Devatha

Devatha, the goddess who is one part woman, is perhaps the central symbol of the novel, and represents both the division and union between body and mind, femininity and masculinity. The author depicts the goddess through various images of her stone replicas. Literally divided in half by her physical form, the goddess embodies a sort of metaphorical union between male and female through the institution of marriage. When Kali first prays to Devatha, the priest tells him the only means to achieve happiness and peace with Devatha is to devote himself in body and spirit to his wife. This line of admonition shadows the entirety of the text, and stirs the tangible and subtextual tension between Kali and Ponna. By depicting the Devatha statue at the top of a nearly inaccessible stone precipice, the author is able to prove the human difficulty in achieving her grace...