Royal standard
India, Rajasthan, probably Mewar
Royal standards were displayed alongside Indian rulers as insignia of rank. Referred to as lawa-jama, or “necessary things,” a collective term to denote all forms of regalia, standards were held aloft by attendants during royal audiences (durbars), processions, and other state ceremonies, or whenever the maharaja appeared in public. This large and impressive example is decorated with the radiating divine face of the sun and, on the reverse, the moon cradling a seated ibex, both understood as auspicious and as giving expression to the divine origins of the Rajput royal lineages.
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