Elokeshi and the Mahant

ca. 1875

Painting, in opaque watercolour and tin alloy on paper. An episode of the Tarakeshwar affair. The Mahanta (high priest) of the Shiva temple is shown seated on a striped rug in front of the temple, with a second man behind him. In front stand three women: Elokeshi, the young wife of the clerk Nabin Chandra Banerjee, is shown veiling her face with a part of her sari with her right hand and holding up a plate of offerings (naibedya) for the shrine with her left. Behind Elokeshi stands her younger sister Muktakeshi with her face veiled, and to the right stands Telibou (wife of oil seller), the female servant in the family who acted as procuress, looking boldly at the waiting Mahanta. The Mahanta has been depicted wearing string necklaces but not the sacred threads of a brahmin, also he has been shown with Vaishnavite mark on his forehead although he is a Shaivite priest. The forefinger of his righthand rests thoughtfully on the beard of his cheek. All three women as well as the Mahanta have been shown adorned with ornaments which are stock-in-trade of the 'patuas'.