This is my page to explore and share art depicting India. I have lived in Tiruppur and travelled the country building a business in its garment industry, and these paintings, are how I think about the place visually. Each one comes with a short note on what it captures and why it stuck with me.

Thomas and William Daniell

Shivala Ghat, Benares (1789)

Thomas and William Daniell, Shivala Ghat, Benares (c. 1789). Oil on canvas, after a sketch made on the river by William Daniell on 17 November 1789. Oriental Scenery series.

Today. The fort is still standing and still private property, held by the family of the Kashi Naresh, the titular Maharaja of Varanasi, whose main seat is now Ramnagar Fort directly across the Ganges. The ghat itself functions as it did in 1789. Pilgrims bathe at dawn, boats moor where the morpunkhi sits in the painting, and the temple spires on the right still mark the skyline. Of all the surfaces in India, Varanasi’s riverfront is the one where you can stand exactly where an artist stood 240 years ago and see the same composition.