Chauries are formed of various materials—of ivory, the strips of which are sometimes cut to incredible fineness for such a substance; in these cases the handles are formed of the same material, richly carved—of the bushy tail of the
(From a painting on talc. Madras. Nineteenth century.) Himalayan yak, both black and white, the handles either of metal, ivory, or wood—of sandalwood, also cut into the finest possible strips, the handles richly carved; the waving of these chauries emitting a fine fragrance—of the stripped quills of the larger birds, more generally the peacock—of horse-hair and the various grasses. The handles were often formed of the horns of various animals; an example occurs in the Horniman Museum, in which instance it is the antelope. The chaurie from the tail of the yak was in ancient India fixed upon a gold or ornamented shaft between the ears of the war-horse, like the plume of the war-horse of chivalry; the banner or banneret, with the device of the chief, rose at the back of the car. ‘The waving chaurie on the steed’s broad brow points backwards, motionless as a picture.’[32]
| Quill, & Sandal Wood Chauries, Peacock Emblem of Royalty, Yak, & Ivory Chauries. | India Museum. |
This, it will be seen, is in strict conformity to the usage of the ancient Egyptians, who employed the tall fan emblem in a precisely similar way; these proud plumes serving a double purpose—an ornamental, and, in the case of Egypt, even an heraldic purpose, and also the purely utilitarian one of affording the animal some relief from fly pests.
The peacock has ever been regarded as a sacred bird, both by the peoples of the East and the West. The Greek fable of Argus the hundred-eyed, the sleepless guardian of Io, serves to connect the idea of extreme vigilance with that of true kingship, i.e. the universal preserver and father of the people. The peacock therefore presented a double significance to the minds of the Hindu peoples; it expressed the vigilance of kingship together with its magnificence. The peacock feather emblem of royalty is the sign or insignia of the king’s high office, and the
EMBLEM OF ROYALTY
(From an illumination of a Court reception by the King of Oudh.) principal evidence of his sovereignty: wherever a king appears he is accompanied by an attendant bearing this emblem, which appears in all pictorial or other representations of royalty.
It was, doubtless, in the first instance a fly-flap, and is either composed entirely of feathers, or, it consists of a bunch of feathers enclosed two-thirds of the distance in a silver casing, usually ornamented with an imbricated pattern; the handle also of silver. Several examples of this object appear in the India Museum, and numberless representations occur in sculpture, illumination, embroidery, etc.