162 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



are the work of malignant spirits, just as they fancy it to be 

 the case with human diseases. There is a popular native 

 treatise on this subject, with many curious illustrations, of 

 which Colonel Hendley writes as follows:* 



"Rheumatism is represented by four small animals like 

 rats biting the elephant's legs; headache by a huge monster 

 with four heads gnawing the forehead; and, in inflammatory 

 affections of the chest and abdomen, tearing and holding on 

 to these important sections of the body. The monster in a 

 case of pleurisy has his huge scaly tail thrown round the 

 chest of his victim. In a case of fever, four lighted ghostly 

 fires surround the poor beast. A deadly cobra is twisted 

 round the body of another tortured individual. A tiger- 

 headed creature sprawls along the back of another victim. 

 Lastly, a bad attack of colic is caused by the tight folds of a 

 long serpent." 



Although because of its huge proportions an elephant 

 always makes a striking impression upon the beholder, this 

 impression is certainly not one of beauty or grace, but rather 

 of power and strength. And yet, when decked out with all 

 the gorgeous caparisons which Hindu luxury has evolved 

 for this animal in the course of centuries, the splendour of its 

 appearance is such that one is fairly overwhelmed by the 

 sight. This is more especially the case when, as at the Dur- 

 bars, neither expense nor pains are spared by the Hindu 

 potentates to unfold before the wondering eyes of European 

 visitors the full extent of their wealth in objects of adorn- 

 ment and luxury. The effect produced at such times 

 upon qualified judges of things artistic is shown in the 

 following impassioned words used by Mortimer Menpes in 

 chronicling the happenings of the Durbar of 1903, on the 



*Col. T. H. Hendley, "The Elephant in State Ceremonies," in Journal of Indian Art 

 and Industry, Vol. XVI, new series, pp. 19, 20; No. 123, July, 1913. See also No. 123, 

 Plate I, Figs, d, e. 



