Came across it in ‘Modern India’ by William Eleroy Curtis (1909). Photographer: Unknown. In the book the group is not identified as Kashmiri pandits but the fact is obvious from their dress.
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Update: Photographer was Jadu Kissen. Another (bigger) version of the same image. Came across it in ‘Le Tour du Monde; À travers la Perse Orientale Journal des voyages et des voyageurs; 2e Sem.’ (1905) which carried Kashmir travelogue by F. Michel.
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I love seeing the old Kashmiri Pandit photographs from the early 20th century and before that. I have a book called A Photo-Portrait of Kashmiri Pandits. It's researched and compiled by S.N Pandita and Ramesh Manvati. I don't know if you've got that book, but it's a fascinating look. All the pages are photographs with commentary below. Well worth the look if you got a chance, or I could just upload it on the net, but I wouldn't know how to do it.
I have read about that book but haven't managed to find a copy. What I read was that while the book had wonderful photographs but it offered very little information about the actual people photographed. Still this book is an important document. I would love to buy it. Any idea where one can get it from? Rather than sharing the entire book, which is someone's handwork, I guess sharing a few pages and telling people where to get the book from should be fine.
This book was given to me by Mr S.N. Pandita four or five years ago at a Kashmiri Pandit meeting in London. He was promoting the book at that time in the UK. I have not seen him since, but I believe he still lives in the UK. He has written other books as well.
In the book, there are just only photographs, however there is comments below, but most of them have little information on the people in the photos, which lets down much of the book. However it does describe what people are wearing and also a glossary of common Kashmiri terms relating to religion, clothing and food.
It was interesting to see the pictures and I could recognise some of my relatives.
However if you can tell what is the best place to upload some of the pages, I can then give you a link to them, so that you can share it with people.
I found a link where you could buy the book (costs Rs 2835 for the book) below:
http://www.buymeabook.com/books/a-photo-portrait-of-kashmiri-pandits-42516
I will try to buy it even if the price is a bit steep 🙂 Thanks for the link! Also, you can email me some pages from the book, maybe the ones in which you could see your relatives. That would be interesting. You can find my email in my profile.
I've found a site where I could upload the pics more quickly than sending it through the email.
The following links are:
(Front cover) – http://i.imgur.com/Rpuum.jpg
"The youngest in the group wearing a Ladakhi Gomcha. Others in collared Pherans. (change visible in dress code) – http://i.imgur.com/Mu1yr.jpg
My grandfather's brother JN Kaul in the pic – http://i.imgur.com/XaN3X.jpg
Early Photography in Kashmir (Page 1) – http://i.imgur.com/sWj7y.jpg
Early Photography in Kashmir (Page 2) – http://i.imgur.com/AO3Tc.jpg
Thanks for sharing these! I think I can already add additional notes on some of the photographs I see in these pages as I have already written about some of them. Will try to post to the blog soon with the additional notes.
Can I have your proper names that I can give proper credit?
My name is Deepak Razdan