Rare Indian Photos

I am a big fan of old and rare photos. You can read so much into them. I can look at them over and over again. Here are some, of Indian origins.

In pictures: India Then


The daughter of an Indian maharajah seated on a panther she shot, sometime during 1920s. This picture and the others in this series appear in a new book, 'India Then and Now', by Vir Sanghvi and Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Roli Books, India. Pictures courtesy: Roli Books.




A throwback from the Raj: A British man gets a pedicure from an Indian servant.



The Grand Trunk Road, built by Sher Shah Suri, was the main trade route from Calcutta to Kabul. Here, transport leaves Ambala for Delhi.




A group of dancing girls. Dancing or nautch girls began performing at courts around 1830. They were known for their elaborate costumes and jewellery.



A rare aerial view of the president's palace and the parliament building in Delhi, both designed by architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.




Women gather at a party in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1910, a sign that women were very much part of the social scene in many respects.




A group from Vaishnava, a sect founded by a Hindu mystic. His followers are called Gosvami-maharajahs and own several temples.



An aerial view of Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi, built between 1650 and 1658 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.



The Imperial Airways 'Hanno' Hadley Page passenger airplane carries the England to India air mail, stopping in Sharjah to refuel.