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{{Short description|Indian photographer (1844–1905)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Lala Deen Dayal<br> लाला दीन दयाल
| image = Raja Lala Deen Dayal.jpg
| image_size = 235px
| caption = Lala Deen Dayal, {{circa|1890}}
| birth_name =
| birth_date = c. 1844
| birth_place = [[Sardhana]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[Company Raj]]
| death_date = July 1905
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]]
| field = Photography
| movement =
| works =
| honorific_prefix = [[Raja]]
| alma_mater = [[Thomason College of Civil Engineering]]
}}

[[Raja]] '''Lala Deen Dayal''' ({{Langx|hi|लाला दीन दयाल}}; c. 1844 – 1905; also written as 'Din Dyal' and 'Diyal' in his early years), famously known as '''Raja Deen Dayal'''<ref>[[The Library of Congress]] (Washington, DC, USA) gives the date of his death as 5 July 1905, which is probably an error, and gives the preferred form of his name as "Deen Dayal, Raja". The Union List of Artist Names gives his year of death as 1910 and the preferred form of his name as "Dayal, Lala Deen".</ref>) was an [[British India|Indian]] photographer. His career began in the mid-1870s as a commissioned photographer; eventually he set up studios in Indore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. He became the court photographer to the sixth [[Nizam]] of [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]], [[Mahbub Ali Khan, Asif Jah VI]], who awarded him the title [[Raja Bahadur]] Musavvir Jung Bahadur, and he was appointed as the photographer to the [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy of India]] in 1885.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040208/spectrum/art.htm|title=Portrait of a photographer |date=8 February 2004|work=The Tribune}}</ref>

He received the [[Royal Warrant of Appointment (United Kingdom)|Royal Warrant]] from [[Queen Victoria]] in 1897.<ref name="sta">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/12/stories/2006111218160500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027233023/http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/12/stories/2006111218160500.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 October 2007|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=Lala Deen Dayal stamp released: Many photographers fail to match Deen Dayal's ability even today, says Union Minister|date=12 November 2006}}</ref>

The [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] conferred the honorary title of ''[[Raja]]'' upon him.

== Early life and education ==

Deen Dayal was born in [[Sardhana]], Uttar Pradesh, near [[Meerut]] in a family of jewellers.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} He received technical training at [[Thomason College of Civil Engineering]] at [[Roorkee]] (now [[IIT Roorkee]]) in 1866 as an engineer in lower subordinate class.<ref name="raj">{{cite web |url=http://www.rajadeendayal.com/biography.php |title=Biography |access-date=4 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122035251/http://www.rajadeendayal.com/biography.php |archive-date=22 January 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Career==

In 1866, Deen Dayal entered government service as head estimator and draughtsman in the Department of Works Secretariat Office in [[Indore]].{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=24}} Meanwhile, he took up photography. His first patron in Indore was [[Tukojirao Holkar II|Maharaja Tukoji Rao II]] of [[House of Holkar|Indore state]], who in turn introduced him to Sir [[Henry Daly]], agent to the [[Governor-General of India|Governor General]] for [[Central India]] (1871–1881) and the founder of [[Daly College]], who encouraged his work, along with the Maharaja himself who encouraged him to set up his studio in Indore. Soon he was getting commissions from Maharajas and the British Raj.<ref name="raj"/> The following year he was commissioned to photograph the Governor-General's tour of Central India.{{sfn|Johnson|1990}} In 1868, Deen Dayal founded his studio – Lala Deen Dayal & Sons – and was subsequently commissioned to photograph temples and palaces of India.{{sfn|Johnson|1990}} He established studios in Indore (Mid 1870s), Secunderabad (1886) and Bombay (1896).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.laladeendayal.in/Biography.html|title=HOME :: Raja Lala Deen Dayal|website=www.laladeendayal.in|access-date=2019-06-02}}</ref>

In 1875–76, Deen Dayal photographed the Royal Tour of the [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Prince]] and [[Alexandra of Denmark|Princess of Wales]].{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=24}} In the early 1880s he travelled with [[Sir Lepel Griffin]] through [[Bundelkhand]], photographing the ancient architecture of the region.{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=39}} Griffin commissioned him to do archaeological photographs: The result was a portfolio of 86 photographs, known as "Famous Monuments of Central India".<ref name="din">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/11/28/stories/2010112850240500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205134303/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/11/28/stories/2010112850240500.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 December 2010|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=Vignettes of a splendorous era|date=28 November 2010}}</ref>

The next year he retired from government service and concentrated on his career as a professional photographer. Deen Dayal became the court photographer to the sixth [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] in 1885. Soon afterward he moved from Indore to [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]].<ref name="din"/> In the same year he was appointed as the photographer to the [[Viceroy of India]].{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=40}} In time, the Nizam of Hyderabad conferred the honorary title of ''[[Raja]]'' upon him. It was at this time that Dayal created the firm Raja Deen Dayal & Sons in Hyderabad.{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=40}}

Raja Deen Dayal was appointed photographer to [[Queen Victoria]] in 1897.{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=40}}

In 1905–1906, Raja Deen Dayal accompanied the Royal Tour of the [[George V of the United Kingdom|Prince]] and [[Mary of Teck|Princess]] of Wales.{{sfn|Thomas|1981|p=40}}

==Legacy==

[[File:Lala Deen Dayal 2006 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Raja Lala Deen Dayal on a 2006 stamp of India]]

The Lala Deen Dayal studios' collection of 2,857 glass plate negatives was bought by the [[Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts]] ([[IGNCA]]), New Delhi in 1989. Today it is the largest repository of his work. A large collection including celebrated images of the 1870s' famine are with the [[Peabody Essex Museum]], US and the [[Ebrahim Alkazi|Alkazi]] collection in Delhi. In 2010, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at IGNCA, curated by [[Jyotindra Jain]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/The-Raja-of-images/Article1-634076.aspx|title=The Raja of images|date=3 December 2010|work=Hindustan Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204152125/http://www.hindustantimes.com/The-Raja-of-images/Article1-634076.aspx|archive-date=4 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Framing-history/718422|title=Framing history|date=1 December 2010|work=Indian Express}}</ref>

In 2006, a curated collection of Raja Deen Dayal's photographs was exhibited at the [[Salar Jung Museum]] during the Times Hyderabad Festival;<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Deen-Dayals-eyes-capture-bygone-era/articleshow/1504725.cms#ixzz178Edqe85|title=Deen Dayal's 'eyes' capture bygone era|date=26 April 2006|work=The Times of India}}</ref> subsequently in November, the Ministry of Communications, Department of Posts released a commemorative stamp honouring him; the ceremony was held at [[Jubilee Hall, Hyderabad|Jubilee Hall]], Hyderabad.<ref name="sta"/>

==Gallery==

Photographs taken by Deen Dayal in the 1880s, sourced from the [[British Library]], [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|George Curzon]]'s Collection: ''Views of HH the Nizam's Dominions, Hyderabad, Deccan, 1892''.

<gallery>
Image: Entrance bridge to Hyderabad, India.JPG| [[Purana Pul]], [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]
Image:Bashir-bagh Palace, Hyderabad, India.JPG| [[Bashir Bagh Palace]], Hyderabad
Image:The interior of Bashir-bagh Palace, Hyderabad, India.JPG| The interior of the Basir-bagh Palace
Image:Drawing Room of Chowmahela Palace, Hyderabad, India.JPG| Drawing Room of [[Chowmahalla Palace]], Hyderabad
Image:Faluk-numa Palace, Hyderabad, India.JPG|A distant view of the [[Falaknuma Palace]] from an opposite hillside, taken by in the 1880s
Image:Residency House Bolarum.jpg|[[Rashtrapati Nilayam]], Hyderabad, then Residency House circa 1892
</gallery>

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

== References ==

{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |url= http://authorities.loc.gov/webvoy.htm |title= Deen Dayal, Raja, LC Control Number n 79141503|website= Anglo-American Name Authority File|access-date= 18 August 2006}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080514221543/http://www.cca.qc.ca/Collectionenligne/fiches/fiches15.asp?makeDiv=false&ID=Dayal%2C+Lala+Deen&origineObject=PH1980:0271:001-051&ficheType=2&langue=2 Canadian Centre for Architecture; Collections Online, s.v. “Dayal, Lala Deen”], cited 18 August 2006.
* {{cite book |last= Johnson |first= William S. |date= 1990 |title= Nineteenth-Century Photography: An Annotated Bibliography, 1839–1879 |location= Boston |publisher= G.K. Hall }}
* {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=G. |date=1981 |title=History of photography, India, 1840–1980 |publisher= Andhra Pradesh State Akademi of Photography |pages=24, 31, 39, 40 }}
* [http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=%13%11Dayal&role=&nation=&prev_page=1&subjectid=500037191 Union List of Artist Names, s.v. "Dayal, Lala Deen"], cited 18 August 2006.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==

* ''Princely India: Photographs by Raja Deen Dayal, 1884–1910'', by Deen Dayal (Author), Clark Worswick. Knopf, 1980. {{ISBN|0-394-50772-X}}.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=AXMJZpK03L0C&pg=PA22 Raja Deen Dayal : Prince of Photographers]'', by Narendra Luther, Sureshchand Deendayal. Hyderabadi, 2003. {{ISBN|81-901752-0-3}}.
* ''Lala Deen Dayal: the eminent Indian photographer, 1844–1910'', Deen Dayal (Raja), London Borough of Camden. Libraries & Arts Dept., 2002.
* [https://archive.today/20100505084707/http://www.acparchives.com/pageone.html Raja Deen Dayal Collection at ''Alkazi Foundation'']

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayal, Lala Deen}}
[[Category:1840s births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:Pioneers of photography]]
[[Category:People from Meerut district]]
[[Category:Indian nature photographers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian photographers]]
[[Category:Photography in India]]
[[Category:Photographers from British India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian photographers]]
[[Category:Architectural photographers]]
[[Category:Indian portrait photographers]]

Lala Deen Dayal - Revision history

Zachary99B at 09:21, 8 February 2026