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An Englishwoman who sketched India before photography took hold
- js2 3mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Eden > Her book, Portraits of the Princes and People of India, was published in 1844. It contained 24 lithographs that were drawn from her sketches of important Indian subjects such as Dost Mahomed Khan and Ranjit Singh. https://www.rct.uk/collection/1070252/portraits-of-the-princes-and-people-of-india-by-miss-eden-drawn-on-stone-by-l https://www.rct.uk/collection/1070252/portraits-of-the-princ... https://archive.org/details/Eden30538 https://archive.org/details/Eden30538
- xtiansimon 3mo agoSeveral of the pictures looked like lithographs. I wonder what the originals looked like. Though the “watercolor” of the deck of the ship appears original (maybe).
- pm90 3mo agoBesides the sketches, she has written extensively about Indian rulers at the time (e.g. Ranjit Singh). If you found this interesting, you would love the Empire Podcast... I believe they talk about Emily in the episode on Afghanistan (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/79-invading-afghanistan-the-return-of-a-king/id1639561921?i=1000627541600 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/79-invading-afghanista...); Dalrymple's book on the subject (Return of a King, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_a_King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_a_King) is also a masterfully well researched, delightful read.
- fillskills 3mo ago+1 to Empire Podcast. They have excellent series on a bunch of empires (well researched with references). Its one of those light, informative, non-boring podcasts: - The British Empire & The Raj - The Ottoman Empire - The Russian Empire - The United States as an Empire etc
- ebbi 3mo agoWilliam Dalrymple's books are great reads. Makes reading history enjoyable. Highly recommend all his books, particularly his most recent 'The Golden Road'
- sbmthakur 3mo agoReading that one now. I finished The Anarchy before that and it was a great intro to the 18th century and how it made the ground fertile for upcoming colonial period.
- pseudohadamard 3mo agoI read it and it changed my view of the colonisation of India, the way the book portrayed it the place was basically a slaughterhouse until the Pax Britannica was imposed. I'm not saying the British were perfect but it seems a lot better than being raped or hacked to pieces depending on your gender by the army of the despot in the state next to yours at a moment's notice.
- 21asdffdsa12 3mo agoGreat podcasts. Also gives you more of an idea why empires started existing. Basically keep the lights on at home at the price of somewhere else going dark. Empire is a life support mechanism for civilization, because when the exponential of life runs out on the linear of physics, social machinery is needed to be more than a riotous blob of ever-warring starving people. Basically a civilization scale heat-pump, similar to a central state, but over several countries. Which makes rebellion against the empire - a not so noble act, once things actually get scarce- decomplexification prevents the opening up of empire subsidized discovery of new energy sources. At the same time, empires can be unproductive, basically rentseeking and abandoning the purpose the heatpump originally was build for. Of course to the post colonialists, the existence of any heat pump is pure evil. And for the individual it is. But then again this ignores that the situation is evil. If the selfish drive to have all the offspring, maxes out the ressources, dissolves all the institutions and decomplexifies all things, a empire structure is needed to build a weather-satellite rocket from the food of to many peasants. Its horrifying, and was not necessary in recent memory due to the surplus productivity of capitalism. But if you decomplexify the beast that allows you to only have good situations - you restore the need to create the beast that handles only
- gadders 3mo agoI think it's a bit rude to claim India has gone dark. It seems like a pretty vibrant economy.
- 21asdffdsa12 3mo agoIts a electric lighting metaphor - on a world that abandons free trade and goes zero-sum. Take it literal to not deal with the given arguments, the reality depicted does not go away. PS: If india rises similar to china- the dependence on trade rises- otherwise - they would have outposts similar to the chinese in africa all of a sudden. The situations and dilemas depicted are universal, thus any country given the societal equipment (culture) can bump into them.
- GJim 3mo agoAll empires were not created equal!
- ks2048 3mo agoAmazing work and historical artifacts. Something about this era - I have an interest in Frederick Catherwood and his work at basically the same time in mesoamerica (although he focused more on ruins than modern people), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Catherwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Catherwood
- throwawaypath 3mo ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 3mo ago> the open landfill that it is now? I’m going to guess you’ve only visited India's cities?
- throwawaypath 3mo agoAnd their rivers (most polluted in the world), lakes, rural areas so polluted that roads are shutdown when the trash builds up too much, etc.
- SilverElfin 3mo agoProbably not one thing but the sequence of Islamic colonialism, followed by European colonialism, followed the splitting of India, the introduction of consumerist lifestyles (plastic crap), globalism, etc. I imagine any society where the existing stable system is violently destroyed will have issues with people not having their original culture and way of life, but also they probably had to just survive, and didn’t have time for environmental concerns.
- pm90 3mo agoThe Islamic period in India was one of the most prosperous periods in India’s history, ever. India was responsible for 25% of the worlds GDP during Mughal Emperor Jahangirs reign. The decline of Indian economy is directly a consequence of British Policies.
- drTobiasFunke 3mo agoNot true. It was rich, yes. The emperors took it all. The common people got nothing. Hence the big tombs etc. Indigenous institutions were destroyed, libraries and universities burnt. Religious structires destroyed and natives under constant threat and conflict. This is directly reflected by the complete lack of pioneering work in science, technology, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and literature during this period. All of that was pre islamic invasion.
- lolnice 3mo ago[flagged]
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- jimmyed 3mo ago[dead]
- dudemap 3mo agoLooked like an entirely different world!
- dyauspitr 3mo agoIt honestly still looks like this. The afghans look the same, the Sikhs still dress this way.
- raws 3mo agoI think it looks like I'm only seeing rich individuals of the times are there more sketches of other classes as well?
- ggm 3mo agoRich and/or employed by rich people.
- throwfaraway135 3mo agoConsidering who is on today's magazines, this is not surprising.
- codeduck 3mo agoThere are a few more images omitted from the BBC article in her actual works: https://archive.org/details/Eden30538/page/n5/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Eden30538/page/n5/mode/2up
- Cthulhu_ 3mo agoIsn't this usually what happens? More depictions, records, stories and possessions of rich people end up surviving long term. Which is why I think it's important that if one is a creator, author, artist, photo/videographer, etc, that they also log the mundane, the common. My grandfather was a hobby photographer, he'd go out during e.g. local (traditional) events like "ring running" [0] (note that this was in the mid-1900s, not the 1500s from the linked article) and make photos / videos about it. A lot of his stuff is now archived at the local history museum. (also note that this was very much a small village on the far side of the country (NL), while it was spared the worst of the war it also lagged a bit in development) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_at_the_ring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_at_the_ring
- runtime_lens 3mo ago[flagged]
- djklfhdsbv 3mo agoI love it, the English can be there to exploit India and enslave its people but we treat their work as art. If it was anyone else like the Ottomans, we would treat it as barbarianism.
- seesawtron 3mo agoOh boy, you haven’t read enough about the British rule in India.
- leosanchez 3mo agoPlease educate
- Mainan_Tagonist 3mo agoThis is a pretty good read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174501.India https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174501.India This is a bit lighter and not specifically about India, enlightening nonetheless: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166434.Empire https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166434.Empire Basically, the history of British administration of India can not be summed up by the massacre of Amritsar or the sepoy wars
- HexDecOctBin 3mo agoAnd if you want a perspective other than imperial apologists and colonial nostalgics, read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32618967-an-era-of-darkness https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32618967-an-era-of-darkn... and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42972023-the-anarchy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42972023-the-anarchy
- Mainan_Tagonist 3mo agowhich of the two is John Keay?
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- zkmon 3mo agoThe English those days had some raw skills and strength. Jim Corbett traveled from Englad on a request to hunt a tiger, camped in the forest on a tree in the nights to deal with the beast. CP Brown studied Telugu and South Indian languages in a high detail. So many other Emglish men impacted India in many ways - irrigation, engineering and adminitrative framework etc. Second world War changed the course.
- randysalami 3mo agoI like to think WW1 and WW2 was the collective suicide of the West, at least in Europe. So much power lost, both in terms of empire and people, impossible to ever recover. I guess from my learning, it was inevitable, there was no other path where they could have not killed each other and blown up their empires. Alas.
- randysalami 3mo agoSorry rethinking this was a very insensitive way to put things. Too late to edit or delete. But it is a complete human tragedy that set the stage for generational trauma like no point before in human history due to rapid industrialization among other things.
- gadders 3mo agoAlso - James Prinsep - decoded the ancient Brahmi script, unlocking a lot of Indian history. And as an English person, it pains me but I should mention a lot of the Empire was run by random Scots people as well. They should share the credit/blame.
- abhiyerra 3mo agoThe Irish too… though they were given things like prisons. Scots legacy of the empire can still be seen in the bank HSBC. Unfortunately, history sort of forgets that the Scots were involved in some of the more egregious aspects such as slavery and opium. (Studied British Empire/Indian History)
- JR1427 3mo agoIf you like this, check out the amazing works of Edwin Lord Weeks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lord_Weeks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lord_Weeks
- tinyplanets 3mo agoWow, you're right. His paintings are amazing!