Kali काली | The Tanjore Throne of the Dark Mother | Museum Poster

काली | This is how the elders of Thanjavur painted her, the storyteller says — every leaf of gold laid by hand, every ruby chosen for its fire, every line drawn with the breath held still. Her skin is dark against the gold because she is the night that holds all the stars. The crown on her head is the crown of the universe; the jewels are not jewels but planets. The South painted her this way for a thousand years before us, and we paint her this way still, and we will.