Elephant Combat

The drawing depicts two large elephants engaged in combat in a special arena. A large partition prevents the animals from seriously harming one another. The elephant on the left is fettered by chains on its feet, perhaps indicating that he is in must and therefore in a heightened, aggressive mood. Each elephant driver (mahout) wields his goad (ankus) as the animals attempt to gore one another with their tusks. The goad is a tool that is used to control the animal’s behavior and movements. As seen here, tusks were sawed to have blunt ends to prevent injury. The artist has varied his lines from bold to delicate to capture the powerful movement of the elephants and to suggest their wrinkly hides. Rajput style, Kota school.