This picture of Mohan Lal Zutshi, a Kashmiri, was shot in 1844, when he was 28, by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson.
Mohan Lal, who hailed from Delhi, was a spy and advisor for the British government in Afghanistan. He later published his memoirs.
This photograph was taken when he visited Scotland in 1844. He began his service with the British under Sir Alexander Burnes who was on an espionage mission to Afghanistan. Burnes was killed in the 1841 Afghan uprising and Mohan Lal later ventured to England and Scotland. He later became a commercial agent for the British in Kabul but retired at 32 and subsequently died in obscurity.
The negative for this photograph was re-discovered 150 years after it was shot and was developed.
Photograph: Courtesy Scottish National Portrait Gallery
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