Posted on: 11 June 2013

Cape Comorin, taken near Calcad - 1804

Plate 1 from the fourth set of Thomas and William Daniell's 'Oriental Scenery,' which they called 'Twenty-four Landscapes.' The views progress northwards from the far south at Cape Comorin to Srinagar in Garhwal in the Himalaya mountains. 'This view...', the Daniells wrote, '... is taken in the vicinity of a small village called Calcad; it is a place of no account, but contains an Hindoo temple of considerable dimensions. Though the hills beyond that village are high, they seem almost levelled with the plain, when compared with the lofty mountain of the Cape, rising immediately behind them.' Cape Comorin is the southernmost point of India, and is actually some distance from the mountain of Mahendragiri, the last tremendous outcrop of the Western Ghats.

Copyright © The British Library Board


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Calcad would be Calicut / Kozhikode?

probably Calicut

Not calicut/kozhikode but Kalakkadu in Tirunveli/Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nad. That mountain with the cloud cover is very exaggerated, per Martinelli. There is a Tiger reserve in this area now. A glimpse of Kalakkadu today here ( http://www.nellaieruvadi.com/photos/Kalakkadu.asp )

Beautiful place. That area in deep south tamilnadu, does not get the tourist eyeballs it deserves. But amazingly beautiful.

Ian Lockwood's comments on the entry for this image at the British Library points to his article about the place with recent photographs of the mountain. He says, "This peak ... is actually not Mahendragiri [but] Thiruvanamalai-motai". See: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000004324u00001000.html http://ianlockwood.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/thiruvanamlai_portrait_view6bwlr6_101.jpg http://ianlockwood.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/rainbow__thiruvanamalai_panorama1alr6_101.jpg http://ianlockwood.wordpress.com/category/kalakad-mundanthurai-area/