Jezebel

Yesterday I used the word Jezebel to describe a god-woman (one with godly pretentions) in my novel, while editing it for clarity. I remotely knew the meaning, then, when I looked up wikipedia did it became clear:

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Phoenician empire. She married King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom (i.e. Israel during the time when ancient Israel was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south). She helped convert Ahab from worship of the Jewish God to worship of the Phoenician god Baal. After she had many Jewish prophets killed, Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a competition (1 Kings 18), exposed the rival god as powerless, and had the prophets of Baal slaughtered (1 Kings 18:40). Jezebel becomes his enemy.^[3]

Seems the description is apt enough for Tum Tum Mata, my character, who lives in a hovel and professes to be a Goddess. It is quite a coincidence as I am reading this particular section of the Bible now and vaguely remembered the name. (I read the old testament as a history of the Jewish people, the people chosen by God.) So its popping up in my vocabulary is no accident. In fact, a good and serendipitous accident, I must say.

Tum Tum Mata plays an important role in my novel. She is part prophetess, part rabble rouser. My idea is to show the multiplicity of beliefs in our country.

John is @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. He blogs here. His Youtube Channel Page. His novel Mr. Bandookwala, M.B.A., Harvard.