Hi Ananya,

I have some thoughts on the photo. I worked to renovate Widener A from 2015–2016 and also took an interest in understanding it.

At the time, I did a Google image search of it. That brought me to the website of the Kerala Folklore Museum, which had an identical black-and-white item (attached) as one of many such photographs. The old version of that website which had these photos is available on Wayback (2017 grab) but unfortunately no longer serves the images. The new version of https://keralafolkloremuseum.org (created in 2018 as far as I know) does not have this photo collection at all. My meager understanding of the museum is that nearly all items, including the photos, were collected by the founder George J. Thaliath.

More importantly, I think these kinds of photographs in those days were not always genuinely representing real scenes. Instead, actors were often hired and posed with props. My guess is that this is one of those types of photos—which is to say, not necessarily real teachers in any way—and that there were many copies, and that (perhaps) Lanman himself purchased one of these photos as a keepsake during his trip to Maharashtra in 1889. Thaliath then obtained his own copy through whatever means. Again, just an educated guess.

The museum is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/folkloremuseumcochin. You may be able to get in touch with them to find out more.

Best regards,
Tyler


On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM <indology-request@list.indology.info> wrote:
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Today's Topics:

   1. Proceedings of Computational Sanskrit and Digital Humanities
      - WSC Kathmandu, 2025 (Amba Kulkarni)
   2. Query regarding a photograph (Ananya Vajpeyi)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amba Kulkarni <ambapradeep@gmail.com>
To: bvparishat@googlegroups.com, indology@list.indology.info
Cc: 
Bcc: 
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:46:20 +0530
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Proceedings of Computational Sanskrit and Digital Humanities - WSC Kathmandu, 2025
Dear list,

We are pleased to announce the online publication of the proceedings of the "Computational Sanskrit and Digital Humanities" section at WSC, Kathmandu at https://aclanthology.org/volumes/2025.wsc-csdh/


Best,
Amba Kulkarni & Oliver Hellwig


--

आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत: ll
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.
- Rig Veda, I-89-i.

Sr. Professor & Head
Department of Sanskrit Studies
University of Hyderabad
Prof. C.R. Rao Road 
Hyderabad-500 046

(91) 040 23133802(off)






---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ananya Vajpeyi <vajpeyi@csds.in>
To: Indology <indology@list.indology.info>
Cc: 
Bcc: 
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:01:36 +0530
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Query regarding a photograph
Dear List Members, 

Attached is a photograph that is kept in Room A of Widener Library, at Harvard. This is a room with Sanskrit materials:


We know nothing about this photo -- who took it, why, when, where -- nothing. Just that a piece of paper used to line the frame is newsprint from The Boston Traveler, Saturday, May 22, 1897. 

I realize many of you would have used Room A and have probably seen this photo at some point. 

Any information about it that you might have would be very helpful, thanks! 

Best,

Ananya. 
--

Ananya Vajpeyi 
Professor 
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Rd., Civil Lines
New Delhi 110054, INDIA






 

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