Second half of 19th century

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

At bottom right, a monstrous goddess Kali (Durga's fierce form) raises four massive arms, one blithely swinging a severed head. Her body, with a distinctive double-block torso, is outlined in red and filled with blue stitches. The corpse of the god Shiva below her feet is yellow outlined in green and an adjacent blue elephant holds a second yellow-and-green figure, perhaps the living Shiva. The top quadrant contains a triangular shrine housing a Shiva linga. Pairs of exuberant floral trees to the left and right grow in opposite directions from a floating "ground" of border motif, rather like reflections in water, although each tree is different.