Rai Bahadur Shankar Rao, Hyderabad

late 19th century

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 Dayal not only matched his contemporaries but surpassed them in skill and sheer variety. Among his patrons were Maharaja Tukoji Rao II of Indore, Sir Henry Daly, agent to the Governor-General of India, and most notably, the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, who appointed him court photographer in 1894.

Deen Dayal founded photography studios in Indore (about 1874), Secunderabad (around 1886), and Bombay (around 1896).

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Title
Rai Bahadur Shankar Rao, Hyderabad
Period
late 19th century
Photographer
Lala Deen Dayal & Sons
Accession No.
2017.70.1 (22)