This wooden sculpture of Goddess Kali unfolds with theatrical intensity, where colour, carving, and iconography evoke her as the fierce yet protective Mother.
The deep black of her body establishes Kali as the boundless Shunya from which creation emerges and into which it dissolves.
Against this darkness, the red of her tongue, palms, and feet flashes with immediacy, signifying life force, blood, and active shakti. Gold, ivory, and vermilion detailing across her crown and ornaments create a visual rhythm that heightens both drama and sanctity.
Her expression is arresting. Wide, unwavering eyes meet the viewer directly, framed by arched brows and flaring nostrils. The protruding tongue and visible fangs convey ferocity, yet the face is sculpted with composure rather than distortion.
The crown rises in tiered precision, while her hair cascades in deeply carved, rhythmic strands down her back, a testament to the sculptor’s control over texture and movement in wood. The skull garland encircling her torso represents the dissolution of the ego and the cycle of birth and death. Her Baaghacharma (tiger hide) garment reinforces her association with primal power and ascetic strength. In her four hands, she bears the trident, the curved blade, the severed head, and the flaming bowl. These attributes articulate her role as destroyer of ignorance, severer of attachment, and purifier through transformative fire.
Beneath her raised foot lies the subdued head of an asura, signifying the defeat of negative forces. The platform below is richly painted and ornamented, elevating the figure both physically and symbolically. Even the reverse reveals disciplined carving, from the floral disc behind her head to the flowing mass of hair, ensuring that the sculpture remains complete from every vantage. Through colour, expression, and iconographic clarity, this sculpture presents Kali as a force of uncompromising truth: terrible in appearance, yet ultimately liberating in purpose.
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