Foster 576

The Fortress of Gingee, Madras, 1816

A stronghold in the South Arcot District, about 80 miles south-west of Madras. In the centre of the picture is seen the Great Mountain (Rajagiri), a precipitous bluff some 600 feet high, crowned by a citadel. At the foot is the inner (principal) fort. On the right hand side of the picture rises the English Mountain (Kistnagiri), and on the left the hill of St. George (Chandraya Drug). Both were strongly fortified; and all three hills were linked by granite walls five feet thick and several miles in length. In the foreground, on the bank of what was once the moat, stand two Indian villagers, one of whom points to the ruins of Kistnagiri.

Inscribed on back of canvas: ‘‘West View of Gingee, sketched on the spot, January, 1813, and painted in London, in 1816, by G. Payne, Lieut. 6. Native Regt., Madras.’’

58 by 94 ins (147 by 290 cms)

Presented to the East India Company by Lieut. Payne, 1816.

See Court Minutes, 28th August, 1816: ‘A letter from Lieut. George Payne of the Madras Establishment, presenting for the Court’s acceptance an oil painting of the Antient Forts of Gingee as an accompaniment to the plans of the survey of the Southern Division of Arcot, being read: Ordered that the Court’s acknowledgement be made to Lieut. Payne for his present of the said painting, and that it be placed in the Company’s Museum’.

Gingee Fort was first constructed during the period of the Vijayanagar kings - the Hindu dynasty which was overthrown by the allied Muhammadan kings of the Deccan in 1565. It was not, however, till 1638 that Gingee fell to the Muslims. In 1677 Sivaji obtained possession of it by stratagem, and it remained in Maratha hands till 1698, when the forces of Aurangzeb captured it after an eight years’ seige. In 1750 the French, under M. Bussy, stormed all three forts in a single night. Eleven years later they were forced to yield it to the British under Captain Smith. It was surrendered to Haidar ‘Ali in 1780. It would appear that Payne was on survey duty at Gingee in 1813 when he made a drawing of the fort which he worked up into an oil during his leave in 1816.