Bogini Kali. Mosiądz. Indie. XX wiek.

Kali, the black goddess of time and death, slayer of demons and evil forces. Known as the Lady of Chaos and Cosmos.

When the Hindu gods lost the war against the demons and were banished from heaven, they created Kali. Each of the gods endowed her with an extraordinary gift to help her fight the demons. And Kali defeated the demons. When it turned out that the blood of the slain demons, upon contact with the ground, gave birth to more demons, Kali began to knock them down in the air and drink their blood. The goddess, overcome with a fever of killing, became so engrossed in her battle frenzy that the gods began to fear that she would destroy the entire earth. She only calmed down when her husband Shiva, knowing that he could not defeat her in battle, stood before Kali naked and defenseless, offering her his love.

The goddess Kali is notorious because, in order to gain her favor, her followers made human sacrifices.

Kali is a dark-skinned beautiful woman, dressed in tiger fur, multi-armed, and each of her armed hands can kill demons. A distinctive feature of Kali sculptures is a necklace made of skulls or heads of defeated enemies.

The sculpture I am offering convinced me with its austerity. It is far from the smooth, polished images of Kali mass-produced in foundries. I think it was created in a provincial workshop and is closer to the canons of folk sculpture than professional sculpture. Perhaps this is a big word, but I was captivated by its truth and authenticity. I believe it was created in the second half of the 20th century. It is 22 cm high, 20 cm wide, and 8 cm deep. The brass base measures 9.5 by 7.5 by 1 cm.