Mss Eur G91(207)

Full-length seated portrait of the Jagad Guru (high priest of the Smart Brahmins at Sringeri), his chair placed in a doorway, with an attendant standing on either side. Bowring visited Sringeri during his tour of 1863-64: '...I proceeded to Sringiri, a famous matha or monastery, where resided the high priest of the Smarta sect. The old man had asked me to come and see him, which I consented to do if received properly as the representative of the British Government...The Swami reluctantly gave way, and I crossed the border of his little territory, over which, save in judicial matters, he exercised almost uncontrolled authority...At one o'clock, I received the Swami in an open pandal, a kind of shed made of boughs and leaves, for the Gooroos of Southern India will not enter a house or a tent which has been polluted by mleckhas or Europeans, nor will they travel by railway for the same reason...Descending from his adda palki, the kind of litter...which he alone in Mysore is privileged to use by royal patent, [he] seated himself on a chair which had been brought with him, tucking his feet up under him. His name was Narsingh Achari, and he is the descendant by apostolical succession of Shankar Achari, the founder of the Smarta sect. His age seemed to be about 68. He was simply dressed, like most high-caste Brahmans, but wore a curious tiara like the Pope's, covered with pearls and jewels, given to him by one of the Mahratta Peshwas, and had on a handsome necklace. On his feet were flat wooden shoes, covered with silver, with a peg inserted between the great and second toe, but he took them off when seated...The Swami has an income of £6000 a year, but his hospitality is unbounded, and his debts are heavy, while he complained to me bitterly of the want of piety among his disciples in these days...' The attribution of this photograph to Dixon, who is not known for portrait work, is tentative and the image is unsigned; however, the presence of this image among other prints of Mysore by Dixon in the volume, suggests that he may have been the photographer. For a brief account of the math established by Sankaracharya, see The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908), vol. XXIII, pp. 105-6.

[Albumen print, 223x278mm].

Subjects = Bowring Collection; religion; religion (Hinduism); religious leaders; Smarta Brahmins