Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I will study the figure of the "rakshasi," the most recurring villain in Bengali wonder tales. I argue that she is a queer figure who navigates through a series of non-heteronormative sexual, emotional and cannibalistic desires rendering them structurally porous and fluid.

Paper long abstract:

"Rakshasi," the figure of the female cannibal in South Asian Folklore is located outside the colonial fetishes of the savage, primitive and exotic. The cannibal figure in South Asian folklore and mythology is called "rakshasi" (literally, raw-eater; "rakshasa", male) - a race of shapeshifting, magic-wielding cannibals. Strikingly, the characterization of the "rakshasi" in these narratives operates through a queer juxtaposition of motherhood and monstrosity. Her treatment of her victims (both male and female) exhibits a queer synthesis of cannibal desire and sexual desire. However, her queerness comes from her defiance of the norms of nurture through sustaining a cohabitation of the re-producer (mother) and the raw-consumer (monster) within the same body. She treats her body as a personal production house for consumable goods, but she also exhibits seemingly arbitrary emotional behaviour. She manifests as a queer figure judiciously navigating through her hunger and affection, appetite and sexuality. The multiple dimensions of identity and desire embodied within the "rakshasi" render her corporeal, emotional and cannibalistic desires excessively porous and fluid. And ultimately, the longstanding binaries of savage and civilized, mother and monster fail to address her.