KALI - MOTHER GODDESS OF INDIA

Blue-black Kali is certainly one of the most active and dynamic of Indian Goddesses. Her crown and jewels indicate her status, but she is most often shown nude. In many shrines all over India, she is worshipped as both the giver and the taker of life. She is often shown dancing the Dance of Life, peacock feathers adorning her wrists and waving from her ankles. Kali’s face contains a third eye, for wisdom. Her hair is wild and unbound. Often she is shown with four arms, the two on the left hold a sword and a trident, her weapons in the fight with the demon Sumbha and evil forces. Her right arms hold sweetness and good forces, a casket of golden honey and a perfect lotus blossom. She dances on a lotus flower, but her special flower, the marigold, grows beside her and she is wreathed with their blooms.

Many images of Kali were inspiration for this painting. Bronze sculptures show her dancing, holding her sacred objects. Marigolds, her special flower, are daily offered to her in her many shrines. Like other cult images, at these shrines she is dressed daily in real clothing donated by devotees. At one shrine, her figure is taken down from the altar at night by her monks, fed, tea and put to bed. The next morning, re-dressed, she is again set on her shrine to receive her many pilgrims.