"A Sikh Century in Photographs, 1848-1947"
Amandeep Singh
Co-author, 'Warriors Saints: Three Centuries of the Sikh Military Tradition'
The audience were some of the very first, the very few to see the images exhibited
by Amandeep Singh. Most of the photographs are in private collections and have
not been authorized for publication.
The book Warrior Saints is a very thin slice of the body of material that exists
around the Sikh martial experience. And this Sikh tradition is a very thin slice
of the overall Sikh experience. Sikh history has been played out in front of
the lens for over one hundred and fifty years. This presentation was a thin
slice of the broader history of the Sikhs and it showed the demise of the Sikh
empire.
This period, 1848-1947, also coincides with the development of photography.
The earliest pictures from India come from a photographer named John McCosh
of the East India Company. The photographer is not well known and his photographs
of Indian subjects are completely unknown. McCosh was very prolific when he
was based in Lahore and Ludhiaana, however. And he was based there in 1847,
on the eve of the first Anglo-Sikh war.
To recover those pictures it was necessary to track down the photo albums from
his family. When the authors did that, to their surprise, they found a picture
of Duleep Singh, the boy king, son of Sardar Ranjit Singh (Bahadur). It is the
only photograph that captures him during his very short reign as maharaja. Duleep
Singh's reign ended with the second Anglo-Sikh war.
Other photographs showed bearded and turbaned non-Sikh officers in the army
of Sardar Ranjit Singh. The maharaja would encourage his non-Sikh officers and
his non-Sikh governors to have long beards, as evidenced by pictures in the
McCosh album. McCosh also gave us our very first images of Sikhs. There are
over a dozen Sikh portraits in the McCosh album.
The photography of that period was very natural, not studio-like, and gives
information about the history of that time. Another foreign war photographer
in Amritsar gave us the first images of the Golden Temple and the adjoining
buildings, thirteen in total.
Other photographers have captured the images of Sikhs of various communities.
The audience saw photographs of the former bodyguard of Sardar Ranjit Singh,
his artillerymen and his contemporaries. They all had long beards and turbans
of various sizes and shapes. Another photograph shows the maharajas - Heera
Singh, Mohinder Singh of Patiala - and other courtly figures. Other photographs
showed Duleep Singh in England and his daughters, westernized. Photographs of
Sikh women are very rare. There was one of village girls dancing in the early
1900's.
Many photographs of Sikhs during the First World War were also presented.
In the First World War, Sikh soldiers found themselves fighting in a country
that was occupying their own country. This led to the protest of 1924. One photograph
showed a large gathering of Juthhaas outside the Akal Takth before their arrest.
From the Second World War there were pictures that show Sikhs in other military
roles such as communications and engineering. And finally, Margaret White of
Time-Life magazine took photos during 1946 and 1947 of the mass exodus during
partition. These were also shown.
Most of the photographs remain scattered, uncataloged, unseen and, sometimes, in physical damage. No central database exists. In the context of Sikh heritage preservation, we need to also focus our efforts on historical photography.