Kali, the wrathful protector

The goddess Kali plays a vital role in West Bengal religious devotion as the supreme protector. She is seen here as a beautiful young woman of blue-black complexion with wild unbound hair, striding on the corpse of Shiva lying in a charnal ground. Ghostly scenes of torment fill the background as gods look down from the clouds, their hands raised in reverence. Kali extends her red tongue fearsomely and is adorned with macabre garlands of severed heads and limbs; infants serve as her ear ornaments. She holds a freshly severed head and wields a bloody sacrificial sword (kharga). Her forehead eye, beaming brilliantly, asserts her identity as an emanation of Durga-Parvati, Shiva’s consort and his shakti (feminine energy) in Tantric Shaivism.