Real photo postcard depicting a sadhu or Hindu holy man lying on a bed of nails in an outdoor rocky landscape, identified by the printed caption A Sadhu on Bed of Nails. The reverse bears a printed notation reading A Sadhu on bed of nails. This is an act of religious devotion, providing a descriptive and contextualizing caption for Western postcard audiences unfamiliar with the ascetic practice depicted.


Postcards documenting Indian religious ascetics and their practices were produced for the tourist and colonial market during the early twentieth century and circulated widely as exotic curiosity cards in Britain, America, and Europe. The bed of nails image occupied a particular place in Western popular imagination, bridging the categories of religious documentation, ethnographic photography, and sideshow curiosity, all of which are well represented within this broader collection.


The front bears the printed text: Printed caption reading A Sadhu on Bed of Nails. The reverse reads: POST CARD reverse with printed notation reading A Sadhu on bed of nails. This is an act of religious devotion. Handwritten inscriptions read: Pencil catalog notation visible.