Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India
Created by: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Dated: 1837Manuscript Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India, which consisted of 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of the various castes and religious and ethnic groups found in Madura, India at that time. Each drawing was made on mica, a transparent, flaky mineral which splits into thin, transparent sheets. As indicated on the presentation page, the album was compiled by the Indian writing master at an English school established by American missionaries in Madura, and given to the Reverend William Twining.
The manuscript shows Indian dress and jewelry adornment in the Madurai region as they appeared before the onset of Western influences on South Asian dress and style. Each illustrated portrait is captioned in English and in Tamil, and the title page of the work includes English, Tamil, and Telugu.