This is an amazing painting. It involves the hallowed trinity of maker (Brahma), preserver (Vishnu), and destroyer (Shiva), and the Devi Kali Herself. Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva are paying their reverence as one to the preeminent Devi, while She situated on a blazing fire in the entirety of Her fierceness and celestial magnificence, as the three incomparable masters of the composite universe contact Her in Their commitment. The fire that establishes Her asana is comprised of logs of wood and the exposed assortments of a man and a lady. The flame that seethes around Her has been anticipated with decided brushstrokes in rich orange, and emanates abundant extents of fatal dark smoke. The Devi’s iconography is the thing that could be named exasperating for those used to the mitigating, maternal picture of the Indian devi. Situated in a poorna-padmasana, a tiger-skin works as Her undergarment, while the shringar on Her appendages and middle contains human skulls and wild snakes. With Her four hands (chaturbhujadhari), She uses weapons and administers favors with equivalent enthusiasm. She lets out her tongue in bloodlust; Her sanctuary bears the otherworldly third eye against a scattering of hued cinder; and an immaculate moon is roosted on Her tousled tresses.

Of the three gods, it is Shiva’s iconography that is to some degree a match to Hers. His tresses are as tangled and moon-ridden as Hers, instead of the luxurious bejeweled gold of Their lotus petal-tipped crowns. His tiger-skin undergarment and skull-and-snakes shringar are as a conspicuous difference to the hued silks and gems of Brahma and Vishnu. Each of the three divinities are shoeless on the lavish verdure that makes up the foundation of this watercolor. Note the colorless confronted dogs at the mouth of the fire, which are apparently prepared to charge on the adharmee.