Indian Elephants Magnet

Exclusive to the British Museum, a magnet inspired by an Indian painting of the goddess Lakshmi flanked by elephants.

This magnet forms part of a range accompanying the British Museum exhibition Feminine power: the divine to the demonic.

The magnet is inspired by a vibrant gouache painting from the Bundi District of Rajasthan, India, which dates to around 1780. The painting shows the Gaja-Lakshmi; the goddess of wealth and prosperity seated on a lotus flower between two winged elephants (gajah in Sanskrit) who are showering her with water, symbolising fertilisation and prosperity. In ancient tradition the first elephants took the form of winged clouds which sprayed the Earth with water, although their wings were confiscated when they disturbed an angry sage.

A beautiful souvenir of the exhibition.