FEATURE In all the versions of the Bida story,105 the snake is a fundamentally 112 protective supernatural power that brings prosperity. The price to be paid for ensuring this benevolence is human sacrifice, but the benefits are vast and otherwise unobtainable. This is materially demonstrated when the victim’s father (or fiancé in some tellings), refusing to lose the girl he loves, kills Bida and the country is plagued by misfortune, drought, and sterility.106 Snakes on IND sculptures are a common element and should be seen as a positive iconographic component. They represent control of a potentially dangerous benevolent power that must be tamed, domesticated, nourished, and satisfied so it will continue to provide protection.107 We know, for example, from the Tarikh El-Fettash,108 that when the Songhai prince Sonni Ali109 conquered the town of Djenné around 1470, he wanted to settle in the palace of the defeated sovereign but was driven out by reptiles: So, passing the walls of the fort, he settled in the middle of the residence of Dienné-koï, intending to live there, but he was driven out by the vipers, snakes, and scorpions, which alone forced him to leave.110 Several other sources confirm that snakes played an important role in the worldview of these chiefs, who were still primarily animist.111 It may well be that the serpents shown on so many IND sculptures reference the power of the first sovereigns of the region. Studying the NOMA snake hut sculpture, it is hard not to think of the Bida myth despite obvious differences: The structure is a hut, not a well; there are two snakes, not one, although some versions speak of the monster’s ability to multiply and grow as many as seven heads;112 and some of the women inside the hut appear to be pregnant, though the story generally recounts that Bida demanded virgin girls.113 However, these differences may not be significant enough to rule out a link with the oral tradition. The symbolic reference appears to correspond and it seems clear that a scene of sacrifice is being depicted, probably a propitiatory rite as in the myth, in which loved ones are to be offered to make the ritual effective and to obtain the protection of a demanding entity. The reptile’s subsequent benevolent actions bring prosperity in terms of wealth and progeny, and these signs are closely watched by the ruling authorities. FIG. 36 (below): CT scans of figure 37, opaque 3D views from two angles. © Dr. Marc Ghysels, Brussels. FIG. 37 (right): Bust of a woman holding the head of a bearded figure. IND region, Mali. 13th–17th century. Terracotta with ochre/red slip. H: 38 cm. Collection Marceau Rivière, Paris. © Marceau Rivière, Paris. Photo: Pascal Barrier.
T75E_web
To see the actual publication please follow the link above