Lot Essay
During the hot weather of 1789 the Daniells made an expedition into the Himalayan foothills with the intention of visiting Garhwal, situated in the north-western part of the modern state of Uttar Pradesh. Because of the perilous roads and the unknown terrain, the Daniells were accompanied by four British officers and a detachment of fifty Indian sepoys. On 25 March they reached Najibadad and set up a base camp while they awaited permission from the Raja of Garhwal to enter is state. It was during this waiting period that they visited Hardwar, the pilgrimage city on the Ganges. They drew and painted the town and the surrounding countryside. William Daniell described this scene in his Journal for 9 April 1789: 'About 1/2 a mile beyond Conkur is a very large Banyan tree - the circumferance 62 feet. There is a passage thro' the tree and in the center of it a Priapur which the Hindoos worship. We sat down to draw it but it being a great holiday of the Hindoos the people drew round us so very thick that we were obliged to leave off and defer it till some other day'.