We have just
discussed the negative effects that angry women can visit on their
adversaries. But in the Ponnivala story, unlike in its Icelandic
equivalent, animals can also generate curses and negative
consequences at a distance. In the first image of this sequence we
see a mother boar kicked by the queen when she finds it sleeping on
her path. The boar-sow then curses the queen saying she will bear a
huge and frightful son who will one day take revenge on her own
sons-to-be. In the second picture of the sequence we see this curse
come true as the great male boar matures and becomes a threat to the
two heroes Ponnar and Shankar. In the final image of this mini
series Komban walks counter clockwise around the temple of the forest
goddess Kali, readying himself to attack the twin heroes’ fine
crops.
In the
Ponnivala story we also see a small female dog who has the power to
curse its human heroes. Ponnacci is a tiny character with great
magical gifts. Among other things she can curse others through her
dreams (albeit backed by the powers of a goddess). In the second
image we see Ponnacci’s curse leave her and take the form of a
ghostlike power. The curse then travels through the forest and
settles on the heroes’ war tent where they are resting prior to
hunting down the great boar named King Komban.
In the final image of
this sequence the key hero, Shankar, is sickened by Ponnacci’s
curse and can no longer lift his sword. Shankar then has to send an
assistant to lead his warriors. That assistant, named Shambuga, and
the assistant bumbles badly, leading all these men to their deaths.
To sum up, the Vatnsdaela story portrays multiple human male
sorcerers, but just a few female ones while no animals are given
equivalent powers. In the Ponnivala epic, by contrast, all human
acts of negative magic or sorcery stem from women, but now certain
animals are also endowed with such power.
~ Brenda E. F. Beck
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