The Serpent Forest

They say the forest of Vrindavan is never truly silent. On the night the twin serpents rose from the river mud, two women stood in the water unafraid. The villagers on the bank raised their weapons. But the women turned to them and shook their heads. “They are not here to destroy,” one whispered. “They are here because they remember us.” For in another life, long before this one, those serpents had been lovers, cursed by a sage who could not bear the beauty of what he saw. The women leaned toward each other, and the serpents bowed their great heads and were still.

Object number

012.05.008