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About Bhatia's
 British Library
This studio portrait of a man of the Bhatia caste, Mumbai was taken by Hurrichund Chintamon and shown at the 1867 Paris Exhibition.
From the
The Tribes and Castes of Bombay, Vol. I By Enthoven, R.E Publication date 1920 BHATIAS Bhatia’s numbering 28,332 (1901), including 14,775 males, and 13 557 females, are found principally in Cutch, Kathiawar, and Bombay City, but are also scattered in small numbers in all the trade centres of the Presidency. Numbers of them are found in the Punjab, Rajputana and United Provinces and the Tehri villages in the Himalayas. But no satisfactory proof is forthcoming to show that they really belong to the Bhatia community. In remote times they were found in Muttra, but at present, their number is very limited. Besides a few of them are found in Dharangaum and Vejapur near Tevla in the Manmad district. Bhdtias are called Vaza Goherens by the Baluchis, Banians by the Arabs, Banianis by the Negroes and Vania Bhatias by the Parsis. They are also known as Bhatis, Yadavs, Kshatriya Yaduvanshis, Krishnavanshis, Vrishnivanshis, Chandravanshis and Thakkars. The Baluchi term Vaza Goheren means a merchant. Banian and Baniani are probably derived from the Punjabi banaj or Sanskrit vanijjya meaning trade, the chief occupation of the caste. Yadav means a descendant of Yadu, from whom the Bhatias claim descent. The Bhatias of Muttra are known solely by this name. The Bhatias of the Himalayan villages of Tehri are known by the names of Yaduvanshi, Vrishnivanshi and Krishnavanshi. Yaduvanshi, like Yadav, means a descendant of Yadu. Vrishnivanshi means a descendant of Vrishni, son of Madhu, one of their supposed ancestors. They are called Krishnavanshi after Krishna, also of the Yadav stock. The appellation Thakkar appears to be a corruption of Thakor meaning a ruling chief, and suggests the Kshatriya origin of the caste. Bhatias claim to be Bhati Rajputs of the Yadav stock, who under the name of Bhattis or Bhatias are the ruling tribe in Jesalmir in North Rajputana. In support of their Rajput origin, it may be mentioned that the Bhatias are generally well made, active and fair with handsome regular features, and that all of them wear the sacred thread. According to General Cunningham, Bhatia comes from Bhat, a warrior. They are also held by Wilford and Elliot to be so called either after Bhat, one of the sons of Shdlivahana, or Bhupat, the grandson of Sani. The original habitat of the Bhatias appears to have been the Lahore and Multan districts of the Punjab, where are still to be found in considerable numbers Bhatis, many of whom are non-vegetarians. According to the accounts of the Punjab Bhatis, their earliest capital was at Gajnipur (b.c. 600), supposed by Colonel Tod to be the modern Ghazni, and by General Cunningham to have been not far from Rawalpindi. From Gajnipur, the latter thinks, they were driven in the first-century a.d. a little to the south-east before the Indo- Scythians, who killed their king, the father of their most renowned sovereign Shdlivdhan. The further progress of the Indo-Scythians was, however, checked by Shalivdhana, who routed them at the pitched battle of Karhor (Korur). His son Rasalu, the founder of Sialkot, also successfully resisted their inroads, but after his death, the Indo- Scythians again pushed forward, and reduced the Bhatis. It appears from this account that the indigenous rulers of the Bhatis were originally Shdlivdhana and his predecessors. This seems to receive corroboration from what Wilford says about them. He tells us that some tribes of the Bhatis strongly insist on their descent from Shalivahan, call themselves Vanshyas of Shalivahana, Shaka-Raja-Vansas, or Shaka-Raj-Kumars, the offspring of Shak or Shalivahana, and consider their chief the representative of Shalivahana and an incarnation of Vishnu. we compare these legends with what we know as history, we find there nothing but confusion. In the first place, Shalivahana was not the name of an individual prince; and secondly, Shak can by no means be connected with Shalivahana. Western India cave inscriptions inform us that there was an indigenous royal dynasty, and not an individual king, called Shalivahana or Shatavahana, otherwise known as Andhrabhrityas. Next, from inscriptions as well as Sanskrit literature, we learn that Shak was the name of a foreign race. The Shalivahans cannot, therefore, be regarded as Shaks. Again, the same inscriptions tell us that the rule of the Shalivahana dynasty was confined only to Southern India, and that, although at one time they had succeeded in seizing a part of North India, held by the Shaks, the latter soon regained their lost possessions. It is, therefore, inconceivable how the name Shalivahana has come to be connected with the legends of the Punjab. This much, however, is certain that the accounts of the Bhatis, so far as they are concerned with Shalivahana and Shak, are to be relegated to the province of pure myth. As regards their southward movement, Tod mentions that in the eighth century, the Yadu Bhatis were driven south of the Sutlej. But it would seem from the accounts of the third expedition (a.d. 1004) of Mahmud of Ghazni that there was still a small Bhatia kingdom at Bhatia or Bherah on the left bank of the Jhelum near the - salt range. And it was probably by the later Muhammadan invaders that the Bhatias were driven south into the desert and Sind. In Sind, some of the Bhatias still eat fish and drink spirits. Probably most of them have settled in Cutch and Kathiawar since the establishment of Jadeja power (circa 1350 a.d.). An account of their origin prepared by the caste traces the Bhatias from Indraprastha through Surapura, Muttra, Prayaga, Dwarka, Judo-dang, Bahara, Gujni to Salpura in the Punjab and eventually to Jaisalmer, where they were almost exterminated by the Musalmans in 1295 a.d. Appearance. The Bhatias are well made, tall and active. They are a little darker and less regular in features than other Gujarat Hindu traders, though in Cutch they are a remarkably fair and handsome race. Their women are generally fair and handsome. In dress and ornaments they do not differ much from the Vanias. Language. The home tongue of the Bhatias of Cutch and Bombay is Cutchi. In Halar and part of Kathiawar they speak Halai, which closely resembles Cutchi. In Gujarat and Kathiawar they speak Gujarati, and in Sind, Sindi. In olden times the names of males ended in sing, raj or mal indicative of their Kshatriya origin, e.g., Lalsing, Ramsing, Hansaraj, Jethamal, etc. Such names are still in use in Northern India. The ending sing or sey which is a corruption of sinha still survives in such modern names as Thakarsey, Tersey, Nansey, etc. In Cutch, according to the custom of the Thakarais (petty chiefs), the names commenced to end in ji for the last century and a half, and they are not uncommon even now. Instances of such names are Bhanji Bhimji, Kanji, Mulji, Pragji, etc. Later on when the authority of the Vaishnav Maharajas became all powerful, names ending in das came into vogue. Such names are Lakshmidas, Vallabhadas, Narayandas, Mddhavdas, etc. Boys whose elder brothers have died in infancy are given such opprobrious names as Gabho and Nathu. Such a boy, immediately after birth, is taken to a cow-pen and allowed to lie there for a couple of minutes, and is dubbed Gabho meaning calf, under the belief that the mother cow would protect him. Sometimes, at a very tender age, the nose of the boy is pierced and a nosering is put into it. He is then called Nathu or Nathio after nath nosering, which is an ornament used only by females. Divisions. Formerly the Bhatias had many endogamous divisions such as Dasa Divani, Panja, Visa, Sindi and Tragadi. At present they have only two main divisions (1) Cutchi Halai and (2) Sindi, though traces of the other divisions are still to be found. As the names imply, the two divisions are now only territorial. The Sindi Bhatias are supposed to be the descendants of that branch of the Yadu stock that came from Misar (modern Egypt), the country of the legendary king Banasur, the branch of Ushnika, son of Sanita. About 35 to 40 years ago the young men of Sind, being inconvenienced by the small range of selection for marriageable girls, cast their eyes towards their brethren of the Himalayan Valley, while the aged Cutchi and Halai Bhtias from Bombay turned towards Dharangam, Vejapur and Telva in the Manmad district, and Hardwar in the Punjab, and brought girls therefrom, the latter paying high bride prices, viz., Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. These pioneers were welcomed by their respective communities of their places by excommunication. However, the Sindis kept up the agitation and ultimately succeeded in having the whole question investigated and decided favourably. Those marrying from Dharangam, Vejapur and Telva managed to make their way back into the community, but the position of the Hardwar marriages is still disputed by certain caste members in Bombay City. Regarding the origin of the Visa and Dasa divisions, tradition asserts that in the year 1324 A.D., there lived in the city of Multan a Lohana gentleman named Naru, who had a very handsome daughter by name Moti. Being disgusted with ‘the food she ate daily, Moti once complained of some dishes of their diet to her brother’s wife Sujan, who retorted that if she was so particular about her food, she would do well to marry a Bhatia. At this Moti made a vow that she would either marry a Bhatia or die a virgin. Learning of this vow, a Bhatia named Manu came forward and married her. The offspring of this union were allowed to remain in the Bhatia caste, but the orthodox section in the community looked down upon them and termed them Dasas (ten) as opposed to Visas (twenty), implying them thereby to be half-caste. The divisions Visa, Dasa, Panja, Tragadi and Divani in course of time became hypergamous, that is the visas married girls from Dasas, but did not give their daughters in marriage to them, and so on. This is suggested by the very names of the divisions, the term Visa meaning twenty, Dasa meaning ten, Panja meaning five, and Tragadi meaning three. The meaning of Divani is not known. According to some,'the divisions Dasa, Panja, Trdgadi and Divani _ were formed of those families of Bhatias that were admitted into the caste after the formation of the eighty-four nukhs of the caste. The distinctions mentioned above have almost died out, instances of Visas marrying their daughters to Dasas and others being of frequent occurrence. The Cutchi Halais and Sindis neither eat together nor intermarry. Marriage. Formerly it was a rule that a Visa Bhatia should not only marry a Visa girl, but that the girl should belong to the town or village where he resided. Dearth of marriageable girls broke down the rigidity of this rule, and in course of time marriages between members residing in different localities began to take place, although they were confined only to the rich ; as in such cases, the bride-price ranged from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000, Those who could not afford to pay such a high bride’ price, opened up negotiations with the Yaduvanshi Kshatriyas of Hardwar and Tehri Districts and formed marriage connections with them, and in their case no high bride-price was to be paid. These marriages are not looked upon with favour by the community, in the absence of any convincing proof of the origin of these Yaduvanshi Kshatriyas of Hardwar, yet in the course of the last ten years, there have taken place over five hundred such marriages, with the result that the penalty of excommunication has been meted out to them. A Bhatia must marry within his own caste. According to the reform party amongst them, he can marry a woman of the Yaduvanshi Kshatriya caste of Hardwar and Tehri.' From what has been stated above about the origin of Dasa and Visa, it would appear that such marriages were allowed with certain restrictions in old times. A Bhatia cannot marry a woman of the section to which he himself belongs. He can marry a woman of the section to which his mother belongs, though such marriages were not allowed about twenty-five years ago. He can marry a woman of his paternal grandmother’s section and his maternal grandmother’s section. A Bhatia cannot marry his maternal uncle’s daughter, his mother’s sister’s daughter or his father’s sister’s daughter. He can marry his deceased wife’s sister. Two sisters can marry two brothers. A boy given in adoption cannot marry in the family of his original parents, though there would be no objection to his marrying in the nukh of his original parents. In Kathiawar, the practice of double marriages is very common. Polygamy is allowed and practised, the number of wives a man having at a time never exceeding two. Divorce and widow remarriage are forbidden. Polyandry is unknown. Girls are generally married between nine and fourteen, and boys between sixteen and twenty-five. If a girl attains puberty before marriage, her parents have to perform a purification ceremony. The supply of marriageable girls falls much short of the demand. Consequently, the bridegroom, besides presents to the girl in the shape of ornaments and clothes of the value of Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000, has in some cases to pay the girl’s father large sums in the shape of purchase-money. So great is the expense that many Bhatias remain unmarried, and in many cases, there is a great disparity of age between the bride and bridegroom. The offer of marriage comes from the boy’s side. Amongst the rich the pallu or dower to be settled on the girl is not fixed. Amongst the poor it is fixed. The vadhai or betrothal is celebrated some days before the marriage. It consists in the girl’s father sending to the boy with the family priest a pot full of sugar candy and an ivory bangle of the girl's. In some places, the girl’s father sends four copper coins, a handful of millet, turmeric and betelnuts and some dro or sacred grass. The betrothal is then entered in the caste register and the father of the boy pays a fixed sum to the caste fund. For seven days after the betrothal, sweetmeats are sent to the boy’s house by the bride’s parents. On the twenty-first day after betrothal, the ceremony of vena (lit. oral declaration) is performed. The boy’s father with his male relations and friends goes to the girl’s house, and a ceremony is performed by a Brahman priest. Formerly, on this occasion, the boy’s father was presented with one kori (a Cutch silver coin equal to a four-anna piece), and his mother, grand mother and grandfather with half a kori each ; and fifty-one coconuts were distributed among those present or in lieu thereof two dokadas (a copper coin equal to two pice) were presented to each. This rule has been changed by the Bombay Bhatias, who present rupees instead of koris and small silver coins instead of cocoanuts and copper. The opening day of the marriage ceremonies is called samurta. On this day a chandlo (red powder mark) is made on the girl’s forehead, and preparations for the marriage are begun by five or seven married unwidowed women commencing cleaning udid (black gram) and mung (green gram). From this day forward, every night, songs are sung by the ladies of the house and by relations and friends who assemble for the purpose. Formerly they were presented with dates and cocoanuts. Now they are presented with silver coins. After the samurta comes the lagna lakhavavu. It is celebrated in Cutch a few days before marriage, and in Bombay on the day before the marriage. The bridegroom’s father with male relations goes to the bride’s, and the family priest reads the marriage-deed, naming the auspicious time for the different ceremonies. On this day the ladies go singing songs to a potter, and worship his wheel by making red marks on the wheel and earthen pots. On the marriage day the potter brings four sets of earthen pots, which are arranged round the chori or marriage altar. The mandap-muhurt a or manakastambh-ropan is next performed, in which a wooden post called manakastambh is coloured red and planted in one of the corners of the marriage booth. On the day before the marriage, the ceremony of dudhalakshmi or khir chhatna takes place. In this ceremony, women from the bridegroom’s family go to the bride’s, present her with costly articles of dress and ornaments, and make decorative marks on her forehead, cheeks, shoulders, palms and arms. The girl then goes to the bridegroom’s and sprinkles milk seven times with a leaf on the person of the bridegroom’s father, he offers her a number of silver coins of which she accepts only one, the bridegroom s mother makes a red mark on her forehead, and she returns home. Next a ceremony called manorbandhan is performed, in which a fish is tied to the door in Sind, where fish is used as an article of food, and wheat cakes at other places. The probable origin of this ceremony seems to be that a fish brought from an opposite direction while one is going on a good mission, is considered a good omen. This ceremony is followed by chhaki in which the bride is taken in procession in a sort of palanquin called chhaki to the bride grooms. She is welcomed by the senior lady of the family and returns home. Next, the bridegroom on his part goes to the bride’s in procession on horseback, and is received at the entrance by the bride’s mother. He is led into the house, and, with the bride, sits in that part of the house where the family goddess is painted on the house wall. A piece of coloured cloth is placed between the two, with one end of it on the bride’s head and the other end on the bridegroom’s lap. They then worship the family goddess, the family priest of the bride officiating at the ceremony. When the worship is over, the bride and the bridegroom take from each other one by one several pieces of juvar (indian millet stalks) held in the hand. The female relations of the bride drop one after another small cotton bundles on the bride’s head, which the bridegroom clears away; and the female relations of the bridegroom drop the same bundles on the bridegroom’s lap which the bride clears away. The bridegroom returns to his lodging. This ceremony is most interesting as it affords both delight and encouragement to the parties to exhibit their skill. The bridegroom on the day of the marriage goes with music to the bride’s house in procession with men walking in front and women singing songs behind. The procession stops at the bride’s house. The bridegroom alights from his horse, and stands near the door, where he is received by the bride’s mother. She shows him a model plough, an arrow and a churning handle and pulls his nose. The bridegroom is led into the house, and sits with the bride at the place where the family goddess is painted on the wall. The ends of the bride’s and bridegroom’s clothes are tied together, and their hands are joined in the presence of their spiritual head, if he lives in the neighbourhood. They are led into the central square or chori of the marriage booth, the marriage sacrifice is performed, and the pair walk four times round the sacrificial fire (saptapadi), and feed each other with sweetmeats. The bridal pair are then separated, and the bride is presented with a robe and bodice with five finger marks which she wears while a song on Todarmul is sung by the women present. It is said that this ceremony has a history of its own connected with the Emperor Akbar, and that there is a copper plate relating to it which is still preserved at Jesalmere. Next, they go to the bridegroom’s house with the ends of their clothes tied together. There they give each other a handful of sesame, and the bride presents a handful of sesame to the bridegroom’s parents, who return it to the bride with a silver coin. A Bhatia girl is sent to her husband’s house immediately after her marriage; cohabitation commences a few days after marriage except among the Pavrai section of the community, among whom the girl is not allowed to pass even a single night at her husband’s house until she attains puberty. Bhatias believe in and worship Hindu gods and goddesses such as Mahadev and his consort Parvati, Rama and his consort Sita and their faithful servant Hanuman, the monkey god, and visit places of worship associated with their names. Some of them who are Vedantists, Arya Samajists, and Brahmo Samajists pray to the impersonal Almighty. There are a few Theosophists as well, but most of the Bhatias are worshippers of their ancestor, Shri Krishna, and his four consorts Rukhmani (also known as Luxmi), Satyabhama, Radha and Jambuvanti, under various names and at different places, such as Dwarkanathji and his four consorts at Bet and Dwarka in Kathiawar, Vithoba and Rukhamanai at Pandharpur and visit temples. They look upon Brij territory, about 84 miles round about Muttra and Gokul, with reverence as being the birth-place of Krishna and thus associated with his Bala Lila (chivalrous, acts of his childhood). They make pilgrimages to these places in the company of “chobas” who act as their guides, and who acquaint them with each event from Shri Krishna’s childhood connected with the said place. Six miles below Muttra is the old town of Mahabun (in old Gokul) on the western bank of the Jumna, celebrated as being the birthplace where Krishna was exchanged with the infant daughter of Jasoda to avoid the wrath of his maternal uncle Kaunsa who had ordered his death. The village of Gokul on the eastern bank of the Jumna is noted as being the place where Vishnu first visited the earth as Krishna. To the north is the holy city of Brindavan, a most important place of pilgrimage, ranking with great shrines of Puri, Thaneswar and Hardwar. There is an open space in the town known as the Gyan Guori, in the dust of which pilgrims roll, and it is locally held that a mouthful of it conveys perpetual sagacity. The orthodox consider the land so sacred that they do not wear shoes in treading the sacred ground. The river Jumna is looked upon as sacred, and Bhatias, when there, use its water for making “ Jamnapani, ” i.e., drinking from it water in the palm of the hand. They take baths in the Jumna once during their stay. The Ganga (the Ganges) is used by them for bathing, and baths at Soron and Hardwar are looked upon as expiating sins. It is here that shraddhas are performed. The water of the Jumna from Gokul and Muttra is brought back by the pilgrims well packed in air-tight lotas (vessels) and is used for years, a drop of it being given to friends and acquaintances by pilgrims on their return. It is also given to a dying man. Bhatias also make pilgrimage to Rameswar, Badrika Ashram, Hardwar, Puri, Benares, and Nathdwara. In addition they worship the Nag (Snake) known by them as Khetarpal, also as Dado, on Nagpanchami day (5th of Shrdvan Sud). On Satam, the 7th of Shrdvan, they worship a pot of water. On the 13th of Chaitra Vad they worship Sitaldmata (the goddess of smallpox). During Holi children worship a stone known as “ Godiapir ” on the 15th of Maha Sud, and on the 15th of Falgun, Bhatias worship Holi. They are known to worship “Satis” of their families and on Dasara day, as Kshatriyas, they worship the sword and the shami (Prosopis spicigera) because on that day the Pandava brothers, under orders of Shri Krishna, took up arms which they had concealed at the time of going into 12 years’ exile. On Narali Purnim day (cocoanut day) they, as traders connected with the sea, worship Dariasagar (sea). On Diwali days they worship Luxmi, the goddess of wealth. Very many Bhatias are Vaishnavas and now worship Shri Krishna as laid down by Vallabh and his descendants, who are known by various names, Acharyas, Gosamis and Maharajas. In Samvat 1797 (A.D. 1741) the Bhatias of Cutch Mandvi appointed for the first time Diksitji of Vallabh descent as the first religious head. Vallabhachdrya, by which name the sect who worship Shri Krishna as laid down by Vallabh, son of Laxman Bhat, known also as Shri Vallabhacharjee, Shri Acharyaji, Shri Maha Prabhuji (Vallabh was born in Samvat 1535) is known, is a new sree. It is a new sect inasmuch as it has selected the god Shri Krishna in one of his aspects, that of his adolescence (Bal Gopal Lila), and raised him to supremacy in that respect. It is also a new sect in so far as it established the pushtimarg or the way of enjoyment. Latterly the Maharajas filched the worship from Shri Krishna and directed it to themselves, and began to be worshipped as “ gods,” but without being godly, and this evil became so great that in Cutch Mandvi the Gosai Runchhorji under the order of the Cutch Darbar was sent away from there as undesirable, and the Bhatias of Bombay in 1855 passed a resolution restricting the hours of visit of their females to the Vaishnava Temples to such time as the Acharyas were supposed to be busy in worshipping the “ gods.” Things, however, did not improve, and this led to a crusade against the misdeeds of the Maharajas and which culminated in the cause celibre known as the Maharaja Libel Case (being Suit No. 12047 of 1861). In the words of the Honourable Mr. Justice Arnould, one of the trying Judges, “ it taught some to think, it led many to enquire,” and the authority of the Maharajas since then has been crippled and is slowly decaying. Their priests are Pokarna Brahmans. Gujarat Brahmans do not eat with Pokarnas. Death ceremonies. When a man is on the point of death, he is laid on a freshly cowdunged space on the floor strewn with darhlia grass and java grains. The old sacred thread on his neck is removed, and a new one is put in its place. The water of the Jumna river is poured into his mouth. When life is gone, the body is tied to the bier, which is carried by the mourners after they have bathed. The body is burnt in the same way as among other high-class Hindus. If a person meets death by drowning, an idol is made in his name, and the funeral rites are performed thereon. They mourn twelve days. On the eleventh day wheat flour balls or ptindas are offered to the deceased, and thrown in a running stream. They feast Brahmans on the twelfth and the caste- fellows on the thirteenth. Occupation. A large number of Bhatias are merchants, traders, bankers and brokers; and within the last fifty years, they have become a very wealthy and important class. Numbers have moved either permanently or for a time to Bombay and many of them are settled to the west, in the ports of the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Zanzibar, and east as far as Japan. In Cutch they are traders, clerks, bankers and shopkeepers. Some of them are landowners. Food. Bhatias are strict vegetarians except in some parts of the Punjab and Sind. The highest well known caste who eat from their hands are the Lohanas. Vanias will not eat from the hands of the Bhatias, neither will the Bhatias eat from Vanias.  British Library
Full-length standing carte-de-visite portrait of a bhattia or moneylender, one of a series of portrait studies of ethnic types and occupations taken by Bourne and Shepherd in the early 1870s.
BHATIA'S TRADITIONAL DRESSING STYLE Description of Bhatia dressing style at Zanxibar by Richard Franscis Burton the famous explorer. "Right meek by the side of the Arab's fierceness appears the Banyan, the local Jew. These men are Bhattia’s from Cutch in western India; unarmed burghers, with placid, satisfied countenances, and plump, sleek, rounded forms, suggesting the idea of happy, well-to-do cows. Such is the effect of a diet which embraces only bread, rice, and milk, sweetmeats, vegetables, and clarified butter. Their skins are smoother and their complexions are lighter than the Arabs'; their features are as high though by no means so thin. They wear the long mustachio, not the beard, and a Chinese pigtail is allowed to spring from the poll of the carefully shaven head. These top-knots are folded, when the owners are full- dressed, under high turbans of spotted purple or crimson stuff edged with gold. The latter are complicated affairs, somewhat suggesting the oldest fashion of a bishop's mitre; bound round in fine transverse plaits, not twisted like the Arabs', and peaked in the centre above the forehead with a manner of horn. Their snowy cotton coats fit close to the neck, like collarless shirts; shawl girt under the arms, they are short-waisted as the dresses of our grandmothers; the sleeves are tight and profusely wrinkled, being nearly double the needful length, and the immaculate loincloth displays the lower part of the thigh, leaving the leg bare. Their slippers of red leather are sharp-toed, with points turning upwards and backwards, somewhat as in the knightly days of Europe. Zanzibar: city, island, and coast by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1872 page 105-106 |
British Library
Full-length portrait of three seated Shenoy Bhatias in Mumbai, posed against a painted backdrop, taken by Hurrichund Chintamon c. 1867. 
British Library
Photograph of turban folders at work in India, taken by Shivashanker Narayen in c. 1873, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This image, of a group of workers folding turbans on wooden model heads, was probably shown at the Vienna Universal Exhibition of the same year. |