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This site illustrates an amazing past India through the collection of antique and vintage Raja Ravi Varma oleographs, art, old photos, old postcards, old prints, maps, plans, books, etc, relevant mainly to India.

The collection gives an insight of what India looked like in the past and how it evolved since then. Few may know that there were trams in Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai), Delhi, and Calcutta (Kolkata).

The tramway first began with horse-drawn trams, switching later to electric trams during the early 1900s. It was in Madras that the electric tram was first introduced in India. The collection contains a rare 1880 Calcutta Tramways proposed route map of the city’s horse-drawn tram.

That the Taj Mahal was camouflaged to protect it against potential German and Japanese air attacks during World War II. The collection also includes a glass slide of the first steam paddle ship, “Enterprise,” that sailed from England to India in 1825.

An 1880 photo shows an almost barren landscape of Haji Ali and a semi forested Worli in the background. There are many more photos of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, bangalore, etc. An article in a 1791 London newspaper reports on the 3^rd Anglo-Mysore War. Another newspaper from 1792 reports the defeat of Tipu Sultan. There are photos and prints of India’s aviation from 1913 to the 1940s. Photo of the first train travel from Bombay to Thana.

However, the jewel in the crown of this collection is the rare Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” oleograph or chromolithograph of 1894. This was the first oleograph that was published from the newly opened Raja Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithograph Press (FAL press) in 1894. It also has the distinction of being the first oleograph that was produced in India.

As the saying goes- “seeing is believing” and hope you enjoy going through this collection. Please write to us at: info@past-india.com

Past India

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