The identification of Mother Goddesses often poses challenges. The iconography evolves, and the variations tend to be localised.

This is one such case. Based on the attributes, a sword (broken), a drum, a Trishul and a Kapala, one could identify her as Bhairavi. The flames surrounding her head and the cobra above her head suggest it is possibly Mariamman, a village Guardian deity from South India (Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Karnataka).

She was sold as Kali, but Kali’s attributes are different. And Kali is not shown with a cobra over her head.

The three severed heads on the lower pedestal are unusual. The modern renditions of Mariamman, available in plenty, do not show the three severed heads. In the famous Mariamman temple in Samayapuram, the eight-armed deity has three severed heads below her feet. The photo on our right is from that temple’s website.

In our example, she sits in Lalitasana. The casting quality is above average.

There was an attempt to give this bronze a two-tone look. The picture of the bottom clearly shows the two tones.

This bronze is from the Tamil Nadu/Karnataka region. It is 8 cm tall. This may be dated to the 1800s.