Art and Religion

The film, Jai Santoshi Maa, will be screened in class on Thursday, October 5, 2017. To understand the history of the film’s production and reception, please read John Stratton Hawley’s excerpt in our textbook (Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: A Cross-cultural Reader by S. Brent-Plate), pp. 182–186. After watching the film, respond to the questions below in 750 words. Remember to make notes about these questions, while watching the film. 1) Describe Goddess Santoshi Maa’s iconographic features in the film. In other words, describe her representation, her posture, her gestures, her dress, her demeanor, and her paraphernalia. What are her characteristics as a benevolent deity? In other words, what does she do for her devotees? 2) In what ways is she worshiped by her chief devotee in the film? 3) What are the factors that led to the Goddess Santoshi Maa’s rising popularity with the Indian public? Refer to Hawley’s article to answer this question fully. Remember that whenever you quote or paraphrase the author’s ideas, you should cite the author accurately by last name and page number). For example, “(Hawley, 182).”