Cute Kali

Kali is the ferocious form of the mother goddess.

Kali is represented with perhaps the fiercest features amongst all the world’s deities. She has four arms, with a sword in one hand and the head of a demon in another. The other two hands bless her worshippers, and say, “fear not”! She has two dead heads for her earrings, a string of skulls as necklace, and a girdle made of human hands as her clothing. Her tongue protrudes from her mouth, her eyes are red, and her face and breasts are sullied with blood. She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the chest of her husband, Shiva.

Sanjay Patel, an animator with Pixar has kept most of the elements intact in his Little Book of Hindu Deities, but at the same time came up with an image of the goddess which can only be expressed in one word – cute. A friend says she is Amul Butter Girl cute.

There are other ‘cute’ gods and goddesses in the book (I haven’t seen the book, this impression is from what’s there on the website), but the transformation of Kali beats them all. Have a look:

There are two wallpapers available on the site for your desktop. One is Kali, the other is of Ganesha – the most artist friendly of the 330 million Hindu gods and goddesses (noticed that the media uses the unisex term, actor for both males and females in the acting profession. Does it apply for the deities too?). And thanks to Aquarianalien for pointing out the site.