Elokeshi

This picture, however, depicts the scandalous Tarakeshwar Affair of 1873, which concerned the forbidden relationship between a Brahmin priest and Elokeshi, the young wife of the Bengali government employee Nabin Chandra Banerjee, who took his revenge by severing his wife’s head with a fish knife. Here Elokeshi is shown offering betel leaf (an evergreen leaf that is chewed as a stimulant) to the priest, who is holding a huqqa (a hubble-bubble or smoking pipe) while seated on a chair. The priest has the appearance of a 19th-century Bengali Babu – a Hindu gentleman who had adopted aspects of European culture – or an English dandy, while Elokeshi is portrayed as a courtesan.