An exhibition about the many forms of Kali

The exhibition shows the evolution of the deity's iconography in the context of events between 18th-21st centuries

- Avantika Bhuyan

The ongoing exhibition, T Kali: Reverence & Rebellion, at DAG, Delhi, is one of discovery. As you walk through the gallery, taking in the nearly 100 works on display, it seems fantastical to see the myriad representations of a single deity over timefrom the earliest representation as described in the 5th-century text, Devi Mahatyam, and paintings by miniature artists to terracotta sculptures from Kerala, ceramic figurines and glass paintings.

The most fascinating, at least to me, are the representations of Kali's links with subalternity, as the goddess of the people from the margins. Art historian Gayatri Sinha, who has curated Kali: Reverence & Rebellion, writes in the publication accompanying the show: "Kali's eventual absorption into the Brahmanical fold does not impede her ability to be repeatedly invoked by those at the margins of society.

Historically, her continued association with the darker aspects of reality-death, destruction, oblivion, intoxication, nudity-have allowed for her to be a symbol of rebellion through the affirmation of qualities and practices stigmatised by Brahmanical mores." The exhibition and the publication, which have been more than a year in the making, showcase not just different aspects from mythology but also how different groups-devotees, nationalists, tribal communities, and social collectives have perceived and co-opted her iconography.