'''Key Events''' * Plague in Bombay and Pune; national famine until 1897. * E. B. Havell, one of the figureheads of the [[http://www.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_School_of_Art|Bengal School of Painting]] is appointed Superintendent of the Government School of Art, Calcutta. * Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vande_Mataram|Vande Mataram]] (Hail to the Mother), one of India’s national anthems later appropriated by Hindu chauvinists, is recited for the very first time at the Indian National Congress. * Bal Gangadhar Tilak inaugurates a festival around the figure of the 17th C. Maratha emperor Shivaji to generate nationalist sentiment. * B. R. Rajam Aiyer publishes the social reform novel, Kamalampal Charitram, in Tamil. * The singer Vishnu Digambar Paluskar leaves the Miraj court to popularise classical music. [[Image(vdpaluskar.jpg)]] Paluskar For an article on the history of classical music [[http://chandrakantha.com/articles/tawaif/6_passing_the_torch.html|click here]] * First film screening at Watson’s Hotel, Bombay, on 7 July, by the Lumière cameraman Marius Sestier. [[Image(TOI.jpg)]] [[Image(Watsons old.jpg)]] [[Image(Watson's-Hotel.jpg)]]Watson's hotel as it currently stands [[Embed(youtube=1dgLEDdFddk)]] * The Madras Photographic Stores advertises imported ‘animated photographs’, reviewed in the Journal of the Amateur Photographic Society of Madras. [[Image(1896.jpg)]]