Calcutta. Bathing ghat on the Hooghly

Photographer: Johnston and Hoffmann
Medium: Photographic print
Date: 1885

Photograph, from an album of 62 views of India and Ceylon. The print is unsigned but probably by Johnston & Hoffmann. The view is from the Howrah Bridge in Calcutta, looking towards Chotulal's Ghat, which stood on the east bank of the Hooghly river immediately to the north of the bridge. The ghat [stepped embankment] was crowned by a substantial structure in European classical style, topped by a drum. The date of construction is unknown, although it was in position by the mid-1870s. The ghat was still standing in the mid-1940s but has since been demolished.