Village India

First Online: December 01,2003
Page Last Updated: September 07,2008

Introduction

It is often said that India is a nation of villages. While the urban population has dramatically increased over the last couple of decades, the rural economy and life is central to India's existence and identity. This section at Kamat's Potpourri is an attempt to provide graphic insights into the lifestyle and social infrastructure of rural India. The photographs were taken over a fifty year period, and many of the means or tools may  no longer be available or practiced. However, we feel they are of historical importance, and wish to document the rural life in India during the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

• At the Cockfight
• At the Weekly Marketplace
• Back from the Village Fair
• Best Friends
• Boy Begging with a Country Musical Instrument
• Boys Playing in Rural Bengal
• Children Bathing at the Village Pond
• A Coconut Climbing Professional Walking to Work
• Construction Workers
• Fossil Free Transportation
• The Four Legs
• Going to Work with Buffaloes
• Halakki Farmers Walking to Work
• Homeward Bound
• Landlords Walking to Farm
• A Muslim Mystic Washes himself in the River
• On way to Jagadalpur Dasara
• Pounding of Rice
• Santhali tribal kids playing in a public pump
• Three Children with a Bull
• The Traveling Barber Shop
• Tribal Youngster
• True to Nature
• Vagabond Beggar with String Instrument
• The Village Cobbler
• The Village of Ulavi
• A Village Scene
• Villagers Resting by Roadside During Pilgrimage
• Villagers on the way to Nagadwara Snake Festival
• Villagers Gathered for a Cart Race
• Woman Carrying Firewood from Forest
• Woman Quenches the Thirst of Two Bullocks
• Women Negotiating the Price of Fish
• Women Vending Cheap Jewelry