This finely detailed Murshidabad elephant is organically linked. The composite animal startles us at first, but on close inspection, seems so natural. The sheer naturalness of the painting is more striking than the individual elements. A demon rider mounted on the composite elephant with another demon form leading them form the entire composition. The demon's look like Shiva's ganas from Hindu art, what with distorted faces and snakes around their bodies. The animals which make up the composite are devouring each other. These images invert the normal approach to interpreting form. Hence, we can invert our interpretation and relate this eating to the idea of animal forms issuing forth from other animals. A lone human figure finds place in a crowd of wild animals, docile animals, bird and a fish. Different living beings from earth, sky and sea. Yet all disparate forms flow in a wonderfully fluid and natural way, with one flowing into the other.
This description by Renu Rana.
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