G'day, On 16/07/2008, at 12:53 AM, Arvind Kolhatkar wrote: << I do not know whether this is so for everyone on the Raj List but I have received only the descriptions of photos without the embedded links. Presume they got dropped in transmission. Could you repeat the mail to me again? Thanks... >> OK - I have set up a quick page at.... http://vsdh.org/gohere/index.htm I'll leave the page there for a week or so before I take it down. ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

John, May I offer some further comments on some of the photos? I remember to have seen Photo No 1 of the Princess and the panther. If my memory serves me right, she is from the Travancore family, who were among the more enlightened princely houses. The 'nautch' girls in Photo No 4 appear from their dresses to be from somewhere in South India. No 5 is described as the President Palace and the Parliament Building. This is correct in part. The round structure is the Parliament. The symmetrical looking edifice is not the President's House or Rashtrapati Bhavan but the North (the upper one in the picture) and South Blocks. The President's House is not seen, it lies beyond the left edge of the picture. The North and South Blocks housed the Secretariat in British days and I am told that Lord Mountbatten had his office in a large hall towards the left end of the North Block on the upper floor. (That hall has now been partitioned into smaller rooms and the garden variety bureaucrats occupy them. A colleague of mine was one of them for a while!) The North Block now houses Home and Finance Ministries and the South Block has Defence and External Affairs and the PM's secretariat. Other ministries are scattered around in various new buildings. The large vacant areas around the Blocks is filled up by these and by residences of Ministers and senior bureaucrats Almost all ladies in No 6 appear to be Parsee. They were the most westernized community - this can be guessed from the drawing room - and close to the British. No 7 is the Vallabhacharya sect based in Nathdwara near Udaipur. It is popular among the rich trading communities of Rajasthan and Gujarat. This sect worships Lord Krishna in his form as the young naughty cowherd, (In his young days the playful Krishna was a darling of the milkmaids. In the 19th century the sect came under a cloud because the Chief of the sect carried his emulation of Krishna a little too far. May be the Vallabhacharya in the picture is the very one against whom there were court cases. Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, July 15, 2008

> I remember to have seen Photo No 1 of the Princess and the panther. Sorry to be a pedant, but is it not a Leopard rather than a panther? The latter being the black variant of the former. J

I especially like the photograph of women celebrating in a magnificent and airy hall. The whole is full of grace .... and good living . The girl was a good shot for the panther has taken it through the heart - I believe. Such a pity but then, it may have become a pest which had to be dealt with. The Brit having a pedicure (his feet not too clean) makes me smile. He looks so much in his sphere but he never would, I tend to think, have experienced such subordinate luxury in his natural environment. Nice pictures - Sally

What fantastic pictures! Given the previous (?ongoing) discussion, I was particularly amused by the one of the scantily clad British male getting a pedicure from his well dressed Indian servant! Sylvia > -----Original Message----- > From: india-british-raj-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:india-british-raj-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of > John Feltham > Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:24 AM > To: Raj; vsdh > Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Old Photographs from Indian History > > G'day, > > On 16/07/2008, at 12:53 AM, Arvind Kolhatkar wrote: > > << I do not know whether this is so for everyone on the Raj > List but I have received only the descriptions of photos > without the embedded > links. Presume they got dropped in transmission. Could you repeat > the mail to me again? Thanks... >> > > OK - I have set up a quick page at.... > > > http://vsdh.org/gohere/index.htm