A chromolithograph diptych published by the Calcutta Art Studio around 1885 to 1895, the first of a set of five sheets depicting the Ten Mahavidyas, the tantric wisdom-goddesses of Shakta Hinduism, two goddesses to a sheet, each labelled in Bengali and English. The left field shows the youthful Kali standing astride two aspects of Shiva, one corpse-like and the other engaged with the goddess in a scene reading as the union of consciousness and energy; the right field shows Tara, associated with the destructive and purifying power of fire, one of the more fearsome Mahavidyas. The series is a landmark of the new lithographic presses that transformed Hindu devotional print culture in colonial Calcutta, later the subject of dedicated museum exhibitions including the Met's "Household Gods: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860-1930" and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston's own showing of the same set.
Facts
Classification
Object TypePrint (Engraving, Etching, Woodcut or Lithograph) 2 Custody
Current LocationThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2 Current CustodianThe Metropolitan Museum of Art 2 Medium (class) Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectKali (left field) and Tara (right field), two of the Ten Mahavidyas, each with associated forms of Shiva. 2 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis atlas describes and cites the print rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Connections
Associated With
This source names Bengali directly: "goddesses to a sheet, each labelled in Bengali and English."
Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Kali, Deities This source names Kali directly: "The left field shows the youthful Kali standing astride two aspects of Shiva, one corpse-like and the other engaged with the goddess in a scene reading as the union of consciousness and energy; the..."
Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Kali, Figures This source names Kali directly: "The left field shows the youthful Kali standing astride two aspects of Shiva, one corpse-like and the other engaged with the goddess in a scene reading as the union of consciousness and energy; the..."
Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Tara, Deities This source names Tara directly: "and energy; the right field shows Tara, associated with the destructive and purifying power of fire, one of the more fearsome Mahavidyas."
Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Belongs to Tradition
Derived: this work depicts a figure already recorded as belonging to this tradition; the work-to-tradition link is inferred from that live depicts edge and the figures own attested tradition affiliation, not independently sourced beyond it.
Depicts
Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Originated In
India, Regions Source Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Sources
1. When India Reinvented Prints, New York Review of Books
Andrew Raftery, The New York Review of Books, 2026
2. Diptych of Kali and Tara, Calcutta Art Studio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Metropolitan Museum of Artcatalogue record, medium/object-type description
A chromolithograph diptych published by the Calcutta Art Studio around 1885 to 1895, the first of a set of five sheets depicting the Ten Mahavidyas, the tantric wisdom-goddesses of Shakta Hinduism, two goddesses to a sheet, each labelled in Bengali and English.
- Originated In: India, Stored country property on this entity, cited to this source: India
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