full "unfolded" version of the zine:

citation for the article the words at the start are pulled from:

Jalarajan Raj, Sony, and Adith K. Suresh. 2025. ‘Mothers of the South: Power, Suffering, and Identity in Maternal Narratives of South Indian Cinema’. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 0 (0): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2025.2471519.

(here's an academia.edu link to the article: link)

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The overall background picture of the zine is Sivagami sacrificing herself in the river for baby Mahendra. We see only her hand, with the majority of the page being taken up by the screaming form of Mahendra.

Page one is the title page with the words 'i. motherhood' on it. On the side, Sivagami on her throne breastfeeding baby Amarenda and Bhallaladeva. There is blood on her face. Above Sivagami's throne, in the bottom right corner of the page is a cloud of words pulled from an article by Jalarajan Raj and Adith K. Suresh. They say: "social standing, Shakti, self-sacrificing, moral compasses, selflessness, wisdom, suffering, protective, nurturing, divinity, resilience, humanises, unconditional love."

Page two has baby Mahendra screaming in the corner. The words read, "devasena. here. here is what you should. be. you are daughter in law of the empire. divine mother. of kings."

Page three has the upper body of baby Mahendra shown. Over top the picture, three words are written in bold, uppercase, "trade. yourself. in."

Page four has the lower half of the baby shown (his belly). The background of the river in this page has been cut out and replaced with a white page overlaid with 'purpose' written out to fill the whole background.

Page five has the words, "of the goddess kali. blood. blood. blood. she demands. blood." Each instance of the word blood is written in red font. The words continue saying, "she who drowned gave. her own, your son's. bride spent her life burning. do the same. bleed on dust for 25 years. while another mother nurses. your revenge."

Page six has the words, "of the goddess kali. death. death. death. she demands. death." Again, each instance of the word death is written in red font. The words continue saying, "ash and blood rest where your. kingdom once did. where your husband lays. heart carved out. a kingdom. a crown. a family he took from you."

Page seven is similar to page three. The shape of Sivagami's blood-soaked hand is detached from the river background and placed over a white background with the word 'sacrifice' repeated again and again over the page.

Page eight has the words, "wear your chains and walk. build your. pyre as the story." Then we see a picture of a young Devasena, from the scene where we are first introduced to her. The words wrap around her shape on page as it says, "turns. back. to. your. youth." Finally, under her, the last words are, "remember the river. that is where your future rests. as your past. rests with him." In smaller font, in the bottom right corner, it says, "reverse the zine to remember."

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