If you ever visit Bijapur or Vijayapura in Karnataka, you will be stunned by the sheer number of historical spots. ruins, large arches, and domes are still visible and prominent in the citadel city which was once a glorious capital town of Adil Shahi kingdom. Bijapur is most renowned for its wonder – Gol Gumbaz – the whispering gallery, an architectural wonder with the second largest dome built without pillars. In this dusty historic town lived a freedom movement chronicler Narayan Rao Kulkarni who had his own studio, antique, art and coin collection and even a bakery (probably started during World War II to supply bread to the British army). The city may have forgotten this ordinary follower of Mahatma Gandhi, TCI certified guide, who had extraordinary passion for photography, history, heritage and art collection but his legacy – his photographs can be found on a Germany based website and references to him and his art collection find a mention in Karnataka Paintings – a book by legendary Shivarama Karanth (who is also known as Rabindranath Tagore of Karnataka) and one of the paintings from his collection seems to be currently a part of Metropolitan Art Museum, New York. 

A common man born in an orthodox North Karnataka family made his camera (which was gifted to him) his vocation and tool to explore and document history – political, cultural, and archaeological. Unfortunately, his legacy is lost except for citations at unexpected places.  There is ample evidence that a young photographer from Bijapur was there to document the historic 1924 Belgaum congress and followed freedom movement upto 1946 – Gandhi’s visit to riot stricken Noakhali, Bangladesh, he had an extraordinary Deccan art collection. His life and work are highly inspiring as he was only a school drop out without contacts at high places, he was a mere foot soldier who could achieve and document so much through sheer passion, dedication and diligence.  

Life Journey 

The life journey of Narayan Rao Kulkarni can only be compared to a meteor who dazzled briefly, unnoticed and vanished without a trace. He was born around 1903 in his native place in interior Karnataka and he died in 1971 in Bijapur. In his lifetime, he had his own studio – Kalanidhi Photo Studio on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Bijapur. Apart from the studio, there was a private museum collection of art, coins, stamps, and antiques at his home. 

He actively chronicled the growth of Indian National Congress and followed Mahatma Gandhi even to Noakhali, Bangladesh during the riots. He was a popular tourist guide to many foreigners who came to Bijapur, who also probably may have helped him upgrade his cameras, gears and sell his photographs. He was an avant-garde photographer of his time as is evident from his limited heirloom which includes cameras, fading prints of the portraits of famous artists, musicians, and renowned persons of his era. There was also his envious book collection with author autographed copies of Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, My Experiments with Truth – by Gandhi. There were also leather bound golden embossed copies of works of William Shakespeare and other world-renowned authors as well. Though probably he was not formally a degree holder or even a high school passed student (family sources indicate he studied only till class 2), but it is very evident he had this inherent curiosity to try new things, passion for books, art, heritage, spirituality, and photography – an insatiable quest for knowledge in every creative realm. 

India’s Freedom Movement’s Photographer and Museum Antique/Art Collector

A simple google search leads to his photographs of Indian Freedom movement – starting from historic Belgaum Congress of 1924 which was the only congress meeting presided by Mahatma Gandhi himself up to Gandhi’s Noakhali visit during partition riots in 1946, which are available on Gandhi Media website (Hosted by Gandhi Serve Foundation, Berlin, Germany) for a price. How did the Indian Freedom struggle photo-archive end up with Germany based organisation? An email to the founder Peter Ruehe further verified the fact that they indeed had legitimate copyrights of the scanned photographs available on their website: 

“I did extensive research on Gandhiji’s photographs and his photographers in 1980s and 90s. Narayan Rao Kulkarni’s photographs formed a part of a larger collection which I had privilege to work on. Unfortunately, I don’t have more details. All our images have been scanned using top equipment and were digitally enhanced.”

It does seem Narayan Rao Kulkarni most likely was part of the collective of photographers who documented freedom movement from close quarters and had probably sold his photographs to some foundation in Delhi to meet family needs (just like most freelancers do in current times as well). The famous Gandhi historian Ram Chandra Guha when contacted knew about Gandhi Serve foundation, but he wasn’t sure about the originals and copyrights. He said, 

“The story of Narayan Rao Kulkarni’s collection is very moving and also very tragic”

Renowned Photographer Prashant Panjiar of Nazar Foundation who has worked on and published Kanu Gandhi’s archival photographs echoed the same, adding that, “Much of Gandhi’s photographers work has gone missing from India. It is important that such legacy is rightfully restored and documented in the larger interest of history and heritage of India and the world.” He also offered help and contacts of organisations who are doing great work to restore and conserve historic works of yesteryear photographers. 

Bijapur based veteran historian, Convenor of INTACH Bijapur Chapter, Krishna Kolar Kulkarni, when contacted said: “Narayan Rao Kulkarni was a very good photographer in those days in Bijapur with national interest particularly to India’s Independence Movement”. He also added that his name finds a mention in the book by renowned Karnataka writer historian Shivrama Karanth. 

Legendary author Shivrama Karanth writes about Narayan Rao Kulkarni very fondly as a friend and the book has names of the rare Deccan paintings that he found in his collection, one of which – Gulshan- e- Ishq can now be traced to the collection of prestigious Metropolitan Museum, New York. His rest antiques, coins and other collection were apparently sold to one of the Birla’s private museums in Hyderabad though it couldn’t be verified and in a reply to the query to Birla Museum, Hyderabad they have denied knowledge of any such purchase.  When another private museum in Hyderabad – The Jindal and Mittal Museum – was contacted in this regard, their CEO and Trustee head immediately replied corroborating the reference of Shivram Karanth’s book and requested for copies of archival photographs by Narayan Rao Kulkarni, if available.  

TCI Certified Guide and Baker

Apart from having his own dark room, museum, books collection he also had a small bakery (probably to supply with English cutlery for foreign tourists at his spacious home near Tripur Sundari standalone theatre in Bijapur (which is now demolished to make way for a dazzling mall). His grandchildren have fond memories of playing with old black canon photographic film reel boxes, placing picture postcards in envelopes for tourists, watching the process of developing black and white prints in the dark room and using cutters to cut the edges of the prints neatly. When author had written a blog about Narayan Rao Kulkarni, a stranger – Mr. Sanjiv Jain from Dehradun left a comment and email address and later sent across picture postcard copies, envelope cover which his wife’s family had kept as cherished souvenir of their visit to Bijapur probably somewhere during 1946-48.  

A Liberal and Secular Father 

Narayan Rao Kulkarni was a liberal family man with four children – two daughters and two sons. His daughters campaigned actively on bicycles in political rallies, participated in sports, even playing mixed doubles in badminton, table tennis at State level etc. She even gave a solo performance in Mysore Durbar during their annual Dussehra classical musical festival. He took his children along in his creative journey and gave them the best exposure possible ranging from education, politics, spirituality to creative arts. His daughter also recalled how he often cast his vote for opposition independent candidates, saying that it was important for a thriving democracy to have a strong opposition party. His politics always remained secular probably due to Gandhi’s and spiritual influence –  believing in equality and unity. 

Spiritual Inclinations

Maybe his liberal worldview was due to his spiritual and philosophical bent of mind. He was a follower of Gurudev Ranade, who preached one God, One Humanity. His ashram in Nimbal near Bijapur even today welcomes people from all castes, class, creed, and religion.  He was also greatly influenced by self-styled Sufi Meher Baba who had many followers in the West and even had a great influence on pop culture, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” became an iconic song composed by Bobby McFerrin who did acknowledge the power of four words phrase coined by Meher Baba. He actively photographed his spiritual mentors and the ashram in Nimbal has a display of his photographs. 

Legacy Loss

Maybe Narayan Rao Kulkarni’s liberal attitude became his nemesis as none of the children could build on the legacy he was offering so generously. Instead, they tried to tread the common chosen path of vices, secure jobs, marriage, and they let it all go one by one due to financial crisis and other dire compulsions. In just 3-4 years, after his sudden demise in 1971 it was all gone leaving the family totally scattered and shattered. Running the photo studios was challenging as many photo studios mushroomed, cameras became accessible to all so they had to be shut down too.  But his work and collections seem to have reached where they rightfully belong. His goal of preserving and documenting history and heritage has been achieved but he remains largely unknown.  

The family heirloom which consists of some negatives and monochrome prints are unfortunately inaccessible as they are not in good condition. But the author could take photographs of a few, and they are amazing close-up portraits of great men of freedom struggle revealing his proximity to them. How could a common Kannadiga man from Bijapur cover the freedom struggle right from historic Belgaum Congress in 1924 to Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to riot stricken Noakhali, Bangladesh while also being a studio owner, baker, museum collector and TCI guide who later became a member of Mysore state Tourism Advisory Committee and wrote articles archaeological sites as well? This will forever remain a mystery but a legacy to be very proud of. 

This story will probably resonate with many unknown and lesser-known photographers, TCI guides of that era who put their family life at stake for a greater cause – to document the freedom struggle, cultural heritage, renaissance and let the world know what was unfolding in India during the end of British Era.  Maybe their documentation was worth a Pulitzer in a different era. A person may vanish, but his legacy always remains behind in the form of an heirloom and anecdotes. For photographers, heritage writers and museum collectors, they also leave footprints that can be traced even after decades or centuries.

Apparently, Narayan Rao Kulkarni was gifted a camera by his elder brother when he was unable to settle in any proper job. What a magical gift it turned out to be!! It empowered him to step out into the world fearlessly to document not only the rare relics, monuments, memories, mementos for locals, tourists, but also the most important and tragic moments of India’s history! 

(Author would like to thank family members for valuable anecdotes, persons quoted in the article and Bijapur Heritage Foundation for all their help). Also deep gratitude to Ramesh Kumar, Head of Photo Archives Department, French Institute of Pondicherry and French Institute of Pondicherry for the kind support for the archival work.

References and links: 

Kāranta Śivarāma. (1973). Karnataka paintings. Prasārānga, University of Mysore. Retrieved October 11, 2021, from http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/10587922.html.