By R.G. Singh

Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana

The fabled elephant parade of Mysore during royal celebrations like weddings, birthdays, welcoming the British dignitaries and, of course, the Dasara celebrations are well-documented in black and white photographs found in several Mysore households. They have also been published in well-known magazines abroad.

However, there are quite a number of paintings that have captured Indian royalty, especially on the elephant — the essence of taming of the majestic beast with the bejewelled Maharaja atop a bejewelled pachyderm invokes awe.

In this rather unusual setting, the artist has shown the Mysore State elephant with H.H. Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (KRW IV) seated in the howdah along with his retainers under a tree.

This painting is in the Ehrenfeld Collection housed in the USA. The well-researched catalogue published in 1998 titled ‘Indian and Western Painting 1780-1910’ describes the featured artwork as “the present painting — like most of the works of Hugo Wilfred  Pedersen — neither dated nor labelled, it can be properly identified with the help of datable photographs of the Mysore State elephant as well as photographs of KRW IV. The same caparisoned elephant was photographed in 1903. Most characteristic are the retainers carrying long sticks with apparently bundles of peacock feathers tied to the upper end. In the famous elephant procession on the occasion of the Delhi Coronation Durbar 1903, both the rulers of Mysore and Hyderabad immediately followed the elephants of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Connaught (refer Vintage Vignettes in SOM dated 18.5.2026).”

Title : His Highness KRW IV, Maharaja of Mysore on his State elephant.

Artist : Hugo Wilfred Pederson (1870-1959)

Media : Oil on canvas

Photograph Size : 55.9 x 38.1 cms

Collection : The Ehrenfeld Collection