Nomadic, 1920s

from ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945).

Spring in the Upland Valley
The first Flock of the Year 

Mountain Pastures
The Bakrwal
The Flock at Peace
The Haji from Yarkand
The Sindh Valley

Old Photographs of Kashmir, 1920

Some more photographs from ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945).

Famous temple of Avantisvami-Vishnu at Avantipura (A.D.854-883)
Poling on the Wular (wo’lar) Lake

Idyll
Friends at the Shalimar garden
The Garden (a bit of its history)
Morning scene from the hill. The city and the lakes below.
Fish Spearing Man. The photographer has to be R.E. Shorter. This photograph can also be found
in ‘Kashmir in Sunlight & Shade: a Description of the Beauties of the Country, the Life, Habits and Humour of its Inhabitants, and an Account of the Gradual but Steady Rebuilding of a Once Down-trodden People’ by Cecil Earle Tyndale-Biscoe (1922)

Ancient Temple at Wangat

Kashmir by Sultan Ahmad, 1920s

Still some more paintings from ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945). These are by an artist named Mrs. L Sultan Ahmad. I couldn’t find anything about this artist. In the foreword to the book, the author wrote:

Like Abanindro Nath Tagore, she would reach the spirit that lies hidden behind the glow of colour and the splendour of the world in Kashmir. In the two pictures she has contributed to this volume, there stand revealed the lustre of Day, when the world is going about its business; and the mystery of Night, when the dark Canals are veiled in shadows. They are symbolic of the East, where Life and Death jostle each other, and Secrecy and
Candour go hand in hand.

Day:- The Apple Tree Canal
Night:- The Mar Canal

Paintings of Kashmir by Colonel G. Strahan

Some more paintings from ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945). These water color are by Colonel G. Strahan, Deputy Surveyor General, Trigonometrical Branch.

The Lidar Valley, Blatkot
The Waning Light
Nanga Parbat: Across The Valley
Lake Land

A Beauty of the Valley, 1920

A Beauty of the Valley by Gertrude Hadenfeldt
A Beauty of the Valley by Gertrude Hadenfeldt

Found this beauty in ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945). Miss Gertrude. Hadenfeldt’s water color of Kashmir are still quite popular. She had spent around five years in the valley.

Ablution

Found the above image ‘Brahmans of Kashmir’ in ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor (Vincent Clarence Scott, 1869-1945)

My pandit landlord doing his morning ablution.

Old Biscoe School Photograph collection

Old photographs related to Biscoe School found in Tyndale Biscoe’s book ‘Character Building in Kashmir’ (1920) –

 
Second fleet on the way through Srinagar
 
Embarkation Contest: The first boat afloat wins the prize

 
One of the School Boats and the Crew
 
(Clockwise:) Schoolboys at Road making, Peace Day Celebration, Carrying Logs for School Building, Dispensing Medicine during Cholera Epidemic

 
The Wular Lake, Kashmir

One of the popular spots for boating expeditions

 
The C.M.S. School for Girls, Srinagar
 
One of the Brahmin Lies Reproduced on Paper

The above photograph has Biscoe boys dragging a “dead dog”. The story:

The school and particularly the methods of Mr. Biscoe faced stiff opposition from orthodox people of Srinagar, often leading the attack were Brahmins and the supporters of other “more normal” Schools including ones that had the backing of Mrs. Annie  Besant, of theosophical fame, who opened Hindu School, on the other bank just opposite the CMS school near the third bridge of Srinagar.  Often local Newspapers were filled with News snippets targeting the school and its way of functioning. In one such news story, the paper claimed that Mr. Biscoe made Brahmin boys drag dead dogs through the city. Stange as the news may seem,  Mr. Biscoe’s response was equally typical. He writes in his book ‘Character Building in Kashmir’ (1920):

Many of the native papers had done us the honour of telling their readers what they thought of us, and gave accounts of what had not, as well as of what had, happened chiefly the former. For many of the Indian papers greedily swallow the lies made red hot in Srinagar. One of the yarns that appeared is worth quoting :

” Mr. Biscoe, principal of the Church mission school in Srinagar, makes his Brahman boys
drag dead dogs through the city.”

This ” spicy ” bit of news took our fancy, and we thought it a pity that one of these yarns at least should not be founded upon something tangible, so we decided to help the editor of the paper in this matter.

We possessed an obedient dog, a spaniel, who was in the habit of “dying” for his friends when required to do so. The rest of the cast was quite easy a party of boys, a rope, and a photographer. The obedient spaniel died, and remained dead while we tied a rope to his hind leg, and placed the boys in position on the rope for the photographer to snap.

So henceforward if ever we find a citizen disbelieving Srinagar yarns, especially those spun against the schools, we can produce this photograph to show that one at least of their stories is true. Papers may err, but cameras never (?).

 
Helter-skelter: School Cleaned in Twenty-five Seconds

They still play these “cleaning” games in schools across the J&K state, but I doubt anyone can beat that number, they can barely manage the students to take these exercises seriously.

In the above  photograph you can actually see the famous “Monkey-Poles” of Biscoe School.  I was admitted to the school in the later 1980s as a young boy, only six or seven years old. Perhaps LKG, and stayed till 3rd standard. I distinctly remember relatives asking me if I had seen the famous  “Money-pole”. I had no idea what they were talking about. From their talks, I could infer that in Biscoe school bad boys were made to climb up the “Monkey Pole”. I didn’t know what the big deal was with that. Sounds fun. Unless. Unless, the pole had nails. So I always imagined that the pole had nails.

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Biscoe School Images from “Beyond The Pir Panjal: Life and Missionary Enterprise in Kashmir” (1912 ) by Ernest F. Neve –

 
Fleet Paddling Past The High School

 
School Sports. A Splash Dash.
[Update: Photographer Randolph B. Holmes, (‘Holmes of Peshawar”)]. Year 1915.

I love this photograph. [A story for later]

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