1974 in India

About this footage

This is a tourist's record of India's monuments, filmed on foot and from car windows. The camera walks through the red sandstone gateway to the Taj Mahal with visitors in white, then follows them through the gardens and along a long reflecting pool lined with potted plants. A woman in sunglasses poses in front of the tomb.

Palaces take up many reels: courtyards with scalloped arches, white marble colonnades, carved latticework, and a monkey sitting on a decorated roof. From high on a fort, elephants carry passengers along the base of a crenellated wall. Rock-cut cave temples get just as much film, with slow pans over carved pillars, worn reliefs and stone steps winding up a dry canyon.

Between sights, a woman in an orange sari carves stone beside a grinding wheel, another paints flowers on a large clay pot, and a stall hangs thick with dresses. There are busy streets full of bicycles, a dance in bright costumes, women singing with instruments, and a lion costume performing on a stage.