Ústav jižní a centrální Asie 

vás  zve na přednášku, kterou přednese

Department of Anthropology,

Na téma:

The Huge Wild Boar: Demon or Divinity?

A Folk Legend From South India

V úterý 13. 10.  2015 v 10.50 hod.,  m. č. 427, Celetná ul. 20
I plan to discuss the roots of the Indian divine boar in South Asian Mesolithic cave art and further mention a few secular references in Tamil Sangam literature.  I will note several famous Indian myths that speak about a boar, and also its use as a royal symbol. Woven through my talk will be the “story” of Komban-the-tusked-one, a huge black creature centrally featured in a medieval Tamil folk epic. I will then proceed to describe the significance of Komban’s various body parts. I will also cover his significance in relation to the central farm-forest conflict in that legend, and reference a similar Czech legend in passing.  I will detail the significance of Komban’s link to a nymph-like forest girl, describe his sacrificial spearing and then the offering of his severed head to a mysterious goddess. I will conclude by suggesting that a sacred bull/buffalo/wild boar continuum (based on parallel horn-and-tusk shapes) seems to infuse Hindu folk beliefs from North to South and then highlight a possible tusk-horn-crescent moon inter-linkage.

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