Enraged Elephant during Training
This brush drawing captures the power and danger of a bull elephant stampeding in rage. Shown wide-eyed and furious during mast, or rut (a period of heightened sexual activity), the animal is being trained with firecrackers to withstand the din and fury of battle. The panicked and enraged elephant has broken his chains except for the one that secures his back leg, which is strained to the limit as the keeper (mahout) struggles to control the animal by pulling on his goad (ankus), but to no avail. Footmen (at right) thrust firecrackers—here a fiery Catherine wheel (charhka)—on spears from behind. The dense tonal shading and dramatic orange-red and green highlights distinguish this as an exceptional work of its genre. The chains, painted in silver, have now oxidized to a dark gray.
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