ANT356H1 Lecture Notes - Radiance
Document Summary
Serpent mother is about devotion to the goddess of snakes and the importance of divine female power in west bengal indian life. The film"s focus is the jhapan festival, the great celebration of snakes. Shown are festival preparations, the role of traditional arts and crafts in the worship of the goddess, devotional singing, and an exposition of ritual action. In the story of manasha"s birth, a nymph was moving across the heaven. Seeing her naked shiva madman that he is was aroused. He released a seed and that fell on the lotus plant in the cosmic ocean. Basuki, king of snakes, ate the seed and became pregnant. From his mouth the serpent mother was born. Manasha the daughter of shiva is the goddess of snakes and she is worshipped throughout india. Manasha strikes fear into the human heart but when approached with devotion she becomes a protective mother. A divine female power that makes all creative action possible.
