This painting shows a view of the Vaisnavite temple of Ranganata at Srirangam, near Tiruchirapalli (Trichinoply). It was one of the most auspicious Vaisanava temples of south India. Here, we can see the celebration of the annual Vaiyali festival, during which male devotees carried a portable silver image of the deity on horseback in a procession on a palanquin. In the background are the walls and gateways (‘gopura’) of the temple which normally housed this portable icon.

The painting is typical of those commissioned by members of the English East India Company and other European expatriates living in India in the early 19th century. Such naturalistic paintings provide the best observed record of devotional and other aspects of Indian life in the period immediately preceding the advent of photography.