Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess

Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess, 1800s. Sheetala, the smallpox goddess, is simultaneously benevolent and dangerous: she can both protect and infect, bless and curse devotees with smallpox and other diseases. Persons scarred by smallpox are believed to have been graced by her. She is appeased so that she does not infect her worshippers. Her name, Sheetala, "Cool One," refers to her birth out of a cooled sacrificial fire. The rippled curtains above her are suggestive of theatrical tableau and Sheetalapala (The Drama of Sheetala) that was performed in Bengal. She sits astride her vehicle (vahana), the donkey, regarded as an inauspicious animal. GiftCreator Unknown. (Photo by Heritage Arts/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess, 1800s. Sheetala, the smallpox goddess, is simultaneously benevolent and dangerous: she can both protect and infect, bless and curse devotees with smallpox and other diseases. Persons scarred by smallpox are believed to have been graced by her. She is appeased so that she does not infect her worshippers. Her name, Sheetala, "Cool One," refers to her birth out of a cooled sacrificial fire. The rippled curtains above her are suggestive of theatrical tableau and Sheetalapala (The Drama of Sheetala) that was performed in Bengal. She sits astride her vehicle (vahana), the donkey, regarded as an inauspicious animal. GiftCreator Unknown. (Photo by Heritage Arts/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess
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Credit:
Heritage Images / Contributor
Editorial #:
1183205891
Collection:
Hulton Archive
Date created:
January 01, 2000
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Rights-managed
Release info:
Not released. More information
Source:
Hulton Archive
Object name:
2740490.jpg
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4446 x 6930 px (14.82 x 23.10 in) - 300 dpi - 15 MB