Devouring an Elephant
This is a rare ivory sarinda, a four-stringed instrument associated with north Indian folk and devotional music. Here is has been transformed into a luxurious status symbol fit for a king or queen. The handle features a dragon-headed beast gripping an elephant while swallowing another.
On either side of the sarinda, winged angelic figures hold shields and swords. These symbols of royal power and conquest were popular in the Deccan Sultanate of Golconda - beasts in combat adorned its city walls from the 1550s onwards.
[British Museum]
Taken in the British Museum
Devouring an Elephant
This is a rare ivory sarinda, a four-stringed instrument associated with north Indian folk and devotional music. Here is has been transformed into a luxurious status symbol fit for a king or queen. The handle features a dragon-headed beast gripping an elephant while swallowing another.
On either side of the sarinda, winged angelic figures hold shields and swords. These symbols of royal power and conquest were popular in the Deccan Sultanate of Golconda - beasts in combat adorned its city walls from the 1550s onwards.
[British Museum]
Taken in the British Museum