Posted on: 16 October 2011

The Chandni Chowk from the top of the Lahore Gate of the Fort - 1815

Watercolour of Chandni Chowk in Delhi from 'Views by Seeta Ram from Delhi to Tughlikabad Vol. VII' produced for Lord Moira, afterwards the Marquess of Hastings, by Sita Ram between 1814-15. Marquess of Hastings, the Governor-General of Bengal and the Commander-in-Chief (r. 1813-23), was accompanied by artist Sita Ram (flourished c.1810-22) to illustrate his journey from Calcutta to Delhi between 1814-15.

Idealised view of the Chandni Chowk from the top of the Lahore Gate of the Fort, the canal depicted running down the middle, with the Jami' Masjid immediately (and wrongly) adjacent to the south, and with Lady Loudoun's procession of elephants heading along the street. Inscribed below: 'Great Choke at Delhi.'

Source : British Library


 View Post on Facebook

Comments from Facebook

I have visited Chandni chowk 2008 as well as Bawanichowk the lime famous hotels and restaurants with delicious food wht a Golden days

Interesting, I noticed right away that the Masjid was wrongly positioned. Why is this the case, do you suppose?

Gloria Goodwin Raheja: Sita Ram is reputed to have painted around 230 paintings in a span of 3-5 years recording the sights and monuments of his travels with Lord Moira and his wife. We could presume that he would have painted some of them from memory at a later date and inaccuracies might have crept in. Another of his paintings posted below of the 'tomb of I'timad al-Daula' has been pointed by a few experts to have been wrongly depicted too. Its also possible that he might have never wanted his paintings to be realistic and chose them to the idealized versions of what he saw. But then these are just our presumptions. All the same he remains to be my favorite artist of the Company School !

Thanks for your comment! The wrongly positioned masjid is really a major re-orientation, which is what makes it so interesting.

Wow gr8 Pic Thanx Admine Ji Thank U Very Much Ur Page Is The Best Page On Facebook Thanx.

Very informative and rare,thanks for all this info,I had a feeling tht all is lost,it seems there are people who will preserve our history as much as possible ! Way to go Sir !

wow! chandni chowk is nothing like this now ...maybe we should have a then and now pic too..

chandni chowk has totally different charm and culture

What a lovely oil painting!

Have been there many times with my parents while in Delhi before 1947...