Elephant, the theme of this 'pata', has been considered in Indian tradition the most auspicious of all created beings. Cow is sacred but not auspicious like elephant, hence cow is worshipped but elephant is revered as harbinger of auspices. Cow has hence ascended into pantheon while elephant has descended into people's tradition and is the object of love, curiosity and reverence. Elephant, the harbinger of auspices, is the auspicious motif often guarding a temple gate, the gate of a palace, fort, castle, mansion or a house and is at the same time the most loved toy and the best of art-objects to find a place in a drawing hall.
Elephant stands for serenity, contentment and good and incurs no harm. Indian mythology is full of elephant episodes. A baby elephant came to Lord Shiva's rescue, when by error he decollated the head of his own son Ganesh and wanted someone instant born to offer his head to be planted on his son's torso. Eravata, an elephant, defined the splendour of the court of Indra, the king of gods. Elephant was one of the sixteen jewels that gods obtained by churning ocean. Lord Buddha's mother dreamt a white baby-elephant entering her womb a little before she bore the illustrious child and of the sixteen dreams that Trishala, the mother of Lord Mahavira, saw just before she gave birth to Mahavira, the white elephant was the theme of many. This mini elephant-pata, rendered on a piece of Kosa silk pasted on a board, depicts in two rings, the inner and the outer, twenty-six elephant figures broadly painted as couples cajoling and sporting. Kosa, a variety of locally produced silk with a tougher surface and its own gold tint, has given to the artist a natural colour base. He has divided his canvas into two rectangles, an outer and an inner. The outer rectangle is defined by a border consisting of lotus-bud motifs drawn in gold on a black background and the inner one in its centre is created by an inner framing consisting of wheel motifs with the same colour scheme. The inner rectangle has eight elephant figures while the outer one has eighteen. The artist, in drawing his figures, has resorted to folk tradition and has painted his elephants in multiple colours, bold perceptible lines and well adorned. He has allowed greater projection to the motion contained in their figures and to emotions that their faces reveal, and therein lies the strength of his work. Each face seems to speak out and smile and each eye betrays an emotion.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of ancient Indian literature. Dr Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated on numerous books on Indian art and culture.
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