Animal Ganjifa by Sawantwadi Palace

Above: Sawantwadi, Maharashtra, India.

India’s fauna is featured on this charming deck from the Sawantwadi Palace Workshop, a center of ganjifa manufacture operated by the Sawantwadi royal family, the Bhonsles.

Animal Ganjifa was created by Rajmata Satvashiladevi Bhonsle, the wife of the last ruler of Sawantwadi, and Kishor N. Gordhandas, eminent ganjifa scholar and artist. The deck was born out of the desire to spread awareness about India’s rich fauna, with the cards serving a dual role: helping preserve the disappearing art of ganjifa while showcasing the country’s animals. The two also collaborated on Bird Ganjifa and Indian Musical Ganjifa.

The deck is a dashavatar pattern: ten suits, each dedicated to an avatar of the god Vishnu. Each suit has ten pip and two court cards – the lower court card of pradhan (minister), which has the avatar seated, and the upper court card of raja (king), which depicts it in an action pose. The Rama raja card, for example, shows the renowned archer shooting a bow.

The distinguishing feature of Animal Ganjifa lies in the pips. Ordinarily, the pips are related to the avatar represented by the suit; for example, the bow-wielding Rama suit usually has arrows as the pip symbols. Bhonsle and Gordhandas’s version replaced those traditional icons with animals. Under this system, the Rama pips are elephants.

(To make matters a bit confusing, pip symbols for two avatars – Matsya and Kurma – in a standard dashavatar deck are already animals, fish and tortoises, respectively. In Animal Ganjifa, they become different beasts.)

Animal Ganjifa’s avatars (local spelling in parentheses) and the animals featured on the pips are:

• Matsya – monkeys
• Kurma – horses
• Varaha – camels
• Narasimha (Nrusimha) – lions
• Vamana (Waman) – pigs
• Parashurama (Parshuram) – rabbits
• Rama (Ram) – elephants
• Krishna – foxes
• Buddha – sambar deer
• Kalki (Kalanki) – tigers