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This unidentified family portrait shows what is presumably a Brahmin family. The portrait is undated. We would guess it was taken in the 1880s, but it could have been taken in the 70s. It is difficult to assess dates when the subjects are wearing traditional clothes which changed little over time. The portrait is an albumen photograph. We don't know where exactly the portrait was taken, but we think it was probably in the south. The family is very traditionally clothed.
The father is wearing a white lungi or dhoti and a sort of scarf. He is also shod, but we cannot clearly see what sort of footwear he is wearing. The mother is wearing the sari. It seems to us that, with the sari, she is wearing a very close-fitting shirt. However, traditionally the sari can be worn also as an only garment without other clothes. She wears some necklaces and bracelets and is barefoot. The three children are all bare chested. We can assume that they are also all barefoot, although we can see only the child sitting in the front. All are wearing necklaces. The seated child is a boy (you can also look at the hairstyle) and the child standing in the back seems a girl. I am uncertain about the younger child in the middle. We think, however, that he is a boy, at least because his necklace is like the one worn by the elder brother. The boy in the front seems to be wearing a white dhoti. He is wearing also some bracelets. Probably the girl in the back wears a lungi. We cannot see how is clothed the younger child, but, at most, he is wearing a lungi. In a family so traditionally clothed, the young boy could be wearing only waist laces. Note the father's and older boy's hair style. There may be some religious significance.
The HBC reder who found this imge writes, "They are probably a Brahmin family. That could be the reason of the hair style. It seems to me that the photo has not the proportions of CDV. The source indicate the 1870s. I have no more information."
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