ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 161 



was entrusted to the care of the Commissary General of the 

 Eastern Bengal Circle, who, guided by his experience in 

 such affairs, decided to have the trappings made in Jeypore, 

 where some of the most elaborate work of this kind had been 

 successfully accomplished. At the outset, however, some 

 doubts were felt as to whether Hindu workmen would consent 

 to execute work destined for and appropriate to a Mohamme- 



IvoKY Decoration of a howdah belonging to his Highness the Maharajah of Benares. 

 Indian art; Lahore, India. 



— From The Journal of Indian Art and Industry. 



dan sovereign, but as it appeared that there was little or no 

 difference between the forms and designs for such work 

 usual in Jeypore and those common in Persia, these doubts 

 proved unfounded. The substitution of the figure of a sun 

 rising behind a lion for the solar emblem used in Jeypore to 

 denote that the ruler of the land belonged to the Solar Line 

 of Rajputs was the only modification necessary. The work 

 was done in the workshops attached to the palace of the 

 Maharajah, and the result was brilliant enough to satisfy 

 or even exceed all expectations. 



Superstitious Hindus believe that the diseases of elephants 



