Kali
This image of Kali, the ferocious slayer of demons, appeared in various versions till as late as the 1920s. This particular image attained iconic status in part because of its wide distribution and use to advertise cigarettes. Part of the text below the deity is as follows:
If you care to improve the manufacture of national products, if the welfare of the nation’s poor laborers is your concern, if you have a sense of good and bad, then O Hindu brothers, smoke these Kali cigarettes. (Translated by C. Pinney)
If you care to improve the manufacture of national products, if the welfare of the nation’s poor laborers is your concern, if you have a sense of good and bad, then O Hindu brothers, smoke these Kali cigarettes. (Translated by C. Pinney)
Artwork Details
- Title: Kali
- Date: ca. 1885–95
- Culture: India
- Medium: Lithograph
- Dimensions: Image: 12 × 9 1/2 in. (30.5 × 24.1 cm)
Sheet: 16 5/8 × 12 7/8 in. (42.2 × 32.7 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 2013
- Object Number: 2013.3
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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India
1900
India
ca. 1885–95
India
ca. 1900
India
1880s–90s
India
1910s
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