c. 1820

The Goddess Kali

Kali, the fierce Dark Goddess, holds the severed head of a demon and brandishes a sword that destroys ignorance and evil. Consort of the god Shiva, who emerges from the corpse under her feet, Kali performs a wild dance that is a metaphor for regeneration after extinction. Although the painting's subject is horrific, its gentle pastel colors and delicate detailing are typical of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century court painting from the Himalayan foothills, a type of painting that influenced artists of the Bengal School.