India. Calcutta. Harrison Road I with Group of Jogees, after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck

c. 1890–1910

India. Calcutta. Harrison Road I with Group of Jogees, after photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck, c. 1890–1910. Photoglob Co. (Zurich, active c. 1890–1910). Photochrom; image: 20.6 x 26.4 cm (8 1/8 x 10 3/8 in.); paper: 20.6 x 26.4 cm (8 1/8 x 10 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2019.186 The light poles in the image suggest the photo was taken after that event. The Jogees or Jogis are a rapidly shrinking caste that began as a community of people who practiced yoga and worshipped the Hindu god Shiva. Many earn their living as religious beggars. They traditionally wear saffron-colored clothing, but the printers in Switzerland who added the color to this image did not know that. In 1899, Harrison Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road) became the first road to be lit by electricity in Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta).