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Fort St George In British Era Madras, 1890 Photo
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Fort St George In British Era Madras, 1890 Photo

Fort St George In British Era Madras, 1890 Photo

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Fort St George In British Era Madras, 1890 Photo This is another rare 1890 photograph of Fort St George in [...]

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George Town & Parry's British Era Madras, 1885 Photo
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Antique Madras General Post Office Building 1890
General Post Office (GPO) British Era Madras – 2 Photos 1890
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General Post Office (GPO) British Era Madras – 2 Photos 1890

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Steam Locomotive Railway Workshop Bangalore, 1890 Photo
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Steam Locomotive Railway Workshop Bangalore, 1890 Photo

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European Family At Simla, 1895 Photo
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European Family At Simla, 1895 Photo

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Test Run of The Nilgiri Mountain Railway Train, 1899 Photo
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Test Run of The Nilgiri Mountain Railway Train, 1899 Photo

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Ooty In The19th Century, 1880 Photo
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Ooty In The19th Century, 1880 Photo

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Ooty In The Nilgiris (#1), 1880 Photo
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Military Games In British Era Poona, 1900 Photo
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Military Games In British Era Poona, 1900 Photo A 1900 photo presumably of military games in British era Poona (Pune). [...]

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Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph 1894

past-india.com

This site illustrates a past India through a collection of antique and vintage mediums of Raja Ravi Varma oleographs, old India photos, old postcards, old paper prints, and so on.

Although the collection may or may not be too varied, but generally projects a glimpse to what India looked like in the past. And how it has evolved since then. Few would realize that once there were Trams in Bombay, Madras, Delhi…

That, Madras operated the first electric Tram in India from 1895 up to its closure in 1953. With Calcutta and Bombay starting off with Horse-Drawn Trams, later electrifying them by the early 1900s.

That, in World War II, they camouflaged the Taj Mahal with bamboo scaffoldings. So as to project it as a construction site that perhaps would fool any air attacks from the Germans and Japanese might, although this never happened. All in all, the jewel in this collection is the rare Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” oleograph or chromolithograph of 1894. This was the first oleograph to come out from the then newly opened Raja Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithograph Press(or FAL press) in 1894.

The many legacies of the British Raj are not missed out in this collection. Many of the buildings and streets have gone through several makeovers to the extent of being unrecognizable today or have completely disappeared from the scene. But the memories are kept alive hopefully to some extent by this collection.

As they say- “seeing is believing.” Hope you enjoy this collection. Please write to us at- info@past-india.com

Popular & Rare

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Past India

You can see the main categories on the top of the page, and except for the “Raja Ravi Varma Oleograph & Other Art” category all the other main categories have drop-down to sub-categories. You can then select the subject of your interest or you can check through the search box and if available it will display the results. The photos, prints & picture postcards depict a varied subjects of a Past India we may have forgotten- from people on the streets to people at grand events like Delhi durbar, from Taj Mahal to Gateway of India, from residential areas to commercial areas, from home exterior to interior of homes and so on. This site also includes a photo of "Charlie Chaplin" with his autograph signed on the back. There are also old maps, books, Raja Ravi Varma’s oelographs etc. “A picture is worth a thousand words” is an old adage, I’m sure this blog should interest you likewise. All the items displayed are from my personal collection unless otherwise specified.

Contact us:

info@past-india.com
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