She is fierce. She is ferocious. She’s the destroyer of demons and the protector of the devout. She is Kali, the dark-skinned goddess who represents the inevitable force of time — embodying the power to create and destroy life and the universe at large. She is unique in how she is both formless and absolute, and mercurial in her ever-changing forms. 

Over the course of several centuries, the worship of Kali has undergone dramatic change in the Indian subcontinent. From the feared and ostracised goddess of the ‘thuggees’ — forest-dwelling cults of robbers and murderers who looted travellers and caravans in the early colonial period under British rule — to becoming the subject of syncretic mystic Ramakrishna’s familial worship and humanist teachings in the 19th centuryas well as a symbol of rebellion invoked by freedom fighters like Aurobindo Ghosh and Subhash Chandra Bose, her reputation has oscillated between the fearsome and the protective.

Similarly, disenfranchised tribal groups, peasant communities, trans persons, women and Dalits, householders, and devotees, too, have turned to Kali as their champion within India’s complex and uneven caste and gender 'kyriarchies'.

Beyond the furious Kali of the Devi Mahatmayam depicted in north Indian miniature paintings, there exist many diverse historical incarnations of the goddess found throughout South Asia. In the East, she is given an entirely different physical visage, drawing from Tantric traditions of both Hinduism and Buddhism. In 19th-century Bengal, she took on the role of a maternal figure for Ramakrishna and his followers, who saw her in syncretic and secular terms. In Bengal, she also entered the vocabulary of the popular vernacular presses, advertisements, and calendar art.

In the South, the lore of Bhadrakali grew to hold a significant social relevance for the downtrodden, particularly in how local narratives reinterpreted Kali and the myths that surround her as a protector. Performed entirely by male actors through dramatic and spectacular staging, Bhadrakali advocated for women and the oppressed along the Malabar Coast.

Within the work of contemporary artists, too, Kali’s portrayal is freed from ritual associations or a rigid religious iconography, and she is represented in a more personal and intimate light. Drawing on both narrative and abstraction, Kali continues to fascinate as a fluid and deeply engaging subject in art, retaining her allure and profound resonance.

DAG’s ‘Kali: Reverence and Rebellion’ traces the dark goddess’ pervasive influence on artists across the Indian subcontinent. The exhibition explores Kali and her cohort of the divine feminine in their many forms.

The exhibition, curated by Gayatri Sinha, surveys Kali’s influence on Indian art from the Kalighat Pats and Jaipur miniatures to modern Indian artists like Chittoprasad, M.F. Husain, K.G. Subramanyan, K. Laxma Goud, and Gogi Saroj Pal to contemporary artists like Madhvi Parekh and K.C. Pyne.

Kali: Reverence and Rebellion is on view at the Alipore Museum as part of the Bengal Biennale until January 5, 2025.

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