A Muslim woman was photographed wearing a Burqa ? a form of traditional Mohammedan religious dress which can be dated back to the Byzantine Empire beginning in 330 AD. INDIA: NEWLY colourised images show what INDIA looked like a century ago ? including its last PANDEMIC. In one image, four men used a cattle-drawn cart to transport a cheetah into the wilderness to use for hunting. Taken in 1922, it was traditional for nobles to own hunting cheetahs during this period. In another, a Muslim woman was photographed wearing a Burqa ? a form of traditional Mohammedan religious dress which can be dated back to the Byzantine Empire beginning in 330 AD. Others showed a crowd gathered around a man who was charming two cobras out of a pair of baskets in the early 1920s, and a worker riding atop a chained labouring elephant at a construction site in February 1922. The incredible images have been newly colourised following their release from the Bain News Service archive offering a fresh glimpse into what India may have looked like a century ago. The Bain News Service was set up by photographer George Grantham Bain in 1898 and was one of the world?s earliest photographic agencies. In the early 20th century, India faced a healthcare crisis when it was hit by the ?third plague pandemic.? The bubonic plague was estimated to have taken 10,000,000 lives in India alone and was considered to be active until the 1960s. One of the images from the collection shows medical workers carrying stretchers outside a plague hospital in Bombay, 1922. Today, India faces another healthcare crisis due to a huge surge in cases of Covid-19 amidst the current pandemic. The country has a death toll of over 205,000 and experts suggest it has not yet hit its peak. mediadrumworld.com/Bains News Service