Picture Details
A tamarind tree at Allahabad
Partner:
British LibraryImage reference:
BL.Add.Or.4737Origin:
Allahabad, IndiaArtist / Date:
Sita Ram, 1814-1815Donor / Date:
Hastings AlbumsSize:
315 x 480 mmDescription:
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Water-colour painting by Sita Ram of a tamarind tree at Allahabad for the first Governor General of India, Warren Hastings (1732-1818). Hastings commissioned ten albums of large watercolours (228 paintings in all) painted by Sita Ram. Most of the illustrations were made during Lord and Lady Hastings's journey from Calcutta to Delhi and back in 1814-15. Obviously influenced by the English Picturesque tradition, Sita Ram's landscape with the tamarind tree is more pictureque than natural but gives a sense of the barren landscape where such ancient trees are usually found. The albums were intended to complement Lord Hastings's journal, intended as a present to his children, who were too young to remember much of it in detail. In Hindu mythology the tamarind is associated with the wedding of god Krishna, celebrated by a feast in November. The wood is very hard and durable, valuable for building purposes and the leaves in infusion give a yellow dye. Tamarind is an important ingredient in Indian curries and chutneys and known for its medical value as an astringent and an antiseptic.
