Another stone is inscribed with the Marathi equivalent of "May your mother be defiled by a donkey." The phrase is still popularly used as an insult today, proving that a good "Donkey Inside Your Mama" joke will stand the test of time. Oh and we're very excited to tell you that an academic paper describes this threat as an ass-curse. An ass-curse. That's a direct translation from the word gadhegal, as they are called.
Some scholars argue that the threat isn't a physical one, but more metaphorical. This is good news for anyone worried there is trace amounts of ass DNA in their bloodline. Still ... they sure made a lot of donkey-on-intruder art for a bunch of people who only kind of meant it.
Aarefa Johari/Quartz India
This ... this doesn't exactly look like a metaphor.
According to art historians, the woman in these may represent Mother Nature, and there was a local superstition that if donkeys were used to plow a field, its crops would never grow. Which makes this a donkey "plowing" Mother Nature herself, which is a pretty aggressive threat for a highly agricultural society. So even if there was never meant to be any actual donkey penetration, they were at least saying they hoped you starved to death. And with an infinite number of ways to convey that message, they chose carvings of donkey cocks.
British Museum Press
Oh shit, wait, this one says "No Parking."
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