This study examines maternal myths within the Indian cultural context through a psychoanalytic framework, with particular emphasis on Jungian analytical
psychology. Drawing on the concept of the maternal archetype, the research highlights how mythic imagination operates through symbolic polarization—most notably in the opposition between the goddess and the witch—thereby sustaining a cultural splitting of the maternal image. The analysis of the goddess Kali illustrates the archetypal condensation of the “Good Mother” and the “Terrible Mother,” demonstrating that exclusively negative interpretations overlook her transformative and regenerative dimensions.

The study integrates perspectives from analytical psychology (Jung, Neumann), object relations theory (Kernberg, Mahler), and gender studies (Beauvoir), showing that the mechanism of splitting—through the protection of the idealized object and the projection of aggressive affects—is mirrored and reinforced in mythic structures. It further underscores the role of fairy tales and narrative traditions in the intergenerational transmission of polarized maternal representations, contributing to the formation of ambivalent or divided images of motherhood within the collective imagination.

In conclusion, maternal myths do not merely express archetypal ambivalence; they also reflect and reproduce patriarchal symbolic structures in which the feminine is simultaneously sacralized and demonized. An integrative reading that combines analytical psychology with a critical gender perspective allows for a more nuanced understanding of the cultural and psychic functions of the maternal archetype.