Shiva Carries the Corpse of Sati

In this painting, the Hindu god Shiva carries on his shoulders the corpse of his wife, Sati. The painting illustrates the story of Sati’s death and its aftermath: Sati, the daughter of Daksha, married Shiva despite her father’s disapproval. When Daksha later organizes a sacrificial ritual (yajna), he deliberately excludes the couple. Sati decides to attend nonetheless, thinking her father might have forgotten to formally invite them. When she arrives, Daksha publicly humiliates her; unable to bear the dishonor, she immolates herself in protest. Struck with grief and anger, Shiva lifts Sati’s body on his shoulders and begins to wander the cosmos, performing his destructive cosmic dance (tandava). To protect the world from imminent destruction, Vishnu steps in and, using his discus, the Sudarshana chakra, cuts Sati’s corpse into pieces bit by bit until Shiva realizes that her body is completely gone. Shiva finally is able to regain his composure and move past his grief to resume his divine responsibilities. The fragments of her body are believed to have fallen across the Indian subcontinent in fifty-one locations. These places came to be revered as the Shakti Peethas, powerful sites in the Shakta tradition imbued with the power of Sati’s body.

In the nineteenth century, pilgrims and devotees would have purchased paintings such as this from artists who worked around the Kalighat temple in Kolkata, dedicated to the goddess Kali. The imagery of this painting is particularly significant for the Kalighat temple, as this temple is believed to mark the spot where Sati’s right toes fell to earth. The painting is embellished with a tin-based pigment, which provides a “silver” highlight to the jewelry.