Devasena and Kali parallels
I’ve seen some posts about how Amarendra is associated with Shiva imagery, which made me wonder if there are parallels between Devasena and Kali. It wouldn’t be the only inspiration for her character, of course—Rajamouli’s influences from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are well known—but it would be really cool!
Like Kali, Devasena is both nurturing (a mother) and fierce (a warrior).
Kali is associated with time, and Devasena waits 25 years for Mahendra’s return.
(Kali is sometimes portrayed with red eyes and disheveled hair.)
Devasena returns to Mahishmati carrying a severed head (Kali is often depicted holding one). There’s also the scene where Amarendra beheads Setupathy for her.
She receives a tiger skin from Kumara Varma and is compared to a tiger (Kali is often depicted wearing a tiger skin).
She walks over Amarendra’s shoulders (like Kali stepping on Shiva).
She is the one to finally kill Bhallaladeva (Kali as a force of destruction) and her son is the one who ushers in a new era of peace and prosperity (the other side of Kali, associated with creation and renewal).
SHE IS SO AMAZING I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I realized something else! A goddess that in some ways resembles Kali, although she isn’t named, actually appears in the movie: Amarendra sacrifices his own blood to her rather than sacrifice a bull.
(She is holding a severed head, a bowl of blood, a curved blade and a trident, but she doesn’t have the right number of arms to be Kali, and there’s no garland of severed heads.)
After the battle, Amarendra is framed like this:
It’s like Rajamouli wants you to notice a connection between him and this goddess (this is before Devasena ever appears).
And when she does appear... There is another scene where Amarendra chooses not to hurt a bull and instead drops his weapon, and gets hurt as a result, and it’s explicitly about appeasing Devasena’s anger.
Devasena is literally standing in for the goddess from the other scene!!!!!!!!!
The level of symbolism and attention to detail in these movies is amazing.
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