Mendicants Elbow-Rest

Itinerant mendicants, while giving sermon or sitting in a yogic posture for long often used prop for resting their elbow. This elbow-rest comprises a lathe-turned vertical stick over which a carved horizontal element ending in beautifully worked tiger-heads is affixed. The vertical element has ivory inlaid geometric patterns. It is on this element that the user rests his elbow while balancing the prop on the ground on the vertical element. The horizontal element is firmed up in position by two iron cantilevers or brackets.
The elbow-rest is one of the essential accessories of a Hindu mendicant along with a kamandala (waterpot), a walking stick and a pair of Kharau, wooden sandals. Many a painting portraying mendicants depict them as their belongings.