Posted on: 16 August 2010

Portrait of the Nimbalkar of Satara (a Maratha), at Bombay - 1867

Studio portrait of the Nimbalkar of Satara (a Maratha), taken at Mumbai by Hurrichund Chintamon c. 1867, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This photograph was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. A Maratha was a member of the princely and military class of the former Hindu kingdom of Maharashtra in central India (now the modern state of Maharashtra). Hurrichund Chintamon began one of the first photographic firms in Bombay. He also made a notable contribution to 'The People of India' (published in eight volumes between 1868 and 1875 by the India Museum, London), a compilation of photographs on the tribes, races and castes of India, commissioned by the Government of India.

Source : British Library


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This probably was not taken at a studio. The prince is unshod but is wearing socks and his courtiers are bare foot not stepping on the carpet out of respect. Both the carpet and the backdrop seem to have been hurriedly put together. Were t a studio, it would have had a more permanent and decorative setting. The headgear is of a peshva. The picture is taken a mere 49 years after the British decisively defeated the Peshvas of Pune. The Maratha princes had relinquished power to their Brahman ministers in Pune in the early 18th century not long after the death of Aurangzeb.