Jagatjit Singh (1872-1949) carried his royal Sikh heritage with pride. He was the descendant of Sardar Jassa Singh, founder of the Ahluwalia dynasty, who led the various misls or ancestral warrior clans… Read more »
This is a Carte de Visite portrait of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Ranbir Singh (1830-1885). After the decline of the Mughals, power over Jammu was seized briefly by the Afghan Durrani dynasty who were defeated in the early 19th-century by the armies of the Lion of Punjab aka Ranjit Singh, the first Maharaja… Read more »
This photograph is of the Maharaja of Indore, Shivaji Rao Holkar (1859-1908). Maharaja Shivaji Rao Holkar was the 13th monarch who took the throne in 1886. On his chest is the medal for the Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, an honour awarded to Indian princes and chiefs and British… Read more »
This is a studio portrait of Umaid Singh II, Maharaja of Kotah (1873-1940), Jai Singh, Thakur of Bambuliya and other unidentified noblemen by PA Herzog & P Higgins. While early photo studios were concentrated in the British administrative heartlands of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, by the 1880s, the trend spread to other cities and princely… Read more »
This is a portrait of Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III (1863-1939) of Baroda from the album Delhi Coronation Durbar, 1st January 1903 by Wiele and Klein. In 1721, Pilaji Rao Gaekwad defended and reclaimed the city of Baroda from the Mughals as a lieutenant for the Dabhade family, the Marathas in Gujarat. He was granted the… Read more »
This is a studio portrait of unidentified Natuch girls by Edward Taurines. Edward Taurines was one of the early European photographers to ply his trade in Bombay, and he ran a commercial studio in the city for nearly two decades. Of the presidencies, Bombay was the most active centre for the medium; the Bombay Photographic… Read more »
This is a cabinet card print of Rai Bahadur Shankar Rao, Hyderabad by Lala Deen Dayal & Sons. After graduating from the prestigious Thomason College of Civil Engineering, today’s IIT Roorkee, Deen Dayal (1844-1905) landed a government job as a draughtsman in the Public Works Department in Indore. In a field dominated by Europeans, Deen… Read more »
This is a portrait of Maharaja of Cooch Behar (present-day West Bengal), Nripendra Narayan (1862-1911). Bounded in the north by Bhutan, Cooch Behar was once a part of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kamarupa. Two centuries later, the East India Company would recognise the location as strategic to their imperial ambitions in Bengal and ally… Read more »
Water-carriers in the Subcontinent were named Bhishti, after the Persian ‘bihisht’ meaning paradise. For centuries before the invention of the bottle and refrigeration, these men were the sole providers of succour to anyone who ran out of water on the road. The Bhisti’s trademark bag or mashaq was made from animal hide and it could… Read more »