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MONUMENT AND MAIDAN: HENRY SALT’S VIEWS OF FORTS, TEMPLES AND ANTIQUITIES IN BRITISH INDIA, ENGRAVED BY HAVELL AND BLUCK

a) "This aquatint is taken from plate 4 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Situated near Bengal, the fort at Monghyr was strategically important. The Mughal minister Raja Todar Mal occupied it while quelling Bengali rebel forces. It... MONUMENT AND MAIDAN: HENRY SALT’S VIEWS OF FORTS, TEMPLES AND ANTIQUITIES IN BRITISH INDIA, ENGRAVED BY HAVELL AND BLUCK

a) "This aquatint is taken from plate 4 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Situated near Bengal, the fort at Monghyr was strategically important. The Mughal minister Raja Todar Mal occupied it while quelling Bengali rebel forces. It later hosted the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's brother, Shuja, during the struggle between the brothers for power. Mir Qasim Ali, the Nawab of Bengal, then used it as a base in his battle against the British. When Mir Qasim was defeated in 1764 the fort lost its importance, and by the time of this image the ancient town of Monghyr was full of convalescing sepoys (soldiers). The Governor General, Lord Cornwallis, had a country house in Monghyr. Now called Munger, it is in the state of Bihar." (Source: British Library Board)

b) This aquatint is taken from plate 10 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Tanjore (Thanjavur) is in Tamil Nadu in South India. Viscount Valentia George Annesley wrote that the front of the temple had a statue of a black Nandi Bull, legendarily the vehicle of Shiva, that was supposed to increase in size: "which in reality it may do, as it is constantly covered with gee, to which the dirt adheres ... beyond the Pagoda are seen the lofty gateways of the citadel in which the Pagoda stands, and to the right several buildings included in the Palace of the Rajah of Tanjore. The country itself is extremely fertile, and covered with fruit trees." (Source: British Library Board)

c) This aquatint is taken from plate 11 (plate reads XII [sic]) of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Although the aquatint is incorrectly numbered "XII" in the plate inscription, scholarly and institutional sources—including the British Library—confirm that it is in fact Plate XI. The sequence was corrected in later references, but the original plate edge retains the erroneous numbering, noted here as [sic]. The sacred hill at Tirukkalikunram in Tamil Nadu must have been seen by Salt as he made his way to Mahabalipuram from Pondicherry. He wrote, "[The Chief Brahmin] resides on the hill, where the Pagoda has the appearance of a fortification and would in fact be extremely difficult of approach, were it not for a handsome flight of steps cut in the rock. The Pagodas below consist, as usual of a lofty wall of stone, and having gateways of a pyramidal form, ending in something like a sarcophagus. These are surrounded by groves of cocoa-nut, mango and tamarind trees." (Source: British Library Board)

d) This aquatint is taken from plate 12 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Salt visited Rayakottai in Tamil Nadu on his way to the Cauvery Falls. Viscount Valentia George Annesley wrote of its importance as a point of communication between Mysore and the Carnatic: "[Governor General] Lord Cornwallis ... had the fortifications strengthened. At present they consist of the hill, whose top is only approachable by a narrow flight of steps, and a fort at the bottom where are very comfortable houses for the officers. The scenery is wild and abrupt, consisting of rocky hills, with woods and jungle between ... the climate is so moderate, that every kind of fruit and vegetable may be reared in a degree of perfection that is unknown on the sultry plains around Madras." (Source: British Library Board)

e) "This aquatint is taken from plate 13 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. Poona (now Pune, in Maharashtra) was the capital of the Marathas and the seat of the Peshwa, the head of the Maratha confederacy. In the centre of this scene, on the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers, is the home of the British Resident at Pune. This bungalow had been erected to celebrate a festival at which the Peshwa assisted when he was restored to Poona by British arms. According to Annesley, 'suttee' (sati, the practice of burning a Hindu widow on her husband's funeral pyre) was performed at the pagodas nearby." (Source: British Library Board)

f) This aquatint is taken from plate 14 of Henry Salt's Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt. and shows the great Buddhist Chaitya (hall of worship) at Karli (Karle). Dating from some time between the second century BC and the first century AD, the Karli caves are in the Poona district of Maharashtra, and this chaitya is the largest rock-cut cave in India. Explorer and earl, George Annesley described the carvings and entrance screens as greatly damaged by human hand, but was much impressed by the grandeur of the huge arched roof. The cave is also distinguished by the entrance pillar, which is 24 feet high and eight feet in diameter, with a summit carving of four lions". (Source: British Library Board). Which represents the national emblem of India.

This distinguished set of six hand-coloured aquatints captures Henry Salt’s refined observations of key architectural and topographical landmarks encountered during his extensive travels across southern and western India from 1802 to 1804, as secretary and draughtsman to Viscount Valentia.

Each print reflects a unique aspect of the Indian landscape—from the fortified colonial bastion of Monghyr on the Ganges and the soaring gopuram of the Brihadeeswara Temple in Tanjore, to the rock-cut sanctuaries at Carli and the sacred temple complexes of Trinchicunum. The inclusion of Riacotta in the Baramahal, a hill-fort along the Eastern Ghats, and Poonah (modern-day Pune), an important Maratha capital, underscores Salt’s interest in both the monumental and the strategically significant.

Rendered with atmospheric depth and technical finesse by engravers such as Daniel Havell and J Bluck, these views exemplify early 19th-century British artistic engagement with India’s monumental antiquity and its living political landscape. The series, widely admired for its compositional elegance and documentary value, became a cornerstone in the corpus of British topographical art on the subcontinent.

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