Lot Essay
The site shown is a sacred cave in a hill to the east of Bhagalpur; it still retains some relief carvings of the Gupta period. The Daniells visited it in mid October 1788, shortly before arriving at Bhagalpur where they were to stay with their friend Samuel Davis. Although they made a number of views of similar natural sacred sites, in this instance they seem to have been even more impressed by the stately banyan tree - another favourite subject of theirs, here given pride of place. In 1804, after their return to Britain, Thomas made an oil painting of Patharghata, from a different angle (see Shellim, 1979, TD59).