Museum objects, artifacts, and archival items from the Sarmaya collection.
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 »
This is a photograph taken by Bourne and Shepherd in 1903 of the Maharaja of Alwar, Jai Singh Prabhakar (1882-1937), with members of the Council and Colonel Fagan. The state of Alwar (present-day Rajasthan) was one of the princely states of the Rajputana region of British India. Founded by Rajput chief Pratap Singh in 1775,… Read more »
This engraving depicts the battle scene between the British troops led by Major Vincent Eyre and the Oudh (Oude) rebel forces in Allahabad (now, Prayagraj). The revolt of 1857 was a crucial point in India’s colonial history, marking the first widespread form of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company. It spread… Read more »
This engraving depicts the charge of the Highlanders’ 78th unit before the city of Cawnpore (now Kanpur) during the revolt of 1857. Cawnpore (now Kanpur) in Uttar Pradesh was an important fortified town for the East India Company’s forces. Kanpur was the site of a massacre on June 27, 1857, when the city’s besieged population,… Read more »
This engraving depicts British officers, a woman and a child facing the rebel soldiers while escaping during the revolt of 1857-58. The revolt of 1857 was a crucial moment in India’s colonial past and the first widespread and semi-structured form of rebellion against the rule of the British East India company. It was widespread across… Read more »
This engraving portrays a morbid scene depicting the shooting of Colonel John Platt of the 23 Regiment Bengal Native Infantry and Station Commander Mhow by the mutineers in 1857. Mhow in Madhya Pradesh was a critical battlefield during the Rebellion of 1857 in Central India. On July 1, 1857, the revolt reached Mhow, when numerous… Read more »
This engraving depicts scenes from the disarming of cavalry of soldiers by the British units at Berhampur in present-day West Bengal during the revolt of 1857. On the 27th of February 1857, Berhampur (now Berhampore) was one of the first places of sepoy insurrection in the British cantonments at Barrack Square, when the 19th Native… Read more »
This 19th-century engraving of the tomb of Mohamed Adil Shah, the 7th ruler of Bijapur, Karnataka, was drawn by S. Prout, a British artist, after a sketch by R. Elliot, a Royal Navy officer. After the Bahmani kingdoms (1347-1526 A.D) fell apart, the Adil Shah dynasty of Bijapur rose to prominence as the most potent… Read more »
This book is a gazetteer compiled from the London Times Correspondence, by McCullock, and others containing geographical and statistical information on various aspects of India, including topography, water systems, religion, education, and arts and culture. Published in 1858, the book contains illustrations by British artists in India. The succeeding section of the book delves into… Read more »
This photograph, by Francis Frith (1822-1898) & Co, is of the Madras Harbour. This vista of commercial facilities and warehouses on the Mardas beachfront illustrates Britain’s extensive commerce with the world. In 1639, a British trading corporation was granted permission to establish a factory on a three-mile-long stretch of the shore on the Coromandel. The Nayakas,… Read more »
This photograph, from the late 19th century, is of the Mowbray Road in Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu. The long avenue lined with trees on either side got its name after a house built by George Moubray, the Moubray’s Cupola (presently, the Madras Club). George Moubray served the EIC (East India Company) and was the first… Read more »
This Bhil painting on canvas is by artist Ramesh Baria, son of celebrated artist Bhuri Bai. Bhil painting, traditionally made on walls, is practised today on canvas by one of the oldest tribal communities of India – the Bhils. Residing in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, etc, they live lives that are intricately… Read more »
This map presenting the plan and surroundings of Ootacamund (Ooty) was published in the Constable’s Hand Atlas of India by John Bartholomew & Co. Located in Tamil Nadu at an altitude of 2,240 mt above sea level, Ootacamund (Ooty) flourishes in the Nilgiri hills. Because of its cooler climate, Ooty, was considered an oasis by… Read more »
This late 19th-century photograph is of the French Sepoy Regiment standing in front of the statue of Joseph Francois Dupleix, Governor-General of the French establishment in India. Pondicherry, a port town on the Coromandel coast, was governed by numerous southern dynasties before European forces arrived in the 1600s, including the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cholas. Powerful European imperial… Read more »