Photograph taken in Madras (now Chennai) of a south Asian man seated on the ground, facing the viewer, underneath a stone collonade that is supported on stone carved pillars featuring religious icons. The man wears a tilak or mark on his forehead. Another man who stands with a boy on the right also wears a tilak on his forehead. In front of the man are placed baskets of ?food. Facing the man is seated a woman who looks back to face the viewer. Observers stand in the background and foreground.   

On October 26 1921, Edward, Prince of Wales left Portsmouth to begin a tour of the Indian Subcontinent and Japan that covered 41,000 miles, lasting 8 months. Prince Edward spent four months in India, travelling from Bombay to Calcutta and then from Madras to Karachi. As the British Empire's Ambassador, the Prince visited India on behalf of his father King George V, to thank the nation for the essential role it had played during the First World War. Moreover, the visit was intended to strengthen links between Britain and its Empire at a time of increasing calls for Indian independence.