Elephant drivers controlled an elephant’s movements by using the goad’s sharp point to prick the delicate skin behind the animal’s ear. Indian elephant trainers have used tools like this one to manage their animals for thousands of years. The handle of this example depicts a tiger either consuming or vomiting a "makara," a mythical sea creature and a common motif throughout South Asia.For the latest information about this object, agricultural equipment; goads, visit art.thewalters.org.Dynasty: Inscriptions: Reign: Style:
Lockwood De Forest Collection; Sale, American Art Assocation, New York, 1922, no. 279. Acquired by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
