Dakshina Kali – Non-Fiction

Dakshina Kali Artist: Arka Patra. Acrylic painting.

Arka Patra wrote: Her strotam describes Her with a complexion as dark as clouds, delighted and smiling softly, again laughing and biting Her protruding tongue, while blood oozes off Her mouth. Her four arms hold a decapitated head and a ‘kharga’ in the left, and displays abhaya and Varada mudra in the right. She, who is surrounded by howling jackals.

Her neck is adorned by a garland of heads, as blood smears Her dark body. She wears baby corpses as earrings and Her waist is dressed in a garland of forelimbs. Her three eyes are bloodshot, while Her face is gleaming with the brilliance of infinite suns. She positions herself on shiva who is imitating a corpse.

To her we pray for salvation, for she grants all our desires.