Photo 212/5(40)

Inscription: Numbered '446' in the negative.

Genre: Architectural Photography

General view of Daria Daulat Bagh, Tipu Sultan's summer palace. Another copy at Photo 1000 (3094).Lyon's 'Notes to accompany a series of photographs prepared to illustrate the ancient architecture of Southern India' (Marion and Co., London, 1870), edited by James Fergusson, gives the following description of this photograph: '446 - The first visit paid here should certainly be to the Deria Dowlut, or as the words imply, 'The Sea of Wealth,' which was built by Tippoo about eighty or ninety years ago, as a sort of summer house or place of rest, whither he could retire when wearied with the cares and troubles of his government. It was also inhabited, and it is said owned, by the late Duke of Wellington after the death of Tippoo, during the time when he governed the district It is very prettily situated in the middle of a beautiful garden through which flows the river Cauvery; but unfortunately, it is a very hot-bed of fever, even more so, if possible, than the rest of Seringapatam, which is, probably, the reason why so few people seem to know of, or at any rate appreciate, the beauties of this little Bijou. It appears to have fallen more or less into decay until Lord Dalhousie visited it on his way to the Neilgherries, when he ordered it to be thoroughly restored, and that a sum of money should every year be applied towards keeping it in repair. This view shows the front of the building with part of the garden. It is two storeys high, the staircases, four in number, being hollowed out of the walls.'