[CharlesS]

I have recently been cleaning and studying this intricate mid 19th century Indian shield. The cleaning revealed a lot and also got me wondering a great deal about the symbolism of this shield.

The shield is made of two steel panels, heavily decorated in silver and gold koftgari. Pierced reinforcements, also heavily decorated in silver koftgari, separate the two panels.

There is a snake, or naga, resting its head on its tail separating the two pierced reinforcements. I believe I have read that this represents infinity or eternity in Hinduism....perhaps someone can add some info on this motif.

Along the outside panel of the shield brass animal figures, plated in silver, have been riveted to the shield. There are many different forms of animals in a variety of sizes, all facing in one direction, as if moving in a circle or cycle. Each animal has been carefully planned out, as cleaning revealed that each piece was preset with a gold koftgari outline that the animal figure fits into. This becomes particularly apparent with the loss of the tiger's tail in the one figure that is clearly one animal attacking or eating another....note the gold outline where the tail would have been before broken.

The silver and gold koftgari work alone is really fascinating...it's so full and extensive that the shield looks like, from a distance, that it is made of silver.
However, it is these animal figures moving in one direction and only at the bottom is one animal attacking/eating another that I find most fascinating.

Initially I had assumed this may just be a hunting scene on the shield, but now don't think it is at all, but perhaps something far more interesting. I can't help but wonder if this is a sort or representation of samsara, or the "cycle of life"...the hunter becoming the hunted and vice versa over an endless cycle.

I hope someone more familiar with these motifs, which I suspect are Hindu, can help us with this symbolism.

The shield is 17in. in diameter.

Thanks for any input!