Theyyam festival - Rakteswari Theyyam - Naga Kali, Kalliasseri (India), 1984
- Description:
- Rakteswari Theyyam: Naga Kali. The goddess Rakteswari (Rakteshwari, Rikteswari) is transformed into a triumphant cobra, having eaten the raw eggs. Front view of ritual dancer with enormous twenty (?) foot figure of a cobra made of slats of palm wood attached to his back. The central bamboo “spine” of the cobra extends about 15 feet upwards from the dancer’s head. Two drawings of smaller cobras are attached to the giant upright cobra, as if they are swimming upwards. The figure’s similarity to a penis and scrotum with travelling sperm evokes the ritual’s objective of increasing fertility.
- Date:
- April 6, 1984
- Resource Type:
- still image
- Collection:
-
Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts