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Abstract
The festival of Muharram had a central place in British colonial discourses on India as it was both a site of fascination and fear. While in textual discussions the fearsome aspect invariably came to the fore, in contemporaneous images of Muharram on magic lantern slides, on postcards or in film, fear was rarely depicted, although Muharram was never shown as being out of colonial control. Images tended to focus on Muharram as an attractive spectacle, with fear often located in the accompanying text. Between 1870 and 1915, the heyday of the Raj, visual economies in postcards and in film oversaw a transformation in representations of Muharram, in which the fear was displaced and the spectacle took centre stage, offering a fresh discourse around Muharram.
Notes
1 R. Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, Twenty One Tales Selected from the Works of Rudyard Kipling (London: MacMillan, [1888] 1946), p.30.
2 T. Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.138–44.
3 X.T. Barber, ‘The Roots of Travel Cinema: John L. Stoddard, E. Burton Holmes and the Nineteenth-Century Illustrated Travel Lecture’, in Film History, Vol.5, no.1 (1993), pp.68–84. The British film company Walturdaw marketed its films and its lantern slides of its India tour in The Optical Lantern and Cinematograph Journal (Sept. 1906), p.228.
4 For example, the India Office Records at the British Library hold the postcard albums of Josephine Eppes, sister-in-law to Sir J.H. Maynard, who worked in the Indian Civil Service in the Punjab and who certainly was a member of the upper crust (India Office select materials, photo 867). On eBay a postcard collection for sale came from John White, a private from Doncaster, who did service in India from 1907–12, and who upon his return worked as a crane driver for the railways (correspondence with vendor, 3 Mar. 2011).
5 Both hook-swinging and the Jagannath festival became tropes of Indian savagery for the British. Hook-swinging had been banned all over India by 1894, and so does not appear on postcards or in films. See G.A. Oddie, Popular Religion, Elites and Reforms: Hook-Swinging and its Prohibition in Colonial India 1800–1894 (New Delhi: Manohar, 1995). The Jagannath festival, which was extensively written about by missionaries in the early nineteenth century, ‘lost some of its interest in the late nineteenth century as the rumours about human sacrifices lost plausibility’. See Ravi Ahuja, ‘The “Bridge-Builders”: Some Notes on Railways, Pilgrimage and the British Civilizing Mission in Colonial India’, in H. Fischer-Tiné and M. Mann (eds), Colonialism as Civilizing Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India (London: Anthem Press 2004), p.104.
6 Roland Barthes argues that text is often used to push the viewer into a certain direction of understanding when looking at an image. The text is then an expression of a society's values and interests. See Roland Barthes, Image, Music, Text (trans. S. Head) (Glasgow: William Collins and Sons, 1977), pp.38–41.
7 Rebecca Brown, ‘Abject to Object. Colonialism Preserved Through the Imagery of Muharram’, in RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, Vol.43 (2003), pp.203–17. Brown's argument is based on a number of paintings she has seen in the India Office Library and elsewhere (p.216). Two paintings have been reproduced in her article, one from the 1780s on p.217 and one from the 1820s on p.204. The earlier painting is livelier, but Brown argues that the later image becomes representative for all Muharram imagery throughout the nineteenth century (p.216). Another image she refers to can be seen in M. Archer, Company Paintings, Indian Paintings of the British Period (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992), pp.85, 86.
8 Brown, ‘Abject to Object. Colonialism Preserved Through the Imagery of Muharram’, pp.206–7.
9 Ibid., p.206.
10 Ibid., p.203.
11 Ibid., p.204.
12 Ibid., p.216. Tabuts are models of the tombs of Hussain and Hassan, tall, elaborately-decorated structures.
13 Ibid., p.215.
14 The location of the event had not changed: the processions always started in the Muslim neighbourhoods inside the city and would move to a tank or other large water source. See Sandria B. Freitag, Collective Action and Community: Public Arenas and the Emergence of Communalism in North India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), pp.27, 28; and Jim Masselos, ‘Change and Custom in the Format of the Bombay Mohurrum during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol.5, no.2 (1982), p.50.
15 By contrast, images of Muharram today often show the lamentation in all its bloody detail. What caused the transition from early twentieth-century images to these images is unfortunately beyond the scope of this article.
16 Sabine T. Kriebel, ‘Theories of Photography. A Short History’, in James Elkins (ed.), Photography Theory (New York: Routledge, 2007), p.27. ‘Trace’ and ‘imprint’ are used by Rosalind Krauss to indicate how ‘photographs are first and foremost bound to the world itself rather than to cultural systems’ (ibid). It is important here to add Christopher Pinney's observation that besides the argument that the ‘photograph was a record of what was placed in the camera’, there is the equally important question of whether ‘what was placed in front of the camera was the appropriate matter to place there’. See Christopher Pinney, The Coming of Photography in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008), p.4, italics in original. This question requires an analysis of how this particular ‘trace’ came to be in the photograph and in what ways it was influenced by cultural discourses. Analogue photography should probably be understood ‘as both performative and documentary, nature and culture’ and these aspects need to be studied in relation to each other. See Kriebel, ‘Theories of Photography’, p.38.
17 Pinney, The Coming of Photography, p.4.
18 Susan Sontag, On Photography (London: Penguin, 1977), pp.14, 15.
19 Mary Pratt describes mastery over the landscape, by looking down upon it, as one of the ‘standard imperial tropes’ in nineteenth-century explorer writing. See Mary L. Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (London: Routledge, 1992), p.209. For an Indian example, see Pinney's comment on Samuel Bourne's photography as ‘intent on achieving high-altitude points from which he could look down on a picturesquely ordered India’ (The Coming of Photography, pp.27, 28).
20 The American term ‘stereopticon’ refers to a type of magic lantern, a projector with two lenses, which allowed the presenter to dissolve one slide into another.
21 For more information on magic lantern shows see R. Crangle, M. Heard and I. van Dooren (eds), Realms of Light (London: Magic Lantern Society, 2005); L.M. Vogl-Bienek, ‘From Life: The Use of the Magic Lantern in Nineteenth Century Social Work’, in A. Gestrich, S. King and L. Raphael (eds), Being Poor in Modern Europe: Historical Perspectives 1800-1940 (Bern: Peter Lang, 2006), pp.467–84.
22 So far I have found sixteen readings on India, only two of which were published with images, and for another two I discovered the images online.
23 In one instance, I found exactly the same reading under three different titles.
24 Saloni Mathur, India by Design. Colonial History and Cultural Display (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), p.114.
25 Ibid., p.115. On the printing of postcards in India, see Sandria Freitag, ‘The Realm of the Visual: Agency and Modern Civil Society’, in Contributions to Sociology, Vol.36, nos.1–2 (2002), p.381, fn16.
26 Steven Patterson, ‘Postcards from the Raj’, in Patterns of Prejudice, Vol.40, no.2 (2006), p.149.
27 Although it can be extremely difficult to date unposted postcards, if they were printed anywhere in Germany or Luxembourg it indicates they were published before the beginning of World War I. For more details on the technical history of postcards see H. Woody, ‘International Postcards’, in C.M. Geary and V.L. Webb (eds), Delivering Views: Distant Cultures in Early Postcards (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998), pp.13–45.
28 The postcards referred to in this article are a representative sample of Muharram postcards.
29 C.M. Geary and V.L. Webb (eds), Delivering Views: Distant Cultures in Early Postcards (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998), p.11.
30 Shashwati Talukdar, ‘Picturing Mountains as Hills’ (2010), Tasveerghar [www.tashveergarindia.net, accessed 4 Oct. 2011], p.1.
31 Tom Gunning, ‘The Whole World Within Reach’, in Jeff Ruoff (ed.), Virtual Voyages, Cinema and Travel (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), pp.25–41.
32 As part of my research into the representation of South Asia in early visual mass media, I have been compiling an inventory of all non-fiction film titles dealing with British India from 1895 to 1915 in European and American catalogues and trade journals. So far this has resulted in about 300 titles, of which I have only been able to watch a small number.
33 Ian Christie, ‘Comparing Catalogues’, in F. Kessler and N. Verhoeff (eds), Networks of Entertainment. Early Film Distribution 1895–1915 (New Barnet, Herts: John Libbey Publishing, 2007), pp.209–17.
34 I. Christie and J. Sedgwick, ‘Fumbling Towards Some New Form of Art?: The Changing Composition of Film Programmes in Britain 1908–1914’, in A. Ligensa and K. Kreimeier (eds), Film 1900: Technology, Perception, Culture (New Barnet, Herts: John Libbey Publishing, 2009), pp.151–64.
35 Taking photographs for magic lantern slides was no different from taking photographs to be printed on paper except for the size of the glass plate the images were printed on.
36 Intertitles did create more space for a narrative, but were not used in the film I discuss below. Before intertitles were used films were often presented with a spoken commentary. What type of commentary was given depended entirely on the presenter, but as it was usually not written down, it is nearly impossible to retrieve. Review comments in film trade journals range from utterly racist to the questioning of British rule in India, indicating the variety of opinions that existed.
37 The reproduction of topics attractive to British tastes is most noticeable with Moorli Dhur & Sons in Ambala. Their postcards seemed to be entirely created for British soldiers passing through and only dealt with images related to the British experience in India. Other companies like the Ravi Varma Press or the Phototype Company had a more mixed collection including views for tourists as well as Hindu religious images.
38 A discussion of this spectacular aspect of photography in India is relatively rare in discussions on early photography in India. Pinney argues that portraiture was more popular because it ‘produced better results’ than ‘the large collectivities of the sort by which—so one kind of historiography would claim—India in the nineteenth century was still largely constituted’. See Pinney, The Coming of Photography, p.109. However in film, the spectacle created by these large collectivities was as interesting as the portrayal of individuals. Postcards and films of Muharram reflect an interest in the spectacle that India provided so well. One example of attention to the more spectacular aspect of photography is Kama Maclean's discussion on the photogenic attractions of the Kumbh Mela from colonial times until the present. See Kama Maclean, Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad from 1765–1954 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp.40–2.
39 A. Gaudreault and P. Marion, ‘The Mysterious Affair of Styles in the Age of Kine-Attractography’, in Early Popular Visual Culture, Vol.8, no.1 (2010), p.26.
40 Tom Gunning, ‘The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde’, in Thomas Elsaesser (ed.), Early Cinema, Space, Frame, Narrative (London: BFI Publishing, 1990), pp.56–62. This concept has been extremely fruitful and is now widely used in the study of early cinema. See Wanda Strauven (ed.), Cinema of Attractions Reloaded (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006).
41 Gunning, ‘The Cinema of Attractions’, p.57 (italics in original).
42 Ibid., p.58.
43 Tom Gunning, ‘Before Documentary: Early Nonfiction Films and the “View” Aesthetic’, in D. Hertogs and N. de Klerk (eds), Uncharted Territory. Essays on Early Nonfiction Film (Amsterdam: Stichting Nederlands Filmmuseum, 1997), p.15.
44 Ibid., p.19.
45 Jennifer Lynn Peterson, Education in the School of Dreams: Travelogues and Early Nonfiction Film (Durham/London: Duke University Press, 2013), pp.34–5.
46 Gunning, ‘Before Documentary’, p.19.
47 See among others Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, pp.49, 50.
48 Freitag, Collective Action and Community, p.251.
49 Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, p.50.
50 Ibid., p.53.
51 Freitag, Collective Action and Community, discusses the context of popular culture for understanding these riots, which did not appear much in British descriptions.
52 Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). See also Freitag, Collective Action and Community.
53 Pandey, The Construction of Communalism, p.36.
54 Justin Jones, Shi’a Islam in Colonial India: Religion, Community and Sectarianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp.100–12.
55 Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, p.50.
56 Prasant Kidambi, The Making of an Indian Metropolis: Colonial Governance and Public Culture in Bombay 1890–1920 (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), pp.115-8.
57 Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, p.55.
58 In 1912, the tabuts were left in their localities and sprinkled with sea water, in lieu of processions to the sea. See Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, p.59. For a discussion of the problems relating to Bombay's Muharram see also Sandria. B. Freitag, ‘The Roots of Muslim Separatism in South Asia: Personal Practice and Public Structures in Kanpur and Bombay’, in E. Burke III and I. M. Lapidus (eds), Islam, Politics and Social Movements (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) pp.115-45; and Kidambi, The Making of an Indian Metropolis, Chapter 5, pp.138–49, for a detailed account of the events in the early 1900s.
59 Optical Lantern Readings: Calcutta, Rosiebelle and the Dwarf, A Humourous Cure for Intemperance (London: York and Son, n.d.), slide 27. The reading can be roughly dated to the 1870s by slide 33 (of a Kali temple in Calcutta) which states that ‘as recent as 1866’ a human body had been found inside it. This reading and others were found in the British Film Institute's library. They can also be found on the website of the British Magic Lantern Society, which restricts access to members only. An impressive and ongoing catalogue of lantern readings and slides on all sorts of topics is the website Lucerna, hosted by Trier University [http://www.slides.uni-trier.de/index.php, accessed 15 Aug. 2013].
60 Optical Lantern Readings, slide 28.
61 The Prince of Wales’ Visit to India, Lantern Lecture (London: York and Son, n.d.), slide 46. This is the 1875–76 visit.
62 Mysore and Southern India (London: York and Son, n.d.), slide 50. It mentions the forthcoming visit of the Prince of Wales in 1875; probable date around 1874.
63 The Prince of Wales, slide 46.
64 Mysore and Southern India, slide 50.
65 The Mysore reading states its duty is ‘to explain…the scenes about to be visited by the future Emperor of India’, Introduction.
67 Sarmistha De and Bidisha Chakraborty, ‘Maidan: The Open Space in History’, in Social Scientist, Vol.38, nos.1–2 (2010), p.9.
68 Image available at http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/moharram-mumbai.html, accessed 15 Aug. 2013. The same image was listed for sale recently on eBay, with the vendor's description stating it had been posted in 1911. Unfortunately the seller did not display the writing on the reverse of the card, which might have noted the Muharram riots in 1911.
69 Quoted in David Pinault, The Shiites: Ritual and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992), p.74. Before the assistant superintendent walks ‘the force of constables’, all Indian and all on foot.
70 Quoted in Masselos, ‘Change and Custom’, p.54.
71 Bluebook of Warwick and Star Selected Film Subjects, April 1902, nr 6775.
72 Rianne Siebenga, ‘Colonial India's “Fanatical Fakirs” and their Popular Representations’, in History and Anthropology, Vol.23, no.4 (2012), pp.445–66.
73 Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly (11 April 1912), p.ix.
74 Re-enactments of recent events, such as wars and boxing matches, enjoyed great popularity in the early years of film. The camera could be used to create a representation that not only brought the real event onto the screen, but was also devoid of all danger. This description reminds me of these re-enactments. See A. Gaudreault, ‘The Cinematograph: A Historiographical Machine’, in D.E. Klemm and W. Schweiker (eds), Meanings in Texts and Actions: Questioning Paul Ricoeur (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), pp.90–7.
75 In 1909 Urban advertised a film showing a cremation at Benares which stated: ‘there is nothing repulsive from beginning to end’, thus countering general British opinion that cremation was repellant. See Kinematograph Weekly (21 Jan. 1909), p.970.
76 ‘The Majestic Splendours of India’ [http://filmographie.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com/index.php?id=15586, accessed 16 August 2013].
77 The Bioscope (4 Dec. 1913), p.xi.
78 Kurt Koenigsberger, The Novel and the Menagerie: Totality, Englishness, and Empire (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2007).
79 Ibid., p.70.
80 It is possible that the different positions of the British and the French in India influenced these descriptions, because the British were more concerned about a loss of control and power than the French, who had no political influence in this part of India.
81 Stills of the film can be found at http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/progettoturconi/title.php?TITLE_ NUMBER=758#clip, and at http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/progettoturconi/title.php?TITLE_NUMBER= 202#clip, both accessed 14 Aug. 2013.
82 Moving Picture World (hereafter MPW), Vol.6, no.16 (16 April 1910), p.615.
83 See www.cinetecadelfriuli.org, stills 15600, 15601, 15606, 15607.
84 MPW, Vol.6, no.19 (7 May 1910), p.737 (emphasis mine). The Bioscope describes it as ‘the strange customs which this curious people observes’ (23 Sept. 1909, p.33).
85 According to MPW, ‘it deserves a place on any manager's list’. See MPW, Vol.6, no.19 (7 May 1910), p.737. The Bioscope (23 Sept. 1909), p.33, states that ‘this is a film that should enjoy a very ready popularity’. This type of comment going beyond the visual achievements of a film is quite rare.
86 See www.cinetecadelfriuli.org, stills 5774, 5779, 15604.
87 This resonates with Orwell's comment that a white man in the East became ‘a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib…[who] wears a mask and his face grows to fit it’. George Orwell, ‘Shooting an Elephant’, in George Orwell, Inside the Whale and Other Essays (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd., 1957), p.95.
88 Other stills do show one or two Indian policemen, but that does not change the argument significantly, since their numbers are still not sufficient to control any large outburst of violence.
89 According to the Pathé description the film ends with shots of the Kutab Minar and the ‘Royal Palace’, possibly the Red Fort, emphasising the important architectural aspects of Delhi. These shots are not preserved in the stills on the website nor in the version which is available at the Deutsche Kinemathek. The Deutsche Kinemathek version even lacks the images of the mosque [http://filmographie.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com/index.php?id=3283, accessed 14 Aug. 2013].
90 Prem Chowdhry, Colonial India and the Making of Empire Cinema (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p.67.