A gourd of two places

This gourdhouse was commissioned as a gift for two people who divide their time between Virginia, USA and Allahabad, Utter Pradesh, India. There are species from both places represented on the gourd, including the striking Indian roller bird and the changeable garden lizard. I learned so much while I was making it! And I thought alot about confluences, and how powerful it is to stand at the place where rivers meet, and also what it's like to move between worlds. Allahabad is situated near the confluence of the Ganga and Jamana, along with the underground mythical river Saraswati, named after the Hindu goddess of wisdom. Every 12 years or so, when Jupiter aligns in a particular way with the sun and moon, there is a festival at this confluence called Kumbh Mela, for which a temporary city is constructed for about three months. The last Kumbh Mela drew 100 million attendees!

A couple design details:

*The stylized floral design on the back of the gourd represents the confluence of the three rivers (one flower for each river.) It's actually based on a geometric pattern found in Ukrainian petrykivka art, but it could just as easily have been painted on the marginalia of a Mughal miniature painting.

*The colloquial name for the butterfly is the Indian wanderer, and it is found throughout the Indian subcontinent.

*The lotus flower is associated with Saraswati.

*It was fun painting garden lizards from Utter Pradesh sniffing bluebells from Virginia!

*The white flower at the bottom center front of the design is called brahma kamal, aka lady of the night. It is a night blooming cereus. It only blooms for one night of the year, mid-monsoon, after sunset, and it has an intoxicating fragrance. Or so I've read.