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Wooden statue, Nicobar Islands, India, 1880-1925
- Science Museum, London
- Digital Images
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Credit: Wooden statue, Nicobar Islands, India, 1880-1925. Science Museum, London. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Description
This carved and painted wooden kareau figure, or ‘scare-devil’, is from the Nicobar Islands, India. It was made by a menluana, a ritual specialist or healer who communicated with the spirit world, and was set up outside a sick person’s house in order to scare and drive away the bad spirits thought to be causing disease.
The statue was presented to the Wellcome collection by a resident of the Andaman Islands, which neighbour the Nicobar Islands.
maker: Unknown maker
Place made: Nicobar Islands, Andaman and Nicobar, India