102 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT
frequently
formed of ivory, the sixteen pieces employed in the Indian game being
divided into groups of fours, distinguished by special colours, one
set for each of the four players. The moves on the board are determined
by casting six or seven cowrie shells, the value of the throw depending
upon the number of those that fall with their appertures uppermost.* An
ancient use for ivory in India was for the legs of bedsteads. The
Brihat Sanhita, after proclaiming this material to be the best suited
for the purpose, and insisting that the legs must be of solid ivory,
proceeds to give the following instructions as to the portion of the
tusk which should be thus utilized: "In selecting ivory, about two
thicknesses at the root of the tusk, which is hollow, should be
rejected, if the animal from which it is taken come from the plains;
but if it be a mountain grazer, somewhat less, "f Of modern work on a
large scale, Mr. Kipling notes an elaborately carved ivory couch, on
the model of an English sofa, owned by the Maharajah of Benares; this
was executed by carvers
in his employ-î
Some ivory chains, armlets, crosses, etc., are made in India, and we may also note a peculiar ear-ornament called Karna-ckanga, a
favourite adornment of the Tipperas, a tribe dwelling in the hill
country toward the northeastern frontier of Bengal. A specimen of this
style of ornament was sent to the Calcutta International Exhibition,
while at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition was displayed a pair of
ivory armlets from Seran, in Bengal. Besides this locality the
following are mentioned as furnishing ivory ornaments for personal
adornment: Murshidabad, Cuttack, Amritsar, Sialkot, Multan, Pali,
Indor, etc.**
♦Stewart
Culin, " Chess and Card Playing," Washington, 1898. Rep. U. S. Nat.
Mus., 1396, pp 663-942; see pp. 852, 858. -T N. Mukbarji, "Art
Manufactures of India," Calcutta, 1888, p. 274. The Journal of Indian Art, Vol. I, No. 7, p. 51, July, 1885. **J. L. Kipling, Journal of Indian Art, Vol. 1,1885.
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