Views of Benares, 1905

An earlier post featured the superb drawings and engravings of colonial Benares by James Prinsep. There are also many photographs from the late 19th C. and early 20th in existence, such as those on the page below, taken in 1905. In a few cases readers will find contemporary photographs made by the present author - taken from a row boat floating down the Ganges - and worked into a suitably sepia format, so that the present shoreline can be compared to the photographic record. 

For those not familiar with Benares, the city stretches along the west bank of the Ganges, and each set a constructed steps (ghats) function, more or less, like suburbs, very much like a beach front. It is from the ghats (steps) that Hindoos access the river, most particularly for ritual bathing. 

MUNSHI GHAT

Munshi Ghat, 1905

Munshi Ghat, 2015

PANCHAGHAT

Panchaghat, 1905

Panchaghat, 2015

Note that the minarets of the mosque, built by James Prinsep in the early 1800s, were dismantled in the 20th C. after they were deemed in danger of falling. 

MANARKARNIKA

Manarkarnika Ghat, 1905

Manarkarnika Ghat, 2015

GHOSLA

Ghosla Ghat, 1905

Ghosla Ghat, 2015

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Assi Ghat

Baji Rao's Ghat

Batsaraj Ghat

Burning Ghat

Gai Ghat

Kedar Ghat

RanaMahal Ghat

Shivala Ghat

Yours from Benares

Harper McAlpine Black

The Benares of James Prinsep

British India produced many genius orientalists, but few with such innate talent and breadth as Mr. James Prinsep. He showed great aptitude for drawing and draughtsmanship at an early age but had weak eyesight and so was directed away from the visual arts to a career as a metallurgist and assayist. It was as an assayist working for the British Mint that he ventured to India and took a position in Benares. There he became deeply interested in early Indian coins which led him to decipher the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts, the feat of scholarship for which he is most renowned. 

But, in Benares, he also made extensive drawings and engravings of the sacred city and accomplished much else in both the humanities and the sciences. His drawings and lithographs are some of the finest ever made by an orientalist artist, a sublime record of British Benares. In an age where our intellectual elites are poisoned with post-colonial resentment, however, his genius and achievements have been forgotten. Few remember James Prinsep now, though he would have been an extraordinary character in any age. His contribution to the Benares and to its people was profound. More generally, he made a substantial contribution to a wide range of disciplines - a polymath of great imagination and talent. 

The life and times of this unsung hero - and the life and times of Benares, the most sacred city of the Hindoos - is presented in a charming documentary entitled The Benares of James Princep, thus:

The description of the movie:

James Prinsep landed in india in 1819.

He came to work in the mint as an essay master for the East India Company but destiny had bigger plans.

Truly a man for all seasons, his genius blossomed as an artist,linguist,architect,translator,wri­ter,engineer and scientist.

He died at the age of 40.

His brilliance has been ignored by the world.

May this documentary shed light on him and the holy city that he loved.

Readers can find a trailer and instalment of the movie here. 

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The present writer, having moved along from a week-long sojourn in Boodh Gaya, is now residing for a while in mystical Benares and is privileged to spend his days - especially his mornings - strolling along the ghats on the banks of the Ganges. He is pleased to report that, although less treed, spotted with graffiti and advertising, and suffering the usual cement degradations of Indian modernity, little of substance has changed on the riverfront since the time of James Prinsep. The city is thousands of years old, one of the oldest continually occupied cities in the world. The old city sections with its narrow streets - as opposed to modern commercial extensions - have remained more or less intact since the time of the British Raj. Some things, such as the open-air cremation grounds on the river banks, have remained unchanged since Vedic times. 

The following are some of Mr. Prinsep's engravings of the ghats and other features of Benares. Readers should click on the image for a larger version of each...

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The Prinsep Monument in Calcutta which, regrettably, is now dwarfed by the new bridge across the Hoogley.

James Prinsep became ill in India and returned to Britain to recover. Alas, he  died a young and untimely death in 1840. News of his demise was greeted with consternation throughout British India, and a beautiful monument was built in his honour beside the Hoogley River in Calcutta. The present author has spent time there too, and along the Prinsep Ghat which is, without question, one of the loveliest parts of Calcutta today. It is now gratifying to be in Benares to see first hand the faithfulness of Prinsep's renderings of the architecture of this ancient and most extraordinary of cities. 

Yours

Harper McAlpine Black