Materials:

Gold-plated copper

Himalayan crystal

Lapis lazuli

Coral

Dimensions & Weight:

Height: 8 inches

Width: 7.5 inches

Depth: 2.5 inches

Weight: 1.55 kilograms

 Shipping Origin: Kathmandu, Nepal

Description:

Master Nepali craftsman created this exceptional Mahakali statue carved from Himalayan crystal, standing on Shiva (carved from lapis lazuli).

Mahakali is the Hindu goddess to time and death in the goddess-centric tradition of Shaktism.  Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal power, time, life, death, and both rebirth and liberation.  Her most common four-armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a crescent-shaped khadha, and a severed head of a demon, and a bowl or kapala (skull cup) catching the blood of the severed head.  Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and in absolute rage, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling.  The blood of the demons she slays drips out of her lolling tongue, having consumed it.  She is adorned with a garland consisting of the heads of demons she has slaughtered.

Mahakali is shown standing on the prone, inert body of Shiva.  This is interpreted in various ways, but the most common is that Mahakali represents Shakti, the power of pure creation in the universe, and Shiva represents pure consciousness which is inert in and of itself.  The wild destructive Mahakali can only stop her fury in the presence of Shiva, the God of Consciousness, so that the balance of life is not completely overrun by wild nature.