The painterly eye of princely India

Deen Dayal was born in Sardhana town of Meerut district in what used to be the United Provinces of Agra and Awadh or Oudhe in an Agarwal Jain family in 1844. He died in 1905 in Mumbai.

Our hero studied draftsmanship at the Thomason Civil Engineering College Roorkee. This exposure transformed his outlook and provided him with a glimmer of what is known as the scientific temper.

When applied to the photography of architectural monuments, the combination of native intelligence and the scientific temper yielded outstanding results.

Deen Dayal soon made his mark and was selected to accompany a senior British official on a tour to photograph monuments.

Some of his excellent photographs made the desired impact and were bought by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The opportunities for the advancement of a talented Indian just did not exist in British India except for the one or two per year who won a state scholarship to study in England.

These lucky few joined the 'heaven born' Indian Civil Service and were usually channelled to the judiciary stream to make sure that they did not 'rock the boat'.

At Independence there were no Indians in British India with any experience of the executive or 'decision making' branch.

In this kind of set-up the question of a talented Indian photographer getting recognition enough to earn a living leave alone fame and recognition just did not exist.

Fortunately for Deen Dayal, there were over 500 princely states covering almost half of the area of the large country.

The better ruled amongst them provided Indians such as Sir M Visveswaraiyya, Sir Mirza Ismail and Sardar K M Pannikar with opportunity to show their mettle.

The sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mahboob Ali Khan, then the richest man in the world, became the patron of Lala Deen Dayal.

The Lala took excellent photographs of his patron, the nobles of Hyderabad, the families of the aristocracy, and of visitors, events and curiosities. He was honoured by the title Raja and 'Musawwir Jung'. Musawwir means painter.

Narendra Luther has put together his notes on the history of photography in the world (10 pages), the history of photography in India (12 pages) the history of the British Rule in India (8 pages) Pax Britannia (23 pages) and 152 photographs out of the tens of thousands that Deen Dayal took in his lifetime to assemble the book under review.

The photographs include an excellent study of Iltutmish's tomb in Mehrauli. (page 114) Unfortunately the monument has been identified as 'The Pearl Mosque in the Red Fort.'

Luther states: "Penderel Moon forecast that 'the British Raj in India in years to come is going to be viewed as one of the wonders of the world.' It is already beginning to be seen that way".

It is not surprising that with this kind of mindset Luther asked Prince Charles to write the Foreword to the book.

The foreword provides the prince opportunity to protest his love for India. If this positive emotion really exists in the von Battenberg family, a practical manifestation would be to put their money where their mouth is.

An act such as the return of the Padishahnama illuminated manuscript extorted from the Nawab Vizier of Lucknow, or restoring the jewelled Huma bird of Tippu Saheb's throne looted from Seringapatinam in May 1799, or returning the gold crown and the crystal throne of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar looted from Shahjahanabad Dillee on 20th September 1857 would be welcomed by all Indians

All these items are in the possession of the Queen and neither she nor anyone in her family could possibly react to them as any ordinary Indian would.

These objects are a part of the Indian heritage and the exhibition of the Padishahnama saw people travel to Delhi from outstation to see it.

As a test, these and other items from India could form an exhibition to tour the bigger cities of India and the reaction would show the truth of what is stated above.

When the British really have any feeling for India they will apologise for their intrusion, atone for the hundred man-made famines during their two centuries of rule and remedy their insertion of Bahadur Shah Zafar's remains in Burma and those of Thee Baw in Ratnagiri, India.

The least the Prince could have done was to acknowledge that a talented man born in British India had to travel to princely India to come into his own.

The Foreword is out of place and would have been better suited to a book on the Maharajas of India or a history of the Asaf Jahi dynasty.

Narendra Luther has provided a history of photography to place the work of Deen Dayal in context. Personal intimate details of the subject as well as those he served by photographing them are missing.

As the princes were untrammelled by puritan mores we could have seen some of the more risqué studies of the objects of their desires.

Perhaps one day someone will unearth this area of the Raja's work as well as that of other photographers of the era. This will help provide a three dimensional picture of the photographer and the times to emerge.

K Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy's sponsorship of this book is a welcome sign of the growing sense of identity in Indian business houses.

It is hoped that the day is not far when someone will publish a catalogue of the superb collection put together by Jagdish and Kamla Mital in Hyderabad and make this treasure accessible to many more people than can enjoy it today.

RAJA DEEN DAYAL:
Prince of Photographers

Narendra Luther
Creative Point Hyderabad
Pages:158
Price: Rs 2,000