Village and Pagoda below Patna Azimabad, on the Ganges. From: A Picturesque Tour Along the River Ganges and Jumna in India (London: R. Ackermann, 1824)

This is plate 11 from Charles Ramus Forrest's 'A Picturesque tour along the rivers Ganges and Jumna, in India'. Forrest was an East India Company official who made several excursions along the great rivers, producing drawings "attentively copied from nature, and in many instances coloured on the spot, ... while the magic effects of the scenes represented were still impressed on [his] mental vision."

On 2 December 1807, he set out from Calcutta, passing through various towns along the river courses, including Bhagalpur, Monghyr and Patna. A few miles below Patna, he "passed a very prettily situated village, with its pagoda of a most picturesque form, its ghaut of the red stone, and its native Hindoos performing their ablutions in the sacred stream of the Ganges. The varied forms and tints of the foliage surrounding this romantic spot give a good relief and effect to the white buildings, as may be seen in the annexed view".