Panorama of a Small British Station on the Ganges

As India’s colonial past recedes deeper into history, vignettes such as this Company Painting from that time become increasingly charming as well as insightful for a layered study of the period. It’s nothing less than fascinating to ‘see’ India of a time when the Revolt of 1857 had not yet taken place, when the East India Company (EIC) was still striding across the subcontinent amassing power, in what Edmund Burke would describe as ‘state in the disguise of a merchant’. The busy waterway of Ganga as revealed in this painting testifies to the economic might of the country that attracted merchants such as EIC in the first place.