Bird Ganjifa by Sawantwadi Palace

Above: Sawantwadi, Maharashtra, India.

Plumage meets the dashavatar pattern in this deck by the Sawantwadi Palace Workshop from western India’s state of Maharashtra.

This Ganjifa format was created by Rajmata Satvashiladevi Bhonsle, the wife of the last ruler of Sawantwadi, and Kishor N. Gordhandas, eminent ganjifa scholar and artist, who wanted to celebrate and promote India’s birds. The two also collaborated on Animal 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.

Bird Ganjifa distinguishes itself 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 birds. Under this system, the Rama pips are lapwings.

Bird Ganjifa’s avatars (local spelling in parentheses) and their befeathered pips are:

• Matsya – doves
• Kurma – sparrows
• Varaha – parrots
• Narasimha (Nrusimha) – egrets
• Vamana (Waman) – ducks
• Parashurama (Parshuram) – peacocks
• Rama (Ram) – lapwings
• Krishna – pigeons
• Buddha – kingfishers
• Kalki (Kalanki) – owls