Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, one of the main festivals of the Hindu calendar and one dedicated to the Lord of Beginnings aka Lord Ganesha. Arguably India’s most loved God, Ganapati, as He is also known as, is the remover of all obstacles and hence mandatorily worshipped before starting any task. The Lord has an elephant face and therefore it is no surprise that elephants are intrinsically associated with Lord Ganesha.

And celebrating the Indian elephant and its numerous facets is a unique exhibition curated by Ramsons, Mysore. Known as Hasti Magala, this exhibition features the motif of the elephant in different traditional and contemporary art and crafts of India.

The elephant has often been the favourite muse of artists, poets, royalty and the common man alike. The sheer strength, beauty and grace of the pachyderm evokes an emotion that is both fascinating yet magical. Every corner across the length and breadth of our country abounds in art with varied and stylised forms of the elephant. It is a recurring element in temple carvings, forts, palaces, water tanks, textiles, coins, paintings, individual sculptures, dolls, toys and so on.

On display are a plethora of handicrafts like intricately carved wooden elephants, board games with elephant pawns, wall hangings, masks, richly painted elephants and even bottles with elephant caps!

There is a wide variety of traditional artwork and crafts on display and you can find elephants with rich inlay work, finely painted and even crafted in the Channapatna lacquerware style. Diverse embroidery styles and multiple base materials like wood, cloth and evn stone make the display eclectic.

The exhibition has been on from April and is expected to continue till 31-Dec this year. So, if you are a fan of elephants as well as handicrafts, this one must be on your list. The elephants are not only great artefacts but are also perfect souvenirs and ideal gifting ideas. Ramsons is located in Nazarabad Mohalla, Mysore – 570010.

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