Populism and the Museumization of Yakshi

Yakshi refers to tutelary figures believed to be fertility goddesses. In Indian mythical tradition, including Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain beliefs, Yakshi is portrayed as a spiritual and sensual being. In popular culture, Yakshi entities undergoes a transition. Yakshi in reels are ghastly and sexualized female figures meant to induce fear and terror. This entry aims to map the spatiotemporal changes and historical variations occurring in the Yakshi figure. In this transition from myth to movies, Yakshi figure absorbs populist adaptation of diluting and mimicking the myth. Here, the disfigurement of Yakshi and its eventual deterritorializing can be analyzed. The deterritorializing effect has metamorphosed the mythical narrative of Yakshi entities from an earthly sculpture to a cult entity. A line of flight, according to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, materializing here leads to the abundance of multiplicity. Thus, this entry will study the deterritorial effect and the reterritorialization forming in Yakshi Entities.