Gangotri, the holy shrine of Mahadeo - 1820

This coloured aquatint was made by Robert Havell and son from plate 11 of JB Fraser's 'Views in the Himala Mountains'. Fraser is alleged to have been the first European to visit and map Gangotri, which is the source of the Ganges. He admitted in his journal to a quiet sense of satisfaction at this achievement. Having met many pilgrims on the way, he wrote: "We were now in the centre of the stupendous Himalas, the loftiest and perhaps the most rugged range of mountains in the world. We were at the source of that noble river, equally an object of veneration and a source of fertility, plenty and opulence to Hindustan; and we had now reached the holiest shrine of Hindoo worship which these holy hills contain."

Source : British Library