Cleveland Museum of Art

Kali on Shiva, from a Tantric Devi Series

Date

c. 1810

Medium

gum tempera and gold on paper

Culture

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The goddess Kali kneels in the posture reserved for wrathful deities ready for battle. In one hand she holds the sword she used to sever the demon head she triumphantly grasps in another hand. As the personification of divine energy— shakti in Sanskrit—Kali appears active, while the male principle, personified as her consort Shiva, is like a corpse ( shava ). The scene is set in a cremation ground, complete with vultures, jackals, and bones. Contemplation of paintings such as this assists followers in overcoming fear of death. In this image, the dead body is overlaid with the dual principles of the divine in Hindu thought: male and female, passive and active, matter and energy, white and black, Shiva and Shakti. This Tantric Devi painting is from a series made in the Pahari Kingdom of Mandi. CMA also has another from the same series, 2020.431 .

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