This is one of William Carpenter's earliest Indian paintings. It shows a row of three shops in the Sadr bazaar, Pune (Poona), central India. On the left you can see a liquor shop, and in the centre a 'shroff' or money-lender. On the right is a shop selling pan or betel leaf. People throughout south Asia chew pan together with a mixture of areca-nut and lime. Carpenter's Indian pictures display a particular interest in costume, agriculture, and the day-to-day lives of the local inhabitants.

Carpenter's mother was the distinguished portrait painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes). His father, William Hookham Carpenter, became Keeper of the Prints and Drawings Department at the British Museum. In early 1850 William Carpenter landed in Bombay. He spent much of his time painting portraits of local rulers and the surrounding countryside, often wearing Indian dress himself. He travelled widely, from Sri Lanka in the south to Kashmir in the north. He also spent some time in the Panjab and Afghanistan before moving south to Rajasthan. He appears to have returned to England in 1856.