"Pilgrims of the Sacred Fair of Hurdwar, in the Bengal Presidency," a steel engraving by White and Higham (Fisher, Son & Co., London, 1845); *a very large scan of this engraving*
Source: ebay, Nov. 2004
"It is difficult to convey an adequate
idea of the grandeur and beauty that render Hurdwar one of the
places most worthy of a traveler's attention, in India, or to
attempt to describe the diversified swarms of animate creation
that, in the form of men and beasts of every race and clime, cover
the whole ground around the holy station during the annual
festival of the pilgrims at Hurdwar, in April. Horse-merchants
from Bokhara and Cabool occupy the stony, central portions of the
river; while those from Turkistan take up quarters behind the
houses of the town. Elephant dealers incline to the suburbs for
the sake of fodder; but, morning and evening, traverse the roads
with their studs, each elephant having a bell attached to its neck
to give warning of approach. Buneas, or grain-sellers; Hulwaes, or
confectioners; cloth, shawl, and toy-merchants, occupy the
roadside, close to the town; their dwelling-places being
interspersed with enclosures containing piles of barley and straw,
heaped up and ready for sale.
The crowding and confusion of buyers
and sellers; the native groups in every imaginable variety of
costume--some shining in cloth of gold, and surrounded by
followers richly arrayed; others less expensively, but
picturesquely, dressed, and many half-naked or wildly clad--all
mingled together, among priests, soldiers, and religious
mendicants-half beggar, half bandit; with here and there a cluster
of Europeans mounted upon elephants, and affecting to look with
supreme contempt upon the scene around them--exhibit altogether a
combination of individualities that no other place in the world is
capable of presenting. As may be easily imagined, the noise
baffles all description."
"A Hindoo Fair," a wood engraving from the Illustrated London News, 1858; very large scans of the *left half* and the *right half* of this engraving
Source: ebay, June 2002
"An Indian Harlequin playing the tiger," from the Illustrated London News, 1864
Source: ebay, Dec. 2007
"Performing goat," from the Illustrated London News, 1864; click on the image for a very large scan; the *tourist poster version, 1935*
Source: ebay, Apr. 2009
Snake charmers, Bombay; a wood engraving, 1875 (Hachette, Paris)
Source: ebay, Dec. 2007
"The Magh Mela, or annual fair, at Allahabad," from The Graphic, 1888
Source: ebay, Nov. 2007
"Scene in the River Godavery, Nassik," an albumen photo of a pilgrimage center, c.1880's
Source: ebay, Feb. 2008
== Indian Routes index == Indian Routes sitemap == Glossary == FWP's main page ==