India: 'A Salt Maker'. Tashrih al-aqvam, Hansi: James Skinner, 1825

The Tashrih al-aqvam ('An Account of Origins and Occupations of Some of the Sects, Castes, and Tribes of India') was completed in 1825. The text, a summary of the Vedas and Shastras, translated into Persian by Colonel James Skinner (1778–1841), is a survey of both Hindu and Muslim occupational groups and religious mendicants in the Delhi region and begins with an account of the house of Timur down to Akbar II (r. 1806–37).

Skinner commissioned Delhi artists to illustrate the album, the chief of them being Ghulam Ali Khan. The artist accompanied Skinner on his travels, and the watercolor portraits are probably all studies from life.

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