'Facade on the W. Side of the Nayakar Durbar Hill', from the photograph album by Capt. Linnaeus Tripe, 'Photographic Views in Tanjore and Trivady'; South India, 1858.

Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) documented much of south India as official photographer to the Madras government (1856–1860). This photograph is part of the album he produced of Tanjore, or Thanjavur. Text accompanying the photograph states, ‘This fine quadrangle is the most pure and perfect specimen of the Nayakar architecture to be found. Similar buildings in Madura betray the influence of Italian artists: this is purely native. When thronged with the warlike followers of the Nayakar, the king enthroned on the splendid granite slab now occupied by the statue of one of the greatest of the Mahratta kings, the scene must have been sufficiently striking.’

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