John Forbes Watson and John Williams Kaye
The People of India. A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan
John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, The People of India. A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, London: India Museum (later W. H. Allen & Co.), 1868–1875
Volumes II and VIII (of 8)
Two folio volumes (each approx. 555 × 430 mm), together comprising 115 original oval albumen prints, each laid down within printed borders, with facing tissue guards and detailed letterpress descriptions.
Volume II (1868): [4], 224 pp., with 57 photographic plates (Plates 56–110), with detailed letterpress.
Includes notable images of Himalayan border tribes and northern caste groups: Mechis, Sunwars, Limboos, Magars, Goorkhas, Rajpoot clans of Oude and Benares, Bhats, Pathans, Pasees. among others.
Regional breakdown: Darjeeling (1); Nipal (20); Oude (12); Benaras (7); Mirzapore (2); Behar (1); Allahabad (8); Moradabad (5)
Volume VIII (1875): [4], 263 pp., with 58 photographic plates (Plates 406–468), with detailed letterpress.
Covers South India, Nilgiri Hill tribes, and colonial Southeast Asia: Lingayets, Coorgs, Todas, Kotas, Irulas, Badagas, Yenadies, Shanar Christians, Khonds, Burmese, Kooki, Bugis, Malay tribes and others.
Regional breakdown: Mysore (17); Coorg (8); Neelgerries / Nilgiris (14); Chingleput (2); Madras (9); Travancore (2); Mysore and Southern India (1); Kattack (1); Khondistan (2); Malay Peninsula (1); Singapoor (3); Chittagong (1); Lower Provinces (3); Burmah (3); Burmah and Pegu (1); Arracan (1)
Contemporary publisher’s deluxe Victorian binding of full maroon cloth over bevelled boards, elaborately stamped in gilt and blind; upper cover with large central gilt medallion featuring a stylised sunburst enclosing a rosette motif, flanked by two gilt-tooled title panels reading “THE PEOPLE” and “OF INDIA” respectively, each bordered by floral cornerpieces; outer border panelled with a wide gilt and black scrollwork frame incorporating repetitive botanical and geometric designs, including palmettes and stylised lotus motifs at each corner (each)
Volume II – The People of India (1868) – Plate Titles (in published order)
56 & 57. MECHIS; Trans-Himalayan Origin. Darjeeling. / 58, 59, & 60. SUNWARS; Sub-Himalayan Origin. Nipal. / 61, 62, 63, & 64. LIMBOOS; Aboriginal. Nipal. / 65 & 66. MAGARS; Military Tribe. Nipal. / 67, 68, & 69. GOORUNGS; Military Tribe. Nipal. / 70 & 71. KUS OR KHAS; Goorkhas. Nipal. / 72 & 73. NEWARS; Slave Population, supposed Aboriginal. Nipal. / 74. BANRAS; Subdivision of Newars. Nipal. / 75, 76, & 77. MOORMIS; Tibetans. Nipal. / 78. BAIS: Rajpoots, Hindoo. Oude. / 79. BHALI SOOLTANS; chiefly Mahomedan. Oude. / 80. CHOHANS; Rajpoots, Hindoo. Oude. / 81. RAJ KOOMARS; Rajpoots, Hindoo. Oude. / 82. BUJGOTEES; Rajpoots, Hindoo. Oude. / 83. GURGBUNSEES; Rajpoots, Hindoo. Oude. / 84. BHURS; supposed Aboriginal. Oude. / 85. TEEHURS; supposed Aboriginal. Oude. / 86. PASEES; Low Caste Hindoo. Oude. / 87. PATHANS; Mahomedan. Oude. / 88. SYUDS; Descendants of Mahomed. Oude. / 89. MOHUNTS OF HUNOOMANGURHEE; Hindoo. Oude. / 90. MAHARAJAH OF BENARES; Hindoo. Benares. / 91. BHATS; Hindoo. Benares. / 92. GUNGAPOOTRAS; Hindoo. Benares. / 93. GHAUTEEAS; Hindoo. Benares. / 94. AGHOREES; Hindoo. Benares. / 95. DUNDEES; Hindoo. Benares. / 96. BHURS; Aboriginal. Benares. / 97. MIRZAPORE HILLMAN; supposed Aboriginal. Mirzapore. / 98. SYUDS; Shah Abdoolah Subzposh, Mahomedan. Mirzapore. / 99. KOEREES; Hindoo. Behar. / 100. UGURWALLAHI; Ram Persad, Hindoo. Allahabad. / 101. PATHAN; Ushruf Ali Khan, Shiah Mahomedan of Afghan Descent. Allahabad. / 102. BOONDELAHS; from Bundelcund, Hindoo. Allahabad. / 103. BAIRAGI; Hindoo Religious Mendicant. Allahabad. / 104–104a. SOONEE MAHOMEDAN, from Cashmere. / SOONEE MAHOMEDANS (Snake Charmers). Allahabad. / 105–105a. NUTS; Hindoo (Dancing Girl). / MISSER BRAHMIN (a Baishnoo & Bhugut). Allahabad. / 106. BISHNOI; Hindoo. Moradabad. / 107. MIRASSEES, or MINSTRELS; Mahomedan. Moradabad. / 108. BOKSAS; Hindoo, probably Aboriginal. Moradabad. / 109. BHATS; Mahomedan. Moradabad. / 110. NUTS; Hindoo (Gipseys). Moradabad.
Volume VIII – The People of India (1875) – Plate Titles (in published order)
406–7. H.H. THE LATE MAHARAJAH OF MYSORE. Mysore / 408. RAJAH BINDAH. Mysore / 409. SRI VISHNU. Brahmin. Mysore / 410. SRI VISHNU. Brahmin. Mysore / 411–12. SMARTHA. Brahmin. Mysore – Laukika Smartha. Brahmin. Mysore / 413–14. LAUKIKA SMARTHA. Brahmin. Mysore – Vaidika Smartha. Brahmin. Mysore / 415. KAZEE. Mussulman. Mysore / 416. KHADIR KHAN. Mussulman. Mysore / 417. KUNBI DASARE. Hindoo. Mysore / 418. UPPAR. Hindoo. Mysore / 419. GAULI. Hindoo Lingayet. Mysore / 420. LAMBANI WOMAN. Hindoo. Mysore / 421–2. LINGAYETS. Hindoos. Mysore / 423. MOCHIS. Hindoo. Mysore / 424. KORAMA, OR KORWA. Hindoo. Mysore / 425. AMMA KODAGI, OR KAVERI. Brahmins. Coorg. / 426. COORGS. Hindoos. Coorg. / 427. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. Coorg. / 428. HEGADES. Hindoos. Coorg. / 429. HOLEYAS. Hindoos. Coorg. / 430–1–2. KURUBAR, OR KURUMBAR. Primitive Tribe. Coorg and Neelgerries. / 433–4. TODA MEN. Neelgerry Hills. – Toda Women. Neelgerry Hills. / 435–6. KOTA MEN. Neelgerry Hills. – Kota Women. Neelgerry Hills. / 437–8. IRULA MEN. Neelgerry Hills. – Irula Women. Neelgerry Hills. / 439–40. BADAGA MEN. Hindoos. Neelgerry Hills. – Badaga Women. Hindoos. Neelgerry Hills. / 441–2. YENADIES. Forest Tribe. Chingleput. / 443. VEGETABLE AND FRUIT SELLERS. Hindoos. Madras. / 444. GRASSCUTTERS. Hindoos. Madras. / 445. TAILORS. Hindoos. Madras. / 446. CARPENTERS. Hindoos. Madras. / 447. BARBER. Hindoo. Madras. / 448. BLACKSMITHS. Hindoos. Madras. / 449. MALLEES. Hindoos. Madras. / 450. CHUMARS. Hindoos. Madras. / 451. GHORAWALLA. Hindoos. Madras. / 452. POLAYERS. Slave Caste. Travancore. / 453. SHANAR CHRISTIANS. Primitive Tribe. Travancore. / 454. BEDUR, OR VEDDAR. Primitive Tribe. Mysore and Southern India. / 455. KHONDS. Primitive Hill Tribe. Kattack. / 456–7. KHONDS IN WAR DRESS. Khondistan. / 458. A JACOON AND HIS WIFE. Malay Peninsula. / 459. BAWEEANS. Coolies, or Labourers. Singapoor. / 460. BUGIS. Singapoor. / 461. MALAY WOMEN. Singapoor. / 462. PURRIKHET. Chief of the Kooki Tribe. Chittagong. / 463. BURMAN. Lower Provinces. / 464. GROUP OF BURMESE. Lower Provinces. / 465. TALAING. Burmah and Pegu. / 466. KARENS. Burmah. / 467. GROUP OF CHRISTIANS.—KARENS. Burmah. / 468. MUGH. Arracan.
A LANDMARK OF THE COLONIAL LENS—WATSON AND KAYE’S THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, WITH 115 ALBUMEN PORTRAITS DOCUMENTING THE DIVERSITY OF THE RAJ
Few works exemplify the colonial convergence of science, image, and administration as thoroughly as The People of India—a monumental photographic ethnography commissioned by Lord Canning in the wake of the 1857 Uprising. Designed to assist in the "governance of difference", the project was orchestrated under the India Office by John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye and published over seven years in eight volumes.
Commissioned by the India Office after the 1857 Uprising, The People of India was conceived as a systematic visual ethnography of the British Empire’s colonial subjects. These volumes combined official statecraft with the emerging technology of photography, presenting a racialised typology of caste, tribe, and region, grounded in British ethnological and administrative interests.
Employing photography as an empirical tool of classification, it became the first systematic attempt to document the people of the Indian subcontinent by race, caste, region, and occupation.
Each plate in the series—captured by leading government photographers such as Willoughby Wallace Hooper and James Waterhouse—was composed with formal rigour: sitters posed frontally or in profile, often holding occupational tools or wearing regional attire, against neutral backdrops. The photographs are accompanied by detailed ethnographic texts ranging from 300 to 600 words, describing caste origin, geographic distribution, religious practice, and personality traits—based on contemporary (and now critically contested) Victorian racial theories.
The present pair—Volumes II and VIII—forms a geographically and conceptually rich selection within the series.
• Volume II surveys the Himalayan and Gangetic regions, including Darjeeling, Nepal, Benares, Mirzapore, Bihar, Allahabad, and Moradabad. It features Bhotias, Sherpas, Doms, Bheels, Brahmins, and Muslim artisans—capturing groups otherwise marginalised in historical narratives.
• Volume VIII, the final volume, documents Punjab, Sind, Delhi, and the North-West Frontier. It includes Rajput warrior castes, pastoralists, camel-drivers, and nomadic tribes—figures emblematic of the "martial races" ideal promoted by colonial military ethnography.
Together, these volumes reflect the British attempt to visually stabilise an extraordinarily diverse population through typological portraiture. Yet despite the prescriptive framing, many sitters resist objectification through posture, gaze, and bearing. The volumes are thus dual artefacts: administrative instruments and visual archives of human complexity.
Volumes II and VIII remain foundational for the study of colonial photography, visual anthropology, and South Asian ethnography. They were instrumental in shaping later surveys such as the anthropometric classifications of H. H. Risley and the Punjab census under Ibbetson. Today, they are critically re-evaluated as artefacts of surveillance and display and as early records of Indian self-presentation under colonial gaze.
Today, The People of India is read with critical awareness of its colonial underpinnings, yet it remains foundational for scholars of South Asian history, visual anthropology, and the historiography of race and empire. The volumes are held in major institutions including the British Library, the Smithsonian, the Wellcome Collection, and the Getty Research Institute and rarely appear complete in the market. As both a photographic monument and an ideological artefact, Volumes II and VIII offer one of the most significant surviving records of 19th-century imperial ethnography—unsettling, illuminating, and enduringly relevant.
Volumes from The People of India are rarely found complete and in such preservation. Institutions such as the British Library, Smithsonian, and Wellcome hold archival copies. A cohesive pair such as this—bridging the subcontinent from Himalayan to North-Western communities—offers particular historical and curatorial appeal.
As both a photographic artefact and an instrument of colonial knowledge, The People of India endures as one of the 19th century’s most ambitious projects in ethnographic imaging. Volumes II and VIII are not only repositories of faces and names but also visual echoes of power, resilience, and contested identity—critical to understanding how photography shaped, and was shaped by, the machinery of empire.
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