Image of Goddess Kali / "Danteshwarimai"

It is an image of Danteshwarimai. She is holding a bowl in her left hand and a dagger in her right hand and her tongue is jutting out. She has been shown seated on a high cylindrical shaped platform. It is a baked terracotta image made with wheel thrown and hand modeled technique. The various parts of the anatomy, such as the face, breasts, mouth, nose, knees , hands and broad shoulders are rendered with exquisite craftsmanship. She is shown wearing a small crown on her head and ornaments all over her body. Danteshwarimai is the primary deity in the Bastar area of Chattisgarh, has her main shrine at Dantevara, along the river Indravati near Jagdalpur. Two stories associate her with a local king, whose kingdom she agreed to protect on the condition he would not look back at her – in one version, as she followed him to reside in his state, and in the other, as she measured out his kingdom with her cover cloth or vastra. However, he did look back to check on her, and so she disappeared. Nonetheless, he honoured her with a temple, and vastra is therefore believed to be the original name of Bastar.She resembles to the iconography of Hindu goddess Kali. A bowl and the dagger are indicative of the ritual blood sacrifice.