Digital Exhibit

Overview

Henry Wightman Benson and Jean S. Sharf’s album, Cashmere & Ladakh, portrayed the transition of people and landscapes from before and after British rule. Benson traveled through India on his exploration and as he got closer to where the British conquered the transition becomes more apparent. These photographs were taken in the 1880’s during Benson’s expedition. The first few photographs shown illustrate the indigenous people, natural landscapes and architecture of India pre-British rule. The later pictures show the indigenous people with the British conquerors.

 

Henry Wightman Benson put together the album during his peacetime service with the 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment of Great Britain. During his time there he was able to explore and photograph local sites of India and Tibet. The album starts off with photos of bridges and nature that surrounded the Indians. It was their way of life and as Benson gets closer to the villages that were conquered by the British, the evolution becomes more noticeable.

 

This album is crucial to the British’s understanding of the colonization of India. The British had their own ideas of how civilizations should live and what it means to be progressive. The pictures in the beginning of the album do not depict what the British thought was acceptable as ways of life. According to Cohn, “The work of the Thagi and Dacoity Department led to the formation of an archive of criminal ethnography and the designation of the increasing numbers of people as members of ‘criminal tribes and casts.’” (Cohn, 11) This album served the same purpose. The pictures in this album could be used to justify the British colonizing India. At the start of the album the Indians were wearing traditional garbs. But as the album goes on the influence of the British is increasingly apparent. The pictures towards the end show the Indians dressed more “modernly” and “civilized.” By using this way of thinking the British were able to defend their decisions to colonize India. Through this expansion, the British were seen as heroes and missionaries to their people.

 

Not only did the people change but so did the landscapes and architecture. The first photographs shown were ecocentric opposed to the later photographs that were more focused on humans and manmade structures. The emphasis on the architecture is symbolic to how the British saw India. They saw it as an opportunity to expand and impose their own ideologies and lifestyles to the Indians. They didn’t care for the people who lived on the land; they just cared about the land itself. The photographs accurately depict the intentions of the British.

 

Cohn makes the argument that the British used these investigative modalities to influence the perception of India to the British people. This album accurately supports his claim. The British conquerors that traveled to India were not willing to interact with the indigenous people, according to Cohn, “The British appear in the nineteenth century to have felt most comfortable surveying India from above and at a distance – from a horse, an elephant, a boat, a carriage, or a train.” (Cohn, 10) This shows that the British did not genuinely want to learn about the ways of life of the Indians. From their observations from afar they came to false conclusions that they reiterated to the world.

 

The album shows the transition of how the Indians lived without British influence and with British influence. With the biases already inside the minds of the British people, they saw these photographs as a justification of what was happening. They believed that their way of life was correct so it was ethical to change the way people lived in India.

 

 

Images and Descriptive Analysis of the Images

This photograph shows the traditional clothing of the indigenous Indians. Clothing was a very important part of their culture as it represented their lifestyle, beliefs, and authority. There is a huge amount of significance behind each piece that was worn. Throughout this album the transition of their clothing is obvious. The symbolism behind the garbs is taken away as the British force the Indians to conform to their way of life. The authority and belief system of the indigenous people is stripped away and handed to the British conquerors.

The indigenous Indians believed in idolatry, the worshipping of idols. This picture is an example of the idols that they worshipped. This was a key part of the Indian culture that Benson captured in his album. By taking away their belief system, the British were able to impose their own beliefs onto the Indians. This contributed to the overall success of the British in colonizing India.

These photographs by Benson show the British people the life the Indians had before they were conquered. These photographs helped justify the colonization of India because it was seen as rural and unfit. The Indian culture was seen as savage and needed change in the minds of the British. They saw the colonization as a way to progress the nation.

In this image the influence of the British on the Indians is clear. Their clothing is drastically different from the first image and so is their body language. They are not wearing their traditional garbs; rather they are wearing British military uniforms and suits.

This photograph has the strongest message out of the entire album. It depicts everything that Cohn has stated in his book. The British men are sitting at the picnic table while the Indian men are standing behind him. This photograph proves that the British put their own needs before those of the Indians. They saw the Indians as mere means to their goals rather than a collect group of people.

 

Further Thoughts

I think the album was a great portrayal of how the British people saw the indigenous Indians. It showed the rural parts of India and how people lived but it did not offer any genuine background to their rituals and traditions. But the photographs portraying the Indians after they have conformed to British rule is vastly different. They were taken in a closer range and with more care than the ones in the beginning of the album. They were more personable and furthered the bias against the Indians.

 

References

 

Cohn, Bernard S. Colonialism and its forms of knowledge the British in India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2006. Print.

 

Benson, Henry Wightman, Sharf, Jean S., Photograph Album of Cashmere & Ladakh,

India, 1886