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Colonial India’s “Fanatical Fakirs” andtheir Popular RepresentationsRianne Siebenga

Reaching wide and diverse audiences, magic lantern shows and postcards played an impor-tant role in the dissemination of visual knowledge of other cultures in the British colonialera. Fakirs were a popular subject of postcards and lantern slides representing India. Thisreflected the official attention paid to religious ascetics who were seen as representative ofeverything that was problematic and in need of improvement in the country in colonialtexts. Images of fakirs stood in a tradition of the representation of the “type”. However, fol-lowing Barthes, it is important to analyse the connection between image and text. Lanternshows came with readings, which were more often preserved than images, but specificexamples of images and texts together are taken from Harold Mackinder’s and John Stod-dard’s lectures on India. The lectures are evidently anchored in the colonial discourse, whilethe images of postcards and slides evade the boundaries set by the text.

Keywords: Indian Ascetics; Postcards; Magic Lanterns; F.O. Oertel; John L. Stoddard

Fakirs such as the one in Figure 1 were certainly among the most well-known represen-tations of India during British rule (Cohn 1996: 136). The fakir on a bed of spikes poss-ibly topped the list of interesting fakir sights. The relaxed manner in which they sat ontheir spikes was frequently commented on, while the cow in this particular image addsan idyllic touch. It is not a very typical image, as fakirs were not often conceived of asidyllic or romantic. In the nineteenth century, travellers would always include “descrip-tion[s] of Indian holy men and [especially] their austerities, […]” (1996: 7). In colonialliterature, the fakir was often used to bring horror into the story (Parry 1998: 79–85).1

The images of fakirs were embedded within the colonial discourse of India. For theBritish in India, the ascetic had become representative of all that was wrong with

Correspondence to: Rianne Siebenga, Media and Performance Studies. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Nether-lands. Email: riannesiebenga@online.nl

History and Anthropology,Vol. 23, No. 4, December 2012, pp. 445–466

ISSN 0275-7206 print/1477-2612 online/12/040445–22 © 2012 Taylor & Francishttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2013.726716

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Hinduism. Hinduism itself, as the main religion in India, had become central to thecolonial ideology, and the ultimate proof of India’s need for reform and a civilizationbased on British values (Pinch 1996: 4). The ascetics’ austerities, organization and wan-derings were seen to be a nuisance and even a threat to the order of the colonial state.The popularity of the image of the fakir is partly explained by the fact that he was seenas representative of India: steeped in a religion the very opposite of Christianity (andtherefore wrong), while at the same time never so much under control and understoodas the British would have wished. The variety of ascetic sects baffled the British and theyended up calling them by several generic names, such as sanyasi, yogi or fakir. The latterterm came to be used in popular writings, even though it originally designated aMuslim ascetic.Postcards, such as the one above in Figure 1, along with magic lantern images among

the most prominent of the new mass produced visual media, helped to spread theimage of the fakir widely in Britain in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and

Figure 1. Fakir on a spiki’s bed. Publisher Saeed Bros, Benares.Source: Author’s personal collection.

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up until World War I.2 The projectors for magic lantern slides had become smaller andeasier to handle, allowing for the popularization of the magic lantern show, in whichphotographic slides and readings were used. Next, mass-printing of images on paperbecame possible, and by 1894, the British Post Office allowed the use of privatelyprinted postcards in Britain, ushering in an era of great popularity for the postcardwhich lasted until the onset of World War I (Staff 1984: 57). These are two very differ-ent forms of media, one public, the other much more private; one accompanied byextensive lectures, the other usually only by a title. However, their photographicimages brought visual information to a wider and more varied public than mostother types of media before them.Visually, the postcard and lantern images were preceded by the eight-volume The

people of India, 1868–1875. This was the first large scale attempt at understandingIndia through images accompanied by texts. In order to grasp the complexities ofIndia’s people, they were counted, listed and described. “The people of India” dividedthem in the types of castes and tribes. Their representations and the descriptive textsfostered a context of domination and control (Falconer 2000: 80).The people of India and photographers such as Samuel Bourne, set the standards for

the representation of the Indian type.3 “‘Types’ were very seldom named or identifiedbeyond the very general; tribe, place of origin or trade. […] Photographically the‘type’ […] is in scientific isolation, physically, and metaphorically, the plain back-ground accentuates physical characteristics and denies context” (Edwards 1990:241). The represented person seemed thus shackled to the text and context of theimage, but Pinney (1990: 284) argues that “the enforced visibility induced by thephotograph […] helped create an area of secrecy and power in which ‘the Other’could assert its own autonomy”. This tension between an image bound by itstextual and ideological context, while at the same time evading these boundariesand asserting its own autonomy is not only evident in The People of India, but alsoin the images on postcards and lantern slides. It is this tension which will beshown to be clearly evident in the representation of the fakir, and which willbe explored in this article. It will be argued that the images of the fakir challengethe prevalent colonial discourse of danger and dirt, and in doing so implicitly chal-lenge the civilizing mission of the British.4

Like the photographs in The people of India, magic lantern slides were oftenaccompanied by descriptive texts, explaining in more detail what the image representedin the colonial discourse. Postcards often had less text, but even the use of the term“fakir” was meant to create certain connections in people’s minds. Alone, an imagecould be “equivocal”, it is “the words [that] assign meaning” (Goldsworthy 2010:153). It is what Barthes has called the “anchorage”: “The text direc[ting] the readerthrough the signifieds of the image, causing him to avoid some and receive others; itremote controls him towards a meaning chosen in advance”. What is more, “[t]hetext is […] the creator’s (and hence society’s) right of inspection over the image; ancho-rage is a control, bearing a responsibility”. Ultimately, “the text has thus a repressivevalue and we can see that it is at this level that the morality and ideology of a societyare above all invested” (Barthes 1977: 41).5

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The colonial ideology furnished the foundations of the texts about and even of thevery term “fakir”. The magic lantern shows and postcards made images to these textsand spread them to a wide and varied public. This essay will use the discussion of post-cards to establish the visual characteristics of the representation of the fakir, while thediscussion of magic lantern readings will furnish the anchorage for this type of images.It will then consider a series of lantern slides with titles only, and conclude with a dis-cussion of two readings and their images.

Official Dealings

According to the colonial ideology, fakirs, as religious ascetics, were first of all repre-sentatives of Hinduism. The religious practices of the Indians, which came to becalled Hinduism, had initially baffled the European visitors, whose Christian worldviewdid not allow for the venerations of idols, or for the existence of more than one god(Marshall 1970: 20–22). From the early seventeenth century, European authorsmade studies of these practices and it was only in the late eighteenth century thatthe name “Hinduism” was accorded to these practices (Sweetman 2003: 56).Quite soon these studies began to make a distinction between the philosophical

tenets of Hinduism and its practices. While these philosophical ideas were at timesadmired, the practices were almost always condemned (Marshall 1970: 20).The orien-talist view of India, especially as expressed by William Jones and Colebrooke, in generalfocused on the philosophical tenets of Hinduism, and appreciated it as a “poetic andrefined religion” (Pennington 2005: 77), but never questioned the supposed moralsuperiority of British Christianity.This view of Hinduism was, however, severely challenged by missionaries who

became active in India in the early nineteenth century and emphasized the practicalaspects of Hinduism. Among these, the most famous were Ward and Buchanan,who saw the idolatry of the Hindus as proof of their moral depravity (2005: 82, 85).It was this moral depravity that called for the intervention of missionaries, as well asfor the British government to reform and civilize the Indians.Buchanan’s and Ward’s strident and fierce attacks not only influenced politicians

and writers on India such as John Stuart Mill, but also reached a far wider publicthrough evangelical tracts of, for example, the Christian Missionary Society. The nega-tive views on Hinduism which John Stuart Mill expressed in his “History of India”(1817), became exemplary and dominant in Britain for most of the nineteenthcentury. Although obviously differences in emphasis could be observed between separ-ate groups such as missionaries and state officials, these differences must be understoodwithin a “shared colonizing project”, where concerns for reform and civilization,brought the different groups together (van der Veer 2001: 42, 43).The ascetics were closely associated with this depraved Hinduism full of idols,

temples and centred around holy places such as Varanasi (Benares in colonial times)or Puri. The ascetic would often journey from temple to temple or fix his abode in aplace like Benares. He would also join yearly pilgrimages to important temples orbathing places at the Ganges. All these spaces were seen by the British as exemplifying

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the native state of being: filthy. Not just physically filthy, but also morally steeped inerror and superstition. The physical filth was proven by regular outbreaks of choleraduring pilgrimages, while the moral filth was proven by the worship of “hideous”idols (Arnold 1986).Certain groups of ascetics believed that nakedness connoted a “higher state of being”

(MacLean 2003: 881, fn17). This did not go down well with British beliefs about mor-ality and decency, based on a Christian congruence of nakedness and shame. Accordingto the biblical interpretations of that time, a right minded person was clothed, thereforeto the nineteenth century British an unclothed person might not necessarily be in theirright mind (Levine 2008: 191). This seemed certainly true of the ascetics, whom as wewill see, were frequently termed “fanatic”. Nakedness also indicated a lack, in the caseof non-Europeans a lack of culture and of history (2008: 195, 196). The British there-fore, as part of their civilizing mission, quite successfully tried to ban the practice ofnakedness, outside of religious festivals. This did, nevertheless, not lessen their preoc-cupation with covered or uncovered fakirs, who in their partial nakedness still formed athreat to colonial dignity, control and orderliness.Not only were they perceived as representatives of Hinduism, fakirs also became repre-

sentatives of the negative and uncontrollable characteristics of the “natives”. During theeighteenth century fakirs had formed armed groups that fought kings, but also lent mer-cenary services to those kings, even functioning as a sort of ambassadors or spies. Theycombined this with money lending, trade and pilgrimage (Sinha 2008). When theBritish East India Company gained control over much of Northern India by the end ofthe century, they quickly ran into a decades-long conflict with these groups (Pinch1996: 46). This conflict strengthened the conviction that these groups were a threat tothe Company’s sovereignty leading to the first legislation to curb their influence.When in the 1830s, an officer of the East India Company, William Sleeman, began a

campaign against the thugs, believed to be a caste of thieves and murderers, he includedascetics (Lloyd 2008: 229). Sleeman argued that:

There is one great evil which afflicts and has afflicted the country, and which no govern-ment but a very strong one could attempt to eradicate. This is a mass… of religiousmendicants who infest every part of India, and subsist upon the fruits of all manner ofcrime.… [They] rob and steal, and a very great portion of them murder their victimsbefore they rob them.

The road, where these “religious mendicants” roamed came to be seen as the “toposof disorder, where ‘wanderers’ could escape surveillance, harass travellers, practiceunregulated commerce, and—worst of all—develop what were perceived to be wildand savage cults, inimical to the envisioned society of civilised, taxable cultivators”(Lloyd 2008: 232). Efforts were then made, through creative and innovative legislation,to control these wanderers by defining their identities and making them sedentary.First, in 1840, the Vagrant Act was implemented, specifically targeting “mendicants”who “seek to extort alms… by any offensive or indecent practices” (Pinch 2006:239).6 In 1871, these efforts culminated in the Criminal Tribes Act which endeavouredto fix “criminal tribes” to one place and to know someone’s place of abode at all times(Metcalf 1995: 122, 123). The danger these mendicants posed to the British order was

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now legally under control, although the British continued to feel uneasy about theirpresence and influence (Pinch 1996: 8, 9).

Postcard Images

Postcards became hugely popular in the years leading up to World War I. By 1908, over850 million postcards were posted in Great Britain alone, not including the onesbought and directly placed in albums (Becker & Malcolm 2008: 176). Collecting post-cards was the fashion of the day with collectors meeting at clubs and exchanging cardswith other clubs and members all around the world (Mathur 2007). Postcards becamesuch “popular and ever-present artefacts” that they “have helped to create standardviews of the world” (Geary & Webb 1998: 11).Postcards are found in personal collections in museums, but also in online collec-

tions.7 It is, however, difficult to find publishers’ information about postcards. Evenduring the height of the postcard craze, postcards were not seen as “historically signifi-cant”. They were “[…] cheap, disposable, mass produced and aimed at mass markets”(Patterson 2006: 149) As a result much of the information about their production wasnot stored. Additionally, many of the printing factories in Germany and the rest ofEurope were destroyed during the wars of the twentieth century, resulting in a greatloss of data (Woody 1998).A wide range of postcards is available showing fakirs. The images used here are

meant as a representative sample, but do not contend to have exhausted all possibleimaginings of fakirs. All the cards in this article originated in the period between1900–1915. The postcard entitled “fakirs” (Figure 2) was published by the Britishpublishing company Raphael Tuck. Tuck is one of the few publishers who addeddescriptions of the images to the pictures. The careful colouring makes the picturesattractive to look at, even if the topic of the postcard in itself is not.The postcard in Figure 2 shows two fakirs, one in a white dhoti or loincloth, the other

fully dressed in red. The text on the back nevertheless asserts “[t]hey go naked or infilthy rags”. Although the fakir in the dhoti is near-naked, the other dressed in redsimply cannot be said to be going around in rags. The description continues its negativestatements: fakirs “are a large body of religious fanatics”, clearly bad characters, becausethey “partake only of the meanest food, and that without request or thanks”. A changetakes place when the fakirs’ ethical code is discussed in surprisingly neutral terms: itconsists in “the observance of truth, chastity, internal purity, constant repentanceand contemplation of Deity”. This cannot really be perceived as a positive sentiment.Fakirs have first of all been defined as filthy and fanatical, and this comes across asyet another list of extremities, never to be achieved by any human being.Despite the questionable statement, the image itself does give some insight into the

ethical code of the fakirs. One of the fakirs has his eyes closed, and both have placedtheir hands together, as a greeting, or to express gratitude. In a Christian, non-Indian context where people were unfamiliar with the Indian meaning of thisgesture, it could be understood as if they are in prayer, emphasizing the fact thatfakirs are meant to be “in contemplation of the Deity”.

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In this way, the anchorage provided by the text is confirmed by some aspects of theimage. Not by all: the generic statements of the text do not help to explain why thefakirs look as they do: why they have markings on their face, why they wear prayerbeads, or even why one of them does not wear much clothing. The image itself is incap-able of conveying an atmosphere of fanaticism to the viewer, it seems a rather calm andalmost contemplative image.These visual aspects nevertheless define these people as fakirs. When this card is con-

trasted with a card published by Macropolo, a cigarette manufacturer in Calcutta,representing a “Hindu religious beggar”, we get an indication of what were meant tobe the visual differences between a “fakir” and a “religious beggar”. The beggar is far

Figure 2. Fakirs. Publisher Rafael Tuck.Source: Author’s personal collection.

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from naked. He is dressed in a long tunic covering another long piece of clothing,showing only his bare feet. He wears a conical hat and instead of prayer beads orash marks has musical instruments.8 Interestingly, an image of a begging fakir in thePunjab published by Tuck conforms more to the image of the religious beggar thanthe fakir.9 He is fully clothed and wears a turban. He carries a mug and a bag overhis shoulder. Proof of his poverty can be found in the fact that he only wears oneshoe, while the other foot seems to be bandaged. Proof that he is a fakir is harder todiscover, since he does not even show any prayer beads. In these examples, a beggaris allowed to be fully dressed, even if he is a fakir, while a true fakir is not meant tobe dressed, even if he is.A postcard from an unknownpublisher in a collection in the IndiaOffice at the British

Library, titled “a group of fakirs” (India Office Select materials, photo1107/154), formsan interesting contrast to Raphael Tuck’s image of fakirs. This black-and-white cardshows a close up of five ascetics, one of them sitting on the floor, the others standingbehind. The one sitting down has a shaven head and is fully dressed. The one standingto the right wears only a loincloth and has ash markings on his arm. His matted hairreaches to his thighs. The one next to him has a beard and wears a kurta pyjama and aturban. He has a prayer beads around his neck and a prayer bracelet around his rightupper arm. Next to him is a much younger man wearing a huge turban and a verysmall loincloth. The ascetic to the far left has grey half-long hair. He has covered hisupper body with a piece of cloth and also wears prayer beads. His legs show signs ofash markings. There is no background at all in this image.Like the fakirs in Tuck’s images, these fakirs are recognizable as such by their dress

and attributes. Despite this similarity, the impression this card creates is very different.The image is much more frontal than Raphael Tuck’s card. Combined with the lack ofbackground, and the more severe tones of black and white, this card manages to conveya much more stereotypical image of fakirs than Tuck’s card does. It would be mucheasier to believe these ascetics are fanatics. It is very likely that eventually Tuckaimed first of all at attractive cards, even when describing the subjects in a derogatoryway. This attraction then stood in the way of and even contradicted the attemptedmessage.The cards mentioned above all conform to the representation of the type: a back-

ground is almost entirely absent, and the image is meant to show the typical aspectsof the fakir. In postcards showing fakirs engaged in activities such as sitting on a bedof spikes or surrounded by fires, the activity is often all that is provided as a back-ground. An example of this is an image published by the Church Missionary Society(Figure 3), who in this image surely wanted to convey the Hindu need for conversionto Christianity. Figure 3 shows fakirs surrounded by fires, and the text states that “theHindus believe spiritual and magical power may be gained by self-torture”.10 How thisrelates more precisely to the fakirs in the midst of the fires in the image, is notexplained. What is explained, is that “very few […] “ascetics” torture themselves”,and the text continues to suggest that most ascetics do not live a very ascetic life.While the image shows ascetics severely testing their strengths, the text does itsutmost to move away from that image to the incredibility of most fakirs. The asceticism

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shown, without anchorage in a text, could very well impress people with its sincerity,even if it is extreme. This is not meant to happen and therefore the text moves thereader away from the actual image, to the “condoned” colonial image of the fakir.Postcards showing fakirs in Benares seem to be an exception to the rule that ascetics

are taken out of context. They are frequently depicted within their surroundings oftemples or ghats (bathing places).11 Benares as the spiritual centre of Hinduismcould accommodate the ascetics, who were after all the human representatives ofHinduism. There was nothing in the stereotypical image of Benares to contradict thestereotypical image of the fakir.Another exception is the image at the beginning of the article (Figure 1). The enclo-

sure of the fakir’s living quarters is partly visible, as is his hut. Even some mugs andbowls can be found on the ground, giving the impression of a lived-in space, insteadof the “clinical” environment of many other cards. Yet the fakir himself is still easilyrecognizable as such: on a bed of spikes, near-naked and his hair coiled around hishead. Most importantly, however, this depiction of the fakir in ownership of hisenvironment clearly contradicts the colonial discourse of fakirs as dangerous, wander-ing and therefore in need of external control.

Magic Lanterns

Magic lantern shows using slides became increasingly popular in the 1870’s, althoughthe medium had existed for a much longer time. Commercial shows were given on

Figure 3. Fakirs surrounded by fires.Source: Authors personal collection.

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fairgrounds, belonging to music halls or lecture theatres, while non-profit charitiesmade extensive use of magic lantern shows in their programmes (Eifler 2010; Vogl-Bienek 2006). The shows could be of a more entertaining or educational nature,with travelogues of India belonging to the latter category. A reader or lecturer presentedthe show. He would often make use of bought or rented slides accompanied by areading. The reading would give an explanation or part of the story with each slide.In the case of India, visitors or “Anglo-Indians” who returned to Britain, would some-times give a lantern presentation with their own slides. These presentations could beannounced in one of the trade journals of the lantern industry like The Kinematographand Lantern Weekly.12

So far, I have mainly found the lantern readings, but not many slides to go with thesereadings.13 Copyright seemed non-existent, so parts of readings were at times freelycopied. Many of these readings do not have a publishing date, however, the earliestdate shown is 1875.14 The latest definite date this reading was used is 1912.15 The read-ings are often organized as a journey, travelling through all or a specific part of India.The landscape, its temples, palaces and city roads receive ample attention. Fewer slidesshow specific groups or types of Indians, defined by their type, never as a person. Thefakir is nearly always one of these, affirming how much he was part of the imaginedlandscape of India.Most of the images of fakirs were found in the Lechmere-Oertel collection in the

India Office at the British Library. F.O. Oertel, an engineer who spent all of hisworking life in India, left behind a collection of hundreds of slides. It is likely hewanted to or has used these for presentations, since they are very clearly ordered.Most of the images were taken by himself, or a member of the family, but otherscarry the mark of the photographic company Hands and Son in Jubbulpore. Oertelphotographed many ascetics: after royal Indians, fakirs are the “type” best representedin the collection.This essay deals more extensively with two readings of which the images are avail-

able: the first is fromHarold Mackinder on behalf of the Colonial Office Visual Instruc-tion Committees’ (COVIC) series on India, which was active from 1902 to 1914. Thesereadings are clearly tinted with the propagandistic need to present India as Britain’sdependency. The second presentation is from the American lecturer John Stoddard.Although he is American and it is not certain that he presented this lecture inEurope, his thorough reading in preparation for his trip and lectures ensured hisviews confirmed closely to the British colonial paradigm on India (Barber 1993). Itis for this reason that I have included him in this discussion.

Magic Lantern Images and their Readings

How are fakirs defined in the readings? Sometimes a fakir is “a holy man” with “wildand gaunt appearance”,16 or a Hindu “who ha[s] made vows entailing great personaldiscomfort and even torture, as a penance for sins”.17 This leads another reading todefine fakirs as Hindu fanatics.18 These Hindu ascetics are easily “distinguished bytheir long hair and nails, which are never trimmed or cleaned, and also by their

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dress. This is neither more comely or substantial than the fashion that prevailed beforefig-leaves”.19 Once, a reading makes the effort to explain that “fakir” was officiallymeant to denote a “Mohamedan religious mendicant”, who is “of unclean habits”,however “[they are] regarded as men of great sanctity” by “the ignorant Mohamedanmultitude”.20 All in all, the texts anchor the fakirs in difference, and not usually desir-able difference. It is the negative aspects, out of order and control, that are mentioned.Their asceticism does nevertheless contain some mesmerizing elements: it has to be

commented on and cannot be ignored. Therefore, the descriptions focus on theextreme vows the fakirs have made and on the extraordinary consequences of thosevows: “walking on clogs filled with sharp spikes; making journeys of many miles bycrawling on their hands and knees; standing on one leg for many days together”.21

“Others hold up one arm, and some even both, till the limb becomes withered andimmovable.”22 Why the fakirs take up these vows is not always entirely clear to thereader:

It is difficult to analyse the real feelings which prompt men to lead such an existence. Itcannot be the greed of gain, because they usually lead most simple and abstemious lives. Itshews remarkable, although it may be purposeless, endurance, resulting from fanaticism.(Calcutta: 14, 15, Slide 36)

Since this asceticism cannot be accommodated within the Western-Christian worldview, it must be purposeless and can only result from too great a focus on asceticism.When we look at the titles of the slide and what we are told, or what is indicated we

see, it might be less gruesome. In one instance where the title is “the Temple at Kur-terpoor”, the most remarkable circumstance connected with it are the number offakirs, called fanatics, “who are in the habit of visiting the shrine”.23 The last paragraphof this description turns the attention to another temple nearby, where “several thou-sands of these Fakirs [are found], some of them living in graves they have prepared forthemselves within the sacred precincts of the Temple. As soon as they die the corpse isbuilt into the grave”. The text directs us not to the temple of Kurterpoor itself, rep-resented on the image, but rather away from the image, to the “fanatical” fakirs,“whose self-inflicted tortures are almost invariably the result of vows made to propitiatethe goddess Devi”.The next slide in the reading actually portrays a fakir.24 It is a Brahmin, on pilgrim-

age, visiting all the shrines of the Devi. He has travelled six years and has now accom-plished about one-third of the journey. For once, an explanation is given for the longhair of the ascetic: he has vowed not “to wash or allow his hair to be shaven until histask is accomplished”. This is exceptional, because in most instances long hair is com-mented on, but not explained, leaving it to be another aspect of the unexplainableextremities of the fakir.Nevertheless, the fakir portrayed is not really very interesting. The reading for this

slide returns to the more exceptional fakirs who sit in their graves, with the story ofa fakir who visited the court of the Punjab ruler Ranjit Singh.25 He asked to beburied alive, sitting in a wooden case. After forty days underground, the case wastaken out of the earth and opened. Warmed up with hot water and a hot bread, the

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fakir came back to life. Again, the text directs the viewer away from the still image to themore exciting stories surrounding fakirs.The Popular Lectures for the Magic Lantern26 describes the fakirs represented in some

detail. However, the description is preceded by an introduction into the eccentricitiesof the fakir. The reading states that

some of them vow to preserve a standing posture all their lives, supported only by a stickor rope under their armpits, some mangle their bodies with scourges or knives, otherswander about in companies telling fortunes and in other ways deceiving people.

Of all of these, only the fakirs in one position will be portrayed in the image, but theeccentricities have paved the way for the reception of the image.We are then told we see a group of fakirs under a sacred banyan tree next to the

“pagoda of Mamaniva”. There “are various groups of these miserable men, whoremain in one position all their lives, and are dependent upon the charity of their Devo-tees for their food”. “One [of them] has his face muffled up lest he should swallow thesmallest insect, another Fakir is feeding animals out of charity”. Although they arementioned here, the gentler, friendlier aspects of the fakir are left until the end,when the first, negative, impression has sunk in and many a viewer will already belooking forward to the next slide.Most of the texts anchor the readings squarely within the official British Indian

knowledge of fakirs: their dirt, their eccentric behaviour that seems to be withoutreason, the dangers that are out there. Taking the colonial discourse a step furtherwhen presenting it to the public, the readings make a spectacle of the consequencesof the vows the ascetics made. The more extreme the better seems to be the rule,because the more they can be shown to be in need of the British presence. Whythese ascetics have taken these vows, or how their lives are embedded within a religiousculture and history is not of interest. The texts appeal solely to our senses and evenseem to ask us not to use our rationality, because there is no reason to be found.Far less anchorage is found for the slides in the Lechmere-Oertel collection: many are

titled, but for some there is only the image. Oertel spent his professional life mainly inthe North Western Provinces where he was stationed between 1883 and 1914. Aroundthe end of his career, a glimpse of his convictions about India was given when he par-ticipated in the discussion about the new governmental buildings in Delhi. Accordingto Oertel, “imperial sway” had to be exercised “with the consent of the people” (Metcalf1989: 217). With regards to the new buildings they had to be build in a style that “ismost in harmony with the feelings of India, especially since the mass of the peopleusing the new public buildings will be Indian and not European” (1989: 218). Whilethere is a world of colonial sentiment in these statements, it also, importantly indicates,that Oertel claims a space for Indians and realizes in some way, obviously withoutnecessarily envisioning independence, that India is for the Indians. These commentswill serve as a background for understanding the images.From 1910–1914, Oertel was stationed in Allahabad, where every year a Hindu fes-

tival, the Magh Mela took place at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.Among there are thousands of pilgrims were many ascetics, a number of whom

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Oertel photographed. However, not all of the fourteen images of fakirs were made atthe Mela as there are three images portraying fakirs on a bed of spikes. This numberseems to suggest that the image of a fakir on a bed of spikes seemed especially repre-sentative to Oertel. One of the fakirs on spikes only turned up towards the end of theseries of slides where the untitled images were placed (India Office photo 261/(746)).Interestingly, he shares this place with the two slides that show the extremely difficultaspects of asceticism for the British: a fakir with a withered hand and a fakir hangingupside down, inhaling smoke from a fire (261/(786) and (789)).The titled images show, besides the fakirs on a bed of spikes, fakirs with their begging

bowls, but also less common images of a fakir reading (261/(335)), or a fakir/beggar ona horse (261/(530)). One of the images taken at the MaghMela even pictures “a fakir ona boat” (261/(533)): he is seated in front of a small sanctuary in which four images ofgods are visible. The number and variety of images of fakirs, reflects on the one handsome of the stereotypical images of fakirs: on spikes, with long matted hair and lightlydressed. On the other hand, it allows for a wider context of the phenomenon of the“fakir”. This is especially the case for the images taken at the Mela, where frequentlysome background creeps into the photographs, creating a space in which the fakirfunctions.If we assume for a moment that these titled images were meant to be available and

organized for use in presentations, while the untitled ones were not, the third fakir onhis bed of spikes probably ended up at the end, because two of those images weredeemed sufficient. This can nevertheless not be the explanation for the other twoimages. They might have ended up at the end, because Oertel, however importantfakirs were in his view of India, did not want to confront the public with theseextreme images. In believing India was a space for the Indians, where they had to beruled by consent, he might have censored images that could have awakened strong feel-ings of India as a primitive and barbarous place.Harald Mackinder, as one of the driving forces behind the COVIC, would use an

approach similar to Oertel’s. This despite the fact that he was more interested in “inpromoting an imperial perspective” through the discipline of geography (Ryan 1997:187) than in taking Indian sentiments into consideration. When the COVIC was estab-lished in 1902, its aim was to develop an “Empire-wide scheme of lantern-slide lecturesand illustrated textbooks to instruct, first, the children of Britain about their Empire,and second, the children of the Empire about the ‘Mother Country’” (1997: 186).In order to obtain pictures of Britain’s colonies the photographer Fisher was

employed to travel around the world. He was instructed to ensure he covered both“the native characteristics of the country and its people as well as the super-addedcharacteristics due to British rule” (1997: 190). India was the first colony where hetried this approach in 1907. Mackinder then selected 480 of Fisher’s photographsfrom India around which he wrote eight series of lantern readings.27 The lecturesand slides were published in 1910 along with a cheaper illustrated textbook edition.A slide of a fakir appears in lecture IV, which deals with Sarnath, Benares, Lucknow

and Cawnpore (Mackinder 1910: 51–65). In Sarnath, where Buddha is believed to havepreached his first sermon, an important stupa is located. This stupa had been the object

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of extensive and successful British archaeological research in 1904–1905. The readingthus starts with an affirmation of British importance in unearthing India’s neglectedpast. The end of the reading turns towards remembering the Mutiny, in which forthe first time the Indians revolted against the British, but were eventually defeated.In between Benares is located, “the epitome of Hindu India”, as always connectedwith the ghats along the Ganges and the cremations taking place (1910: 54–56).Once in Benares, “[i]n the narrow and deep-shaded streets, and the sordid and

tawdry purlieus of the temples may be seen many a typical scene of Eastern life” (Mack-inder 1910: 57). Two of these many typical scenes in dark and dirty places are men-tioned in quick succession, the darkness and dirt almost automatically extending tothe scenes, and therefore discussed together here. One is a fakir or “religious enthu-siast” who according to Mackinder receives many alms, and is “supposed by theenvious to bury [those] underground”. In other words, a fakir does not work andcould be greedy: not very positive characteristics. The second scene is one of snake-charmers. The comment they receive is that “there is always a ready crowd for them,as for jugglers of curious skill”. The term curious seems to indicate that at least Mack-inder himself is not convinced of their real skills. The images shown in the textbookreveal that the crowd is no bigger than two people standing close to the snake-char-mers.28 The other people in the picture are walking away from the scene.The picture of the fakir shows him sitting on a bed of spikes, placed along the wall,

next to the entrance of probably a temple (an image of a god is visible to the side of theentrance). Behind him at the entrance of the temple, two men are standing. The imageis taken from a slight angle rather than a frontal close up in order to have a good view ofall these people, instead of just the fakir and his bed. All of the people in the image lookinto the camera.The snake charmers are photographed in long shot and are portrayed sitting on

broad, wide steps. In front of them are baskets for the snakes, which have beenallowed to slide out of the baskets. Behind the snake charmers the steps go up forquite some time. Behind and around them stand two people. Other people going upthe steps are also visible. In the background, even a tree can be discerned. As in theimage of the fakir, not only the snake charmers, but also the people behind themlook into the camera, one of the bystanders even turning his head. In this image, theexpression of the photographed seems to be one of curiosity, and concentration onthe part of the main subjects of the photograph.None of these images are frontal close-ups. It therefore not only situates them in a

slightly wider context, but, together with the open gaze into the camera, it also makes itmore difficult for the viewer to appropriate the fakir or snake-charmer as a type, andturn it entirely into a representation of his own making. Nevertheless, Mackinder triesto do exactly that when he connects the images to darkness and dirt. Because when welook at the images, the deep-shaded streets, and sordid purlieus of the temples are hardto find. The picture of the snake-charmers seems to have been taken on the wide-opensteps leading to one of the ghats. The steps look white-grey, but not dirty at all. Theimage of the fakir was taken in bright sunlight, focusing on his side of the street,with the sun shining fully on the wall behind him. This seems to indicate that this

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was probably not a very narrow street, since there are no shadows, except those reflect-ing the people photographed. With some difficulty, the sordidness and tawdriness ofthe environments of the temple could be located in the slightly wide gaps betweenthe stones of the pavement and some darker coloured patches on the wall. Contrastingthe text with the reality of the structure of the photograph, the images escape Mackin-der’s attempts at framing them within the colonial view of a dirty India.On another level, the naked bowed knees and legs of the fakir, sticking out towards

the viewer, almost allowing a view of his covered crotch, could be seen as a form ofsordidness, showing much more of a man’s legs than British conventions allowed.The same could be argued for the legs of the snake-charmers, who sit on their haunchesand whose legs are only half-covered by their clothing. The snakes have all been takenout of their baskets, sliding in front of and over the legs of the snake-charmers. Thismight have been an unseemly sight for most spectators who will probably not immedi-ately have been enamoured of snakes. In this case it is not so much the surroundings,but the representatives of filthy India themselves—begging and performing curiousskills—who stand accused of being sordid and tawdry, although this is not actuallystated. Even while implying the dirt of the fakirs, Mackinder refrains from showingor discussing their more extreme or fanatic aspects. Probably, by locating HinduIndian Benares between the British triumphs of unearthing India’s past and suppres-sing the treacherous Mutiny, enough has been suggested about India’s status.In contrast, John Stoddard’s lectures on India delight in detailing the abhorrent and

fanatical aspects of fakirs. Stoddard was one of America’s most famous magic lanternlecturers touring America between 1872 and 1897. He travelled to Asia in 1892–1893 tocreate lectures on China, Japan and India. The content of his lectures was a combi-nation of thorough reading on the topic and his personal experience. After heretired from lecturing he published his two lectures on India and the slides as abook (Altman 2004: 63). It is in the second part of these lectures that he discussesfakirs. It is worth quoting his expression of the horror these men evoke in him in detail:

Within the precincts of this temple [the Kali temple in Calcutta] we beheld several speci-mens of Indian fakirs, each of whom seemed a combination of beggar, fanatic, or impos-tor. In a disgusting area, … a score of these men were seated, entirely naked, up on amound of ashes, in which they rolled repeatedly. Not content with the results thusgained, they even rubbed the dirt all over their bodies, which had been previouslygreased in order to retain it. Their hair, matted with filth, nearly reached to their waists,on this they threw occasional handfuls of dust and ashes… A sickening feeling … cameover me at the sight of this human degradation; especially when I remembered thatthere are in India more than a million of these half-crazed mendicants and frauds.(Stoddard 1912: 134, 137)

Stoddard completely follows the British colonial book with his focus on the dirt andfilth surrounding the fakirs, and proves he has done his reading, when he calls them:beggar, fanatic and impostor. He makes, significantly, no attempt to explain the reli-gious context of the fakirs’ physical characteristics.Once the ideological boundaries are set, the context for the meaning of the images

created, a picture of “a fakir” (Figure 4) is shown. The man can be seen sitting on a mat,

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with in the background steps and loose lying planks. He is covered with ash or mud,because even in the black and white picture something powdery and lighter than hisskin can be discerned. His expression could be interpreted to be sad or watchful.Even though the background to the picture indicates messiness, and the fakir’s facehas smears of ash, the picture is hardly degrading, although that is what Stoddard’stext made fakirs out to be. He might be virtually naked, but his hair is not hangingdown to his sides, but rather plaited and coiled on his head. He might be ash-smeared, but is certainly not rolling in it. The anchorage Stoddard provided for thisimage attempts to make it utterly horrifying. The image itself, even though estranging,is not. Stoddard nevertheless sticks to his theme when he brings his discussion of thetemple of Kali and its fakirs to a close with “A wail from India’s coral strand” in whichhe decries the nakedness and filth of the priests and all the rest of India (Stoddard 1912:137, 138).In the first part of his lectures Stoddard discusses Hinduism in the context of his visit

to Benares. He feels “heart-sick from the inspection of the temples” and turns to thepilgrims in Benares, who “despite their personal unattractiveness […] rivet attentionand awaken thought” (Stoddard 1912: 89). Although many of the pilgrims havebecome ascetics or fakirs, having taken vows and begging for their living, Stoddarddoes not treat them exactly the same. Whereas he was horrified of the fakirs, he feelssorry for the Hindu, to whom life is “a desperate struggle to escape from future suffer-ing” (1912: 91). A picture (Figure 5) is shown of a man subtitled “a fanatic” referring toStoddard’s description of the pilgrims in his text, because of the sacrifices they make to

Figure 4. A Fakir. John L. Stoddard’s lectures. Vol. 4. Revised edition, 134.

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go on this pilgrimage: “toiling for months on dusty roads beneath a burning sun, andbegging by the way” (1912: 90). It can equally be connected to his introduction of fakirsin which he defined them as fanatics and beggars. The “fanatic” in Figure 5 comesacross as rather calm, not quite worn down with his vows. There is no sign of himwalking on a dusty road, instead he sits on a neat pavement; nor of a burning sun,since shadows are conspicuously absent. If anything is conspicuous it is, again, the nak-edness of the ascetic. He looks confidently into the camera, and in that very momentalso meets the gaze of the photographer and ultimately of the spectator. This confidentlook defines him as someone who is not broken down as Stoddard would have him, butrather “self-sufficient” and not in need of any civilizing reform. Stoddard verbally triesto convince his public of the desperate state of Indians, but so far his images do not atall live up to his words.Two pages later, still on the topic of Hinduism, Stoddard produces a list of the “appal-

ling sacrifices made by religious devotees” (Stoddard 1912: 91), which include standingstill for years, jumping through sacrificial fires or living destitute and naked. In connec-tion with this list, the lecture shows an image of a group of ascetics with the subtitle“slaves of superstition” (1912: 92). What is shown is a group of men, the front rowsitting, the back row standing. Some are fully dressed, others wear only a dhoti. Somewear turbans, others have long hair, either with or without beards. A number wearprayer beads. Most of the men look into the camera. The ascetics do not however,look enslaved. Even if they look different from the average spectator of Stoddard’s lec-tures, none of these men exhibits any of the “appalling sacrifices”, except possibly for

Figure 5. A Fanatic. John L. Stoddard’s lectures. Vol. 4 Revised edition, 90.

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the poverty and near nakedness. Even that does not seem to bother them too much,although Stoddard would like his spectators and listeners to believe it.Why, if he revels in detailing these horrors, like so many of the other readings do,

does Stoddard not produce an image that confirms it? All the images of fakirs in Stod-dards’s lecture could be said to almost undermine his discourse of despair, and insteadto show the ascetics willing to meet the gaze of the photographer confidently and to becomfortable with their own position.Stoddard finishes his first lecture with a visit to the hill station of Darjeeling and his

second praising the Taj Mahal and its “dream of love” (1912: 225). In both lectures the“horrors” of reality are escaped by either moving into the hills, the colonial safe haven,or in the past, when true “marbled” love could still exist in India. It is in this contextthat we need to understand the pictures of ascetics. Even if they do not resemble horrorto the contemporary viewer, they were meant to represent horror to Stoddard’s public,because Stoddard seems to have had a horrid time in India and to have wished he hadnever come (1912: 138).29 His horror is nevertheless entirely confined within andanchored to the colonial paradigm: it is the polytheism, the dirt, the filth, the unreason-able asceticism that fill his lectures. And so are his escapes: the safety of the hills and thearchaeological beauties of the Mughul past.

Conclusion

The typical image of a fakir showed him nearly naked, sometimes smeared with ash. Ifmore than one ascetic was portrayed, at least one of them was to be mostly naked. If afakir was not naked, attributes like prayer beads, long or coiled hair, a bed of spikes, oreven their activity, such as sitting amidst fires, would establish the portrayed person as afakir.This representation was overwhelmingly anchored in the colonial discourse on the

fakir as a representative of Hinduism: his dirt, his untrustworthy and uncontrollablecharacteristics. To create spectacle, the texts focus even more on the extreme orfanatic activities of the fakirs than the official colonial discourse does. In doingso, the implicit message that these people are in desperate need of Britain’s help ismade even stronger. The postures of the fakirs are repeatedly a point of discussion,although they are rarely shown. These images seem not meant for massconsumption.30

It is very rare for the texts to make an attempt to explain the image of the fakir from areligious point of view: how the long hair is part of their vows, or even why long hair ispart of their vows. Why they smear themselves with ash. The texts aim for and oftenachieve an almost complete “otherness” of the fakir as fanatic and extreme.Although the images use stereotypical attributes to define the fakir, they are far less

equivocal than the text: they seldom achieve the same “otherness”. The images availablehardly ever portray a fakir as horrifying as the texts make him out to be. Although notalways present, if it is, the background of the image often subtly challenges the story ofdirt and disorder. A complete closure is equally prevented by the presence and

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frequently the gaze of the person in the image. By granting the ascetic a face, the imagessometimes allow him to insert himself in the gaps of the discourse as an individualwhose demeanour evades the assertions of the text. And as he evades the text, theascetic also silently questions the larger colonial discourse in which India is in desperateneed of Britain’s civilizing influence.

Notes

[1] An interesting overview of “Western” images of fakirs through the centuries can be found at F.W. Pritchett’s website: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/hinduism/ascetics/ascetics.html (accessed 23 September 2011).

[2] Non-fiction film was to become the most prominent of these. Films of India depicting fakirsoccur relatively frequently, but usually represent conjurers and jugglers. For this reason, filmsare not part of this essay.

[3] See, for example, the cart-de-visite by Samuel Bourne, http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/f/zoomify56283.html (accessed 23 September 2011). Patterson(2006), also mentions the publication of Risley’s People of India in 1908, in Ibid., 152.

[4] I have benefitted from discussions in R.C. Morris (2009). Especially the introduction by R.C.Morris (pp. 1–28), and the article by J.L. Hevia (2009).

[5] The article by Goldsworthy (2010), directed me to Barthes and his usefulness for postcardimages.

[6] The fact that this act was implemented within six years of the English “The Poor Law Amend-ment Act” (1834) suggests that the concerns about vagrancy were not entirely typical of colo-nial India, but reflected a broader “bourgeois” concern with wanderers at this time.Unfortunately, possible further implications of this connection are beyond the scope ofthis article.

[7] I have seen hundreds of cards from India, in private and online collections.[8] The image can be found at www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/hindu-beggar.html (accessed

26 September 2011).[9] The image can be found at http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/fakir-punjab.html

(accessed 26 September 2011).[10] The card was sent in 1915.[11] See, for example, www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/varanasi-fakir.html and www.

imagesofasia.com/html/india/fakirs-varanasi.html (accessed 26 September 2011).[12] For the period December 1907–February 1908, there are seven different announcements,

showing that this was a popular topic.[13] It was easier to store the paper readings than the bulky glass slides, that needed careful looking

after. Partly because it was officially a more “popular” form of entertainment, no official insti-tution was designated to archive slides.

[14] York’s lantern readings: India, London, E. Marshall, 1875.[15] The Optical Lantern Reading: India Lecture, Alabaster, Passmore and Sons, printers, 4th

edition, nd. A copy in the British Film Institute, from Riley Bros in Bradford, has penciledcomments relating to the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. This was officiallyannounced at the Delhi Durbar in December 1911. The text in this reading is exactly thesame as York’s lantern reading from 1875 as well as India in the Northwest, nd. Most quotationsare from the Optical Lantern Reading.

[16] Millais (nd), Life in Kashmir. Slide 26. This particular slide mentions the winter of 94–95,assuming this is 1894–1895, the lecture will have been published a few years after this winter.

[17] Optical Lantern Readings: Calcutta, Rosiebelle and the Dwarf, a Humourous Cure for Intemper-ance (nd). Slide 35, 14.

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[18] Optical Lantern Reading: India Lecture, Slide 32, 37.[19] Yorke (nd), Slide 31–32. Yorke was of the Christian Vernacular Education Society.[20] Descriptive Readings for Lantern Slides (nd), Slide 8.[21] Descriptive Readings, 32.[22] Calcutta, nd. Slide 35, 14.[23] India Lecture, Slide 32.[24] India Lecture, 32a.[25] The story of this fakir was a famous one. See Lamont (2004: 22, 23).[26] Popular Lectures for the Magic Lantern: Missionary Enterprise in Many Lands (nd), Slide 12,

9, 10.[27] Lecture I covers the most Southern part of India up to the Nilgiri Hills; lecture II focuses on

Birma; lecture III deals with Calcutta and the Darjeeling; lecture IV covers Benares, Lucknowand Cawnpore; lecture V covers Bombay city and a few of its surroundings; lecture VI coversRajastan, lecture VII Delhi, Agra, Hardwar and Mussoori; lecture VIII the Punjab and theNorthwest Frontier.

[28] These two images are from Mackinder (1910). They are not part of the edition on the websitealthough the texts are exactly the same. The images can also be found in Ryan (1997: 199).

[29] Stoddard concludes his “Wail from India’s Coral Strand” with: “I’m glad to take the steamernow, and sail for other shores”, 138.

[30] The website of F.W. Pritchett shows a number of fakirs practising asceticism in postures thatare unfamiliar to non-South Asians. So far, I have only found an image of a fakir with with-ered hands once on postcards.

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London.Stoddard, J. L. (1912), John L. Stoddard’s Lectures. Vol. 4, Revised edition, Geo L. Shuman, Chicago, IL.The Prince of Wales’ Visit to India, Lantern Lecture, (n.d.), York and Son, London.York’s Lantern Readings, India (1875), E. Marshall, London.Yorke, W. (n.d.), Lecture on India, n.p.

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India Office Select Materials photo 261.India Office Select Materials photo 1107.

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