Rajpoots

Photograph of Rajpoots from Delhi in India, taken by Shepherd and Robertson in c. 1863. This image of a group of four men, armed with shields, swords and muskets, is reproduced as illustration no. 199 in volume IV of John Forbes Watson's The People of India (1869). The accompanying text states, "The group photograph shows a party of Chohan soldiers armed in the native manner. The figure on the right has a broad shield at his back, which is slung over his left shoulder, and can be disengaged in a moment. It may be of rhinocerous hide, or of raw bullock or buffalo hide, pounded and cast, as it were, in a mould, which is nearly as strong. The central figure is a matchlock man; the other two ordinary swordsmen. Every Rajpoot is a master of his weapons, and most of them perform daily gymnastic exercises, of a difficult and arduous character, to an advanced period of life."

Photographer: Shepherd and Robertson

Medium: Photographic print

Date: 1863