Indian History

Emaciated Famine Victim Standing with Unidentified Women The composition of the photograph was a staged portrait. This is typical of photographic documentation from the early 20th century. During this period, India regularly experienced years of famine, mainly due to peasant crises, poor harvests, droughts, and the colonial economic policies of the British Empire, which exacerbated food shortages (as proven by studies on the Bengal famine of 1943, but there were similar episodes earlier). 1910 Indian History 🇮🇳

Blowing From Guns in British India A painter Vassili Verestchagin addressed the topic of the British suppression of the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. The uprising of Indian mercenaries against their colonial employers was successfully suppressed, not least thanks to public executions that were poetically dubbed “Devil's Wind.” In 1857, the People's Paper newspaper described these extremely effective measures as follows: "The British in India have invented a method of execution so horrific that all of humanity is shocked. They, these merciful Christians, have devised a refined method — they tie living people to the muzzles of cannons and then fire, tearing people into small pieces and spraying a bloody rain of human body parts and entrails onto the spectators." Verestchagin could not see the “Devil's Wind” in action because he visited India for the first time much later. However, being not only an artist but also a passionate ethnographer, he tried to find out every detail: what kind of cannons were used, what uniforms the soldiers and officers wore, and what trajectory the severed heads of the sepoys flew along. 1884 Indian History 🇮🇳

Crowd Gathered the Muslim League Direct Action Day Meeting It was an act of protest against British Cabinet negotiations on India. Calcutta, India, 1946 Indian History 🇮🇳

Wrestling Champ Tiger Daula Pins Down His English Adversary Clark This high-profile match served as a fundraiser for three causes: the Lahore Warplanes Fund, the Police Spitfire Fund, and the Minto Park Fund. 1930s Indian History 🇮🇳

Casualties Receiving Attention After Bombay Riots This photo depicts the aftermath of violent clashes in Bombay when police attempted to reroute an unauthorized religious procession. People were injured, and doctors and assistants are trying to provide first aid. The procession was not just religious, but also marked the birthday of Indian nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose, who had died a year earlier in a plane crash. Bombay, India, 1946 Indian History 🇮🇳

Mass Migration Leading to Famine During Independence of India In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the newly-formed India and Pakistan. About 14.5 million people crossed the borders and faced extreme hardship, hunger and death. 1947 Indian History 🇮🇳

‼️Wild Elephant Forced to the Ground During Khedda Operation This was a traditional method used to capture free-roaming elephants. Ropes were tightened around the animal’s legs and neck until it collapsed from exhaustion. Once immobilized, the elephant was bound, controlled, and later broken into captivity. Khedda operation was state-organized violence, justified as management. Wild elephants were captured to supply logging camps, to serve the army and royal courts, to be used for transport and construction, and to reduce “human-elephant conflict”. By the mid-20th century, forests were shrinking fast. Elephants lost their migration routes and entered farmlands. Instead of protecting habitats, authorities chose control. Near Mysore, India, 1953 Indian History 🇮🇳

India Before Mega Factories There was India of small industrial enterprises and forgotten modernity. This photo shows a modern milk dairy where workers manually bottled milk using metal tanks, glass bottles and mechanical separators. In the 1930s, such facilities represented progress but many of them disappeared without a trace. Overshadowed by large-scale industrialization, they were erased from public memory. History remembers megaprojects. It forgets everything else. Secunderabad, India, 1930s Indian History 🇮🇳

Students of the London Mission Girls' Boarding School Most of these girls must be from affluent families as education was almost impossible for the poor back then. Bengaluru, India, 1867 Indian History 🇮🇳

Calcutta Policeman with Umbrella as a Part of His Uniform The umbrellas provided protection from the intense heat and heavy monsoon rains. India, 1920s Indian History 🇮🇳

Streets of Calcutta India, 1945 Indian History 🇮🇳

Children Playing Hopscotch There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. Kashmir, India, 1900s Indian History 🇮🇳

British Family Having Tea In The Colonial British India Bombay, circa 1890 Indian History 🇮🇳

Ruins of Martand Sun Temple The temple was constructed in 8th century AD and was destroyed in 15th century by sultan Sikandar Butshikan to islamise the society under the advice of the Sufi preacher. Kahmir, India, 1868 Indian History 🇮🇳

Workers Constructing Nagarjuna Sagar Dam In the 1960s, India launched the Green Revolution to improve agriculture in the country. Its first and largest infrastructure project was the construction of the Nagarjuna Sagar dam on the Krishna River. The construction was launched in 1955 and done only twelve years later. Since then, the dam supplies several large areas of India with irrigation water every day. 1963 Indian History 🇮🇳

The Zealot Who Killed Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was shot three times at point-blank range in the chest and stomach by a Hindu extremist named Nathuram Godse. Then Godse tried to shoot himself, but authorities seized Godse and placed him under arrest. One year later, a court sentenced Gandhi’s assassin to death. 1948 Indian History 🇮🇳

Announcing the Birth of Bharat, the Independent Republic of India That day India became a sovereign republic with the adoption of its constitution. This marked the end of British rule in India, which had lasted for almost two centuries. Since then 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day. 1950 Indian History 🇮🇳