Weeks travelled what seemed to be the entirety of the Orient. But it was on a trip to the Persian villages of Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz where Weeks encountered the cholera epidemic, forcing him to take the first steam ship out of the country to India. He spent two years in India before returning home to Paris, studying, painting and immersing himself into the Indian culture. His paintings of Indian life gave him celebrity both in France and America and they became his specialty.

The present work was painted during Weeks' first trip to India, as indicated by the use of the circular device with his signatures. The architectural elements were painted in situ and the figures were added later at his studio in Paris.