{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O430702"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O430702/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011ER0546/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011ER0546/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011ER0546","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O430702/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O430702","accessionNumber":"08100(IS)","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Basement of the Shiva Temple, Madurai","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Lieutenants Thomas Askwith Jenkins of the 33rd Madras Native Infantry and William Walter  Whelpdale of the 19th Madras Native Infantry were stationed together at Pambam between  1838 and Whelpdale's death in 1842, giving us a firm date range for this painting. Ravanat  Naik's identity is unknown, but he was probably working with them as a draughtsman on the  Pamban Passage clearance; he may have been a Naik / Naigue, a rank equivalent to Corporal  in the Madras Sappers, under Jenkins' command. Jenkins was supervising the Pamban  Passage project, clearing a new shipping channel between the coast of Madras and Sri Lanka.  Their headquarters was only a few miles across the same island as the Temple, and a short  boat trip up river from the Madras coast to the other sites at Madurai.\r\n\r\nAlong with seven other watercolours by the same team, and five by Justinian Gantz, this was  presented to the Court of the Honourable East India Company on 16th January 1845 by a  Captain Lock. They were displayed in the India Museum until, in 1878, five were transferred to  the Victoria and Albert Museum. The other watercolours are held in the British Library's India  Office records (WD 557-9). \r\n\r\nSince the beginning of the nineteenth century, English soldiers and civil servants had been  collecting information and images of the historic sites in India. In 1800-5, Colonel Mackenzie  had drawings of the temple, and the 'choultry' of Tirumala Nayak at Madurai made for him by  an Indian draughtsman.  The present drawings are significant in illustrating the process by  which Indian artists were recruited to help with military projects and archeological records.   They also demonstrate the draughtsmanship which was an essential skill for military men,  especially ones engaged in engineering projects. ","physicalDescription":"A watercolour, mainly sepia, of the basement of the Shiva Temple in Madurai.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lt. T. A. Jenkins","id":"AUTH319225"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x28695"},"note":"'Lieutenant Jenkins' was formerly identified as W. G. P. Jenkins. He is now known to be  Lieutenant Thomas Askwith Jenkins of the 33rd Madras Native Infantry, who was posted to  Pambam with Lt. Whelpdale between 1840 and Whelpdale's death in 1842. A new aquisition  at the British Library is a painting which appears to be a copy of this one; its inscription gives  Jenkins initials as T. A.\r\n\r\nJenkins was born in 1809 into a Welsh gentry family with close links to the East India  Company in Madras. It is likely that he served in the merchant marine the EIC ship 'General  Kyd;' he was later stated to have been at sea for two years, and trained in marine and land  surveying. He was a qualified interpreter, able to read and write in Persian and Telogu as well  as classical and european languages. \r\n\r\nJenkins was posted to Pamban Island in 1838, taking charge of the Pamban Passage clearance, a  project to clear a new shipping channel between the coast of Madras and Ceylon (now Sri  Lanka). This was to allow ships to pass through sheltered waters, even during the monsoon  season. It was seen as important to trade, and to marine safety. He took charge of a  detachment of about 60 Madras Sappers and Miners and 150 convict labourers, and managed  the project with an impressive safety record, despite the daily use of dynamite. Pamban was  only a few miles from the Temple at Rameshwaram, and Madurai, the location of the other  paintings in this group, was a short boat trip up river from the Madras coast.\r\n\r\nJenkins went on to manage the project which delivered the Madras Railway in 1857, and to  then act as Agent managing railway operations. He retired to Cheltenham, and died in 1877.\r\n\r\n\r\n"},{"name":{"text":"Lt. William Walter Whelpdale","id":"A36637"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x28695"},"note":"Lieutenant William Walter Whelpdale of the 19th Madras Native Infantry was born in  Battersea in 1815; his mother's family had a history of service for the East India Company in  Madras. He received a classical and mathematical education, studied at Universite royale de  France, Academie d'Orleans and then the East India Company Military Seminary at  Addiscombe House. \r\n\r\nWhile at Addiscombe he would have studied civil and military drawing; these disciplines, along  with surveying, accounted for 22% of the study time, and the same percentage in the final  exams that determined careers. Addiscombe was primarily set up to train Engineers and  Artillery officers, who needed such skills on a daily basis to create maps and survey  fortifications. Even infantry officers such as Whelpdale had to be able to draw in order to  report observations back to headquarters; not until photographic equipment was simple and  portable enough to go on routine patrols were such skills irrelevant.\r\n\r\nWhelpdale worked at Pamban, taking charge of the project in Jenkins' absence, until his death  there in 1842 of liver disease."},{"name":{"text":"Ravanat Naik","id":"A36638"},"association":{"text":"painted by","id":"x28695"},"note":"Ravanat Naik's background is currently unknown. Given his association with Jenkins and  Whelpdale, and travelling with them between Pamban and Madurai, it is likely that he was  also involved in the Pamban Passage project as a draughtsman.\r\n\r\nAlternatively to his working as a civilian draughtsman, he might have been a military  draughtsman, a Naik or Naigue - a junior Non-Commissioned Officer equivalent to a Corporal -  in the Madras Sappers. \r\n\r\nThe Madras Sappers and Miners, now known as the Madras Engineering Group, has survived  intact as a regiment to the present day, where it is one of the three regiments that make up  the Indian Army's Engineer Corps."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour, mainly sepia wash","categories":[{"text":"Indian Company Paintings","id":"THES49045"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"India Museum","id":"THES286062"}],"styles":[{"text":"Company","id":"AAT18959"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2011ER0546"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES403693"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Madurai","id":"x30889"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1840 - 1842","earliest":"1840-01-01","latest":"1842-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"54.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Inscribed: Basement of the Shiva Temple, Madura. Drawn by Lieuts Whelpdale and Jenkins and Ravanat Naig","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Transferred from the India Museum, 1879","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Architectural; Drawings; watercolour, Basement of the Shiva Temple, Madurai, 1840 - 1842 ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Archer, Mildred. <u> Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period</u> \r\nVictoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992, 41 p. ISBN 0944142303\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["08100(IS)"],"accessionNumberNum":"08100","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-02","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}