26.00 USD
In the poem Der Gott und die Bayadere, Johann von Goethe (1749-1832) interpreted an Indian folktale about a god and a temple dancer.
In the story, the god Mahadeva in his sixth incarnation, comes to earth to live as humans live in order to better understand them.
On the last day of his life in that incarnation (while yet a beautiful young man), he meets a temple dancer on the street who invites him into her home.
One thing leads to another and they spend a passionate night together, the temple dancer finding true love for the first time, in the arms of the god.
To discover if she truly loves him, Mahadeva tests her by seeming to die in the bed they share as she sleeps.
When she awakens the next morning to discover his dead body beside her, she is heart-broken.
Later, funeral rites commence and his body is placed upon a pyre for burning. The temple dancer, suffering deeply from the loss, wishes only to join him in death, to join him on the pyre, but the priests refuse her.
"This man was not your husband," they say. "You are a temple dancer and your duties are not the duties of a wife."
Ignoring them, she cries out that even if it was only for one night, the young man whose body burns on the pyre was her true love, and running to the pyre, she casts herself into the flames.
In that instant, Mahadeva rises up, whole and unharmed, lifts up the temple dancer, also miraculously untouched by the fire, and carries her away with him up to heaven.
Some story, huh? Well, leaving all gender politics aside for the moment, because a story like this one certainly sparks debate, our postcard's image, from a painting by enormously gifted Austrian painter and illustrator Erich Schütz (1886-1937) is simply gorgeous!
From the marvelous text and border design on the card's face, we'll guess this card was produced in the 1910s.
Incidentally, the spelling of Goethe's name at the top of the card is very unusual. Though an o with an umlaut (those two little dots up on top of the o) often takes the place of an oe in German words where those two vowels are found side by side and in that order, important proper names from the past (like Goethe's) are usually left unaltered. A case of artistic license, we suppose, and the Jugendstil, after all, was all about casting off the shackles of the past and embracing the modern :)
If you'd care to read the poem, the link below will take you to a site where it is offered both in the original German and in English.
http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=74030
An amazing card with only minor wear to edges and corners. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully insured, first class, shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
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redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!