Mar 24, 2016

Portrait of a Religious Mendicant (Dervish of the Sufi Chishti order) - Eastern Bengal c1860's

Portrait of a Religious Mendicant (Dervish of the Sufi Chishti order) - Eastern Bengal c1860's

This photograph shows a dervish of the Sufi Chishti order. Sufis are devotees of the mystical branch of Islam. In this case the man is a follower of the Indian saint Muin-u'd-din Chishti, whose shrine in Ajmer remains a popular pilgrimage centre today.
Source: British Library