This picture represents many of the country’s important figures. Ganesh, a divinity embodying wisdom, is giving advice to a woman, probably a personification of India. The man with his arm in the air is Chhatrapati Shivaji (1630-1680), a founder warrior of the Maratha Empire. Surrounded by the Indian literary classics, there is Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), one of the fathers of the independence movement. The Western man on the left
is probably George Harris (1851-1932), a governor of Bombay detested for his inaction in the face of famine and social unrest. D. Kunik/MEG