c. 1700-1725

The Goddess Kali Slaying Demons

This painting depicts the Hindu Great Goddess in her fierce form as Kali. Her body is dark and hairy, and her breasts droop to indicate her barrenness and age. She wears strings of heads as bangles, a necklace, and anklets, and a gory skirt of severed arms. In one hand, Kali holds a blood-filled drinking bowl made from a human skull. In two other hands, she clutches the heads of four demons, whose decapitated bodies under her feet continue to spurt blood. Kali and her tiger vehicle each unleash an enormous roar. The patron of this painting, Raja Sidh Sen—who was often depicted as large and hairy, as Kali is here—was famous as a powerful practitioner of Hindu tantric (magical devotional) rites.