Would you have share some rare picture collection from history?

 I am from Mumbai, so here are some old, or rare, or both from Mumbai and India…. I have added some recent pictures in some cases, for the contrast.

The best of Hindi film industry pose with the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi

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Liberty Cinema

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The Braborne Stadium, in 1950… .and today, the HQ of BCCI

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Chowpaty Beach

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Apollo Pier before construction of the Gateway of India (1905)

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The Bombay Police

Chor Bazaar, Bambay

The Marine Drive…. also called the Queen’s Necklace - 1870 (above) and today

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The B.E.S.T (Bombay Electricity & Suburban Transport) Tram service

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Cotton Merchants, near Cotton Exchange building, Bombay

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The Victoria Terminus Station building… today known as Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus

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The Taj Mahal was given a Steel cage protection

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This is my Late Mother iin Lonavala, Maharashtra

The station as it is today…

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S O M E . . . REAL RARITIES…

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Driving Licence 1943 (war Time)

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Cash Memo for a Masala Dosa and a cup of coffee - Rs. 2.16

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Kashmiri Gate, Delhi… in 1857

and today…

Martyr Shahid Chandrashekhar Azad, after he was killed by the British

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India Gate, New Delhi - 1952

and today…

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Two Nobel Laureates - Albert Einstein and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

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Two sons of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar

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Bahadur Shah Zafar, before being sent to Burma (for exile)

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Maharaja (of Jammu & Kashmir) Hari Singh with India’s Home Minister Sardar V. Patel after the accession treaty was signed making Kashmir Indian territory.

What’s the history behind the name "Delhi"?

 According to legend, the name "Delhi" comes from a king’s terrible mistake: he uprooted a massive iron pillar, found it dripping with blood, and left his city's foundation permanently "loose."

The story centers on an 8th-century Tomara Rajput king named Anangpal Tomar. A Brahmin advised him that his kingdom would be secure only if a great iron pillar was driven deep enough into the ground to pierce the head of Vasuki, the mythical serpent king. Anangpal had the Iron Pillar of Meharauli driven down, but overcome with curiosity and doubt, he ordered it pulled back up. When the pillar was extracted, its base was wet with blood.

The Iron Pillar of Delhi was forged in the 4th century and later moved to the Qutb complex. A popular legend holds that its loose foundation gave the city its name. Photo by Aiwok is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Brahmin informed the king that the pillar had indeed pierced the serpent, but by uprooting it, the foundation had become loose—the word in Prakrit being dhili. The prophecy held that the Tomara dynasty's hold on the region would also remain weak. The area became known as Dhilli, which eventually evolved into Dilli and then Delhi. Inscriptions from as early as 1170 CE refer to the city as Dhillika.

Other historical theories exist. A widely cited alternative traces the name to a king named Raja Dhilu, who purportedly reigned in the region around 50 BCE and named the city after himself. The medieval historian Ferishta documented this story, though archaeological evidence of Dhilu's reign remains scarce.

Another linguistic theory points to the word dehleez, a Persian and Hindustani term meaning threshold or gateway. Geographically, the city sits on a narrow strip of land between the Aravalli hills and the Yamuna river, acting as the historic gateway between the Punjab and the fertile Gangetic plains.

Beyond myths, the economic footprint of the Tomaras provides a solid historical anchor. During their rule, the city produced widely circulated coins known as dehliwal. These coins helped cement the name across trade routes, ensuring that regardless of whether it originated from a loose pillar, an ancient king, or a geographic threshold, the name survived.

What is the main history of Varanasi?

 Varanasi was first raided minorly in 1034 but in 1194, it was attacked by Aibak. He looted, plundered the city and demolished temples. The Adi Vishweshwar Temple was destroyed and on the site, Razia Sultan constructed the Razia Mosque. In 1230, a wealthy Gujarati merchant funded the reconstruction of the temple. In the 15th century, the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur invaded Kashi again and tore down the temple. They used the parts to build a mosque in Jaunpur. In 1494, Lodi attacked Northern India, demolished all the newly built temples and imposed restriction against Hindu worship. In 1567, Akbar’s army marching from Prayagraj renaming it Allahabad attacked Varanasi and sacked the city. They plundered it and looted the wealth.

In 1585, scholar Narayana Bhatta backed by Man Singh and Todarmal under the same Akbar’s approval once again renovated Varanasi, built the Vishwanath temple and it became a place of learning in the whole of India again. But Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan demolished 76 temples in Varanasi and worst, his son, Aurangzeb tried to attack the city in 1664. But the Nagas protected the Vishwanath temple and drove the Mughals away. In 1669, under the command of Aurangzeb, Vishwanath temple was destroyed again and numerous other temples and schools were. The Bindu Madhav Temple was also destroyed and the Alamgiri Mosque was built on it and on the Vishwanath site, Gyanvapi Mosque. In 1742, Malhar Rao tried to demolish the mosque but the local priests said they might be supressed again by the invaders due to the demolition of the mosque.

In 1752, Mughals begged the Marathas for protection against the foreign invaders but they agreed only when Kashi, Ayodhya and Mathura be given full Hindu control. Mughals delayed the clause fearing their signing would signal the ultimate defeat of the Islamic conquest in India. In 1780, daughter in law of Malhar Rao, Ahilyabai built the modern Vishwanath temple adjacent to the mosque as Varanasi was still under the Nawabs and renovated a lot of temples with the Ghats which is mostly what is present today. The city underwent a lot of changes by Peshwa Bajirao who renovated the Ghats and a lot of warriors such as Man Singh and Jai Singh contributed to the city.

Why did Tripura remain part of India instead of becoming part of Bangladesh despite its historical connections to regions now in Bangladesh?

 Tripura is surrounded on three sides by Bangladesh, but its fate wasn't decided by geography. It was sealed in 1947 by a widowed queen facing a rumored invasion.

Unlike British-ruled provinces like Bengal or Punjab, which were sliced in half by the Radcliffe Line based on religious demographics, Tripura was a sovereign princely state. Ruled for centuries by the Hindu Manikya dynasty, its leaders were given the sole authority under the rules of Partition to join either India or Pakistan.

The decision was vastly complicated by geography. Before 1947, the Kingdom of Tripura consisted of two main parts: the sovereign, tribal-dominated hills known as Hill Tipperah, and Chakla Roshnabad, a massive, fertile plains estate in East Bengal. The Maharaja owned Chakla Roshnabad as a zamindar (landlord) under the British, and it served as the economic engine of his kingdom. When the borders were drawn, Chakla Roshnabad was allocated to East Pakistan, but the princely state of Hill Tipperah remained entirely in the hands of the royal family.

Joining Pakistan would have presented an irreconcilable ideological conflict for the Manikyas. The royals were devout Hindus who claimed descent from the Lunar Dynasty of the Mahabharata. They were deeply aligned with mainland Indian culture and were great patrons of Bengali Hindu arts, famously maintaining a close friendship with the poet Rabindranath Tagore.

That queen was Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi, who took charge as regent after her husband, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, died unexpectedly in May 1947. Left to manage a highly vulnerable state just months before independence, she faced rumors of a political conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy and forcibly annex Tripura into East Pakistan. In response, she sought assistance from Indian Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel and signed the Instrument of Accession on August 13, 1947, securing military protection and legally integrating Tripura into India.

After Partition, Tripura's demographics shifted drastically. Hundreds of thousands of Bengali Hindus fled persecution in East Pakistan and poured into Tripura, permanently altering the state's ethnic makeup and cementing its integration into the Indian republic.

Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi, who acted as regent after her husband's death and signed the Instrument of Accession to India in August 1947. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

What are some rare photos of world history?

 Pictures From The 1900s Showing The Struggles Of Working Children Before Child Labor Was Abolished

1.Noon Hour In The Ewen Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Co.

2.Newsboy Asleep On Stairs With Papers.

3.Vance, A Trapper Boy, 15 Years Old. Has Trapped For Several Years In A West Va. Coal Mine. $.75 A Day For 10 Hours Work. All He Does Is To Open And Shut This Door. Location: West Virginia

4.Frank P, Whose Legs Were Cut Off By A Motor Car In A Coal Mine In West Virginia When He Was 14 Years 10 Months Of Age.

5.Some Boys Were So Small They Had To Climb Up On The Spinning Frame To Mend The Broken Threads And Put Back The Empty Bobbins.

6.A Moments Glimpse Of The Outer World

7.Some Of Newark's Small Newsboys

8. Eight Year Old

9. Two Of The Tiny Workers

10.Two Of The Tiny Workers

11.Scene In Canning Factory

12.Drivers In A Coal Mine

13.working girls

14.Fruit Vendors

15. Finally food time

If any one wants to see more child labour photos during 20th century

Gruesome Pictures From The 1900s Showing The Struggles Of Working Children Before Child Labor Was Abolished