Calcutta [Kolkata] river view, with sailing ships - 1880s

Calcutta [Kolkata] river view, with sailing ships - 1880s

Two views of Bathing ghat in Calcutta, by Bourne and Shepherd, c.1880's

Bathing ghat in Calcutta, by Bourne and Shepherd, c.1880's

Bathing at Kali Ghat Calcutta [Kolkata] - 1880s

Bathing at Kali Ghat Calcutta [Kolkata] - 1880s
The River is Adi Ganga

People of Darjeeling - 1870s

Photograph of Buddhist Monastery in Darjeeling, from an Album of Miscellaneous views in India, taken by John H.Doyle in the 1870s. This photograph is one a series of views and ethnographical studies taken at Darjeeling by John H. Doyle. This view shows several Llamas at worship and some masked Llamas in attendance at the Bhutia Busty monastery. The monastery was built in 1879 and many Buddhist scriptures were found here, including the cult book 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead'. The temple also has beautiful murals.

Photograph of Lepchas at Darjeeling, from an Album of Miscellaneous views in India, taken by John H.Doyle in the 1870s. The Lepcha people are the aboriginal inhabitants of Sikkim (which was the Kingdom of Sikkim till 1975, when it became a part of India), situated in between Nepal and Bhutan. The Lepchas have become a minority in their own homeland. Their shamanist religion and lifestyle has been a source of fascination to anthropologists. Their language is unmistakably a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family, but its exact position within the group is uncertain. This is a group portrait of Lepcha people gathered in an open-sided hut at Darjiling. 

Photograph of Tibetan and Bhutia coolie labourers, from an album of Miscellaneous views in India, taken John H. Doyle in the 1870s. Coolies were hired labourers or burden carriers. Bhutias were Himalayan people who are believed to have emigrated southward from Tibet in the 9th century or later. The Bhutia constitute a majority of the population of Bhutan and form minorities in Nepal and India, particularly in Sikkim and Darjeeling.

General view of Darjeeling, showing the Snowy Range, 40 miles distant, as seen from St Paul's School - 1870s

Photograph of Darjeeling, from an Album of Miscellaneous views in India, taken by John H.Doyle in the 1870s. Darjeeling was part of the territory of the Rajas of Sikkim till the 18th century and was given to the British in 1835. The British built a sanatorium here and it soon became the summer headquarters of the Bengal government. This is a general view overlooking the town, looking north towards Sikkim and the Himalayas, with the peak of Kanchenjunga visible in the far distance.

Kanchenjunga in the Himalayan range is the third highest peak in the world.

A private teacher in one of the indigenous schools in Varanasi (Benares) - 1870

Photograph of a private teacher at an indigenous school in Varanasi (Benares) in Uttar Pradesh from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series (Volume 46), taken in c.1870 by Brajo Gopal Bromochary. 

A private teacher in one of the indigenous schools in Varanasi (Benares) teaching boys to write letters and figures on the ground. The standing boy with arms raised is undergoing punishment.

From the middle of the nineteenth century the government encouraged the improvement of indigenous and vernacular schools across the sub-continent. This view, showing a class in progress in front of cloth backdrop, was probably exhibited at one of the European Universal Exhibitions during the nineteenth century in order to demonstrate methods of teaching and discipline. The photograph is inscribed on the album page, 'Taken by the photographer in the service of H.H. the Maharaja of Benares...Exhibitor H.H. the Maharaja of Benares. After exhibition to be placed at the disposal of His Excy. the Secretary of State for India.'