Shiva seated on the bull Nandin

This Kalighat painting, named after the neighborhood surrounding the Kali temple in Kolkata where it was produced, depicts Shiva as a rotund figure nonchalantly seated on the young bull Nandi, who turns his head affectionately toward his lord. Shiva is dressed in the tiger-skin wrap of an ascetic; snakes are entwined around him. Shiva’s eyes gaze upward, suggesting he is in an intoxicated state. The rhyton he holds is understood to contain a liquid extract of cannabis (bhang), a favorite hallucinogenic of Shiva. Lavish amounts of tin-based pigment provide the “silver” highlights of his jewelry. Such paintings were largely produced as souvenirs for rural pilgrims venturing to the Kalighat temple; the lithographic print versions were more expensive, appealing to urban clients.