Hindoo Excavations. In The Mountain Of Ellora Near Aurungabad In The Decan: In Twenty Four Views Respectfully Dedicated To Sir Charles Warre Malet Bart. Late The British Resident At Poonah: Engraved From The Drawings Of James Wales, By And Under The Direction Of Thomas Daniell.

[Plates vol.:] T.pl., 24 pl. - [Text vol.:] 32 p.

Thomas Daniell published six sets of engravings of Indian views - three under the title, 'Oriental Scenery', one as 'Twenty Four Landscapes, Views in Hindoostan', one as 'Antiquities Of India', and the present work. All are often referred to collectively as his 'Oriental Scenery'.

The publication-date of June 1st 1803, given on the title-plate, is repeated on all twenty-four numbered plates. (The British Library India Office Library holds a further set of eight views of rock-cut temples, all carrying the date of July 1 1803.) On the title-page of the accompanying letter-press booklet, the title is given as on the title-plate of the set of plates, but the publication-date is given as 'June I, 1804'.

The numbered plates are captioned, and show: I.-III. The Mountain Of Ellora. 1st.(-3rd.) View [these three plates form one panoramic view]; IV. Jagannâtha Sabhâ; V. Paraswa Râma Sabhâ; VI. The Entrance Of Indra Sabhâ; VII. View Of Indra Sabhâ, Looking Outward; VIII. Indra Sabhâ; IX. Doomar Leyna; X. Junwassa; XI. Râmêswara; XII. The Entrance To Kailâsa; XIII. S.W. View Of Kailâsa; XIV. N.E. View Of Kailâsa; XV.-XVI. The Upper Part Of Kailâsa. No.I.(-II.) [these two plates form one panoramic view]; XVII. Das Âvatâra; XVIII. The Ashes Of Râvana; XIX. The Ashes Of Râvana, Interior View; XX. Tin-Tali; XXI. Dotali; XXII. Viswakarmâ, Exterior View; XXIII. Viswakarmâ; XXIV. Dehr Warra.

The plates are all hand-coloured aquatints.

James Wales was drawing the rock temples of Ellora in Maharashtra ca. 1793. After his death in 1795 his drawings passed to Sir Charles Warre Malet, who married Wales's daughter Susanna in 1799. Malet asked Thomas Daniell to engrave and publish the drawings, and possibly subsidised their publication.

The word 'excavations' in the title refers not to archaeological excavations but to the fact that the temples were cut out of the rock. There are thirty-four major caves in the Ellora group - containing sculptures created between the 6th and 9th century A.D. following the iconography of the Buddhists (caves 1-12), Hindus (caves 14-29) or Jains (caves 30-34). The most celebrated cave is that containing the Kailasa Temple, dedicated to Shiva (cave 16). Although Daniell gives the whole set of plates the title 'Hindoo Excavations', he includes views of the Buddhist shrines (pl. XX, XXI, XXIV) and Jain shrines (pl. IV-VIII).