Bengal Tiger/ 'Bagh Kali'

THE STORY

This woodcut started off with my craving to visit the Sunderbans, mangrove forests home to the glorious Royal Bengal Tiger. It further developed organically with the ambience of a forest backdrop, characterized by the locally ubiquitous hibiscus flowers -- and this, along with the addition of the tiger's tongue, and the garland of skulls (all symbols of the Goddess Kali), dramatically transformed my Sunderbans tiger into a "Bagh Kali" (Tiger is Bagh in Bengali), an imagined form of Kali, the 'dark' goddess.