Un Churel Mandir in Gujarat. Note sulla diffusione delle rappresentazioni della figura della strega in India

Abstract

The churels are figures of the folk imagery of a vast area of South Asia. They, commonly identified with witches, are spirits of women who died during pregnancy or childbirth, and who return to the world of the living, possessing them. The aim of this study is to provide an interpretative analysis of the representations of the churels and of the ambiguous climate that has been created around these figures in recent decades in India. A reflection on the power of the representations of the churels throughout history up to present-day India could be considered a key to penetrating the dense network of relationships and reinventions, but also of divergences and contradictions, sometimes with tragic outcomes, that revolve around the power (śakti) manifested in the divine feminine.