Water: Cultural Perspective with Symbolism

 

 

One way that water is portrayed in the film is that it washes away sins. There are many scenes where characters are washing themselves. In one particular scene, a woman bumps into a widow and says that she needs to bathe herself again simply because she bumped into the widow. This culture portrays widows as dirty and full of sin, simply because their husband passed away. Widows are inferior to the rest of society and are not treated with any respect. This is part of the religion of the Indian culture.

 

Another example of water in the film is that the river is Holy water. Religion is very important to this culture and obeying the rules and beliefs is expected. When one of the older widows becomes sick, they send Chuyia to the river to get Holy water. However, Chuyia didn't make it back quick enough and the older widow passed away. It's inferred that the Holy water would have maybe saved the widow or it would have washed away her sins and she would have a forgiven life as she transitioned to the afterlife.

 

Water seems to be a very important part of this film and the Indian culture. Water is involved in a lot of their everyday rituals and is very meaningful to the people of India.