The Physical Embodiment of the ‘Devil in Calicut’ in Pierre Boaistuau’s Histoires prodigieuses

Abstract

A late sixteenth-century woodcut entitled ‘ Prodiges de Satan ’ depicts a peculiar image of the Devil enthroned, wearing a triple-tiered crown reminiscent of a papal tiara. Two attendants wait on Satan, conversing and swinging censers, venerating his physical form (fig. 1). This woodcut was included in the Histoires prodigieuses , first published in Paris in 1560 by humanist writer and translator Pierre Boaistuau (c. 1517 – 1566). A later edition, published in Paris in 1566, is held in the Rare Books Collection at the University of Melbourne. 1 This edition has the same wood-block prints found in the first printed edition of 1560. ‘ Prodiges de Satan ’ is the first chapter in the Histoires prodigieuses . In his narrative, Boaistuau ascertains that the Devil was of this world, and provides two locations at which God had provided most liberty for his tyrannous rule: Delphi, home of the oracle of Apollo, and the town of Calicut, in southern India. 2 Satan ’ s muscular and naked figure is portrayed as a half-human, half-beast hybrid, with the face of a lion, the feet of a cockerel, claws for hands, and what resembles a rat-like tail or an extended phal-lus. This strange figure is covered in fur, with drooping breasts, and the head of a demon appears to spring forth from its genitals. Satan ’ s open-armed stance suggests an appeal for an embrace, while the head protruding from between its splayed legs and its pendulous breasts imply a woman giving birth. 3 This essay furthers research undertaken by Jennifer Spinks on the relationship this image had with preceding instances of the ‘ Devil in Calicut ’ . 4 I make additional comments on how and why a misinterpreted image of a Hindu deity came to be converted into an image of the Devil, and emphasise how textual and visual accounts of South Indian religious practices were reinterpreted to more effectively warn and shock viewers,