Ayodhya seen from the river Ghaghara, Uttar Pradesh. Coloured etching by William Hodges, 1785.

The name of Oudh comes from Ayodhya, described in the epic Sanskrit poem the Ramayana as the birthplace of Rama, an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu

The city of Ayodhya, or Oudh, is a holy city on the river Ghaghara. It gave its name to the administrative district of Oudh, principally the area now known as Uttar Pradesh; it was controlled by the same lieutenant-governer as the North Western Provinces. The ghat shown is the Lakshmana Ghat on the banks of the Ghaghara river

20 May 1785.

1 print : line etching with aquatint, printed in sepia, with watercolour ; platemark 31.7 x 47.5 cm.

A view of part of the city of Oud ; drawn on the spot & engraved by W. Hodges

Two other impressions of this image, both with watercolour, exist in the collection

Travel in aquatint and lithography 1770-1860 from the library of J.R. Abbey, San Francisco 1991, vol. 2, no. 416.1

Wellcome Collection 26802i