Deva, Temple of Treachery

Chapter 4

"Amazing," Amara gushed, restraining herself to run over to the temple towering over them. The building was built into the cliff, the building with columns and a plaza protruded from the wall, on the plaza was an enormous statue of a figure, well known by Indians. The black-skinned goddess with four arms, a necklace of heads around her neck, and her tongue hanging out as she was holding a Khadga and a severed head which her other arm is catching up all the blood with a cup while one of her foot pressed down a headless body.

Frowning at the statue, towering over them as they walked closer, Amara found it more and more strange as she inspected it more closely.

"From what I have heard, it is supposed to be Kali. The Hindu goddess of destruction."

"Samhara Kali or Kalika, the black one, to be exact. She is normally depicted with blue skin but Samhara Kali is preferred to have black skin, though she normally only have two arms, not four," Amara explained. "But why is she holding Shiva's head."

"She lost control and severed his and many others' head."

"That is not how the legend goes. Kali loses control and Shiva tries to calm her, allowing her to step on him. In embarrassment and shock, Kali pulls back her tongue and calms her mind but, in this picture, she has severed his head," Amara said, pointing at the head and then the body. "You can see the trishula in his hand, along with the Vasuki, the serpent king around his neck. He is also holding the damaru in his other hand. All are symbols of Shiva, but his head is severed and is held by Kali."

"I've not heard any of the experts mention this," Helene muttered, looking closer at the picture. "Is the detail essential?"

"Kali is supposed to be the ultimate destruction of demons and evil. She is a terrifying defender, not a slayer of good," Amara shrugged.

"Maybe you just misinterpret the symbols. The Hindu gods aren't supposed to exist during this time after all. This might be the original inspiration of the goddess and they might only be related through looks. Not legend."

"Maybe."

"Well, the motive is probably the least interesting thing here. Notice something else?"

Amara looked closer at the sculpture, shaking her head, not sure what to look for.

"Look at the material used," Helene suggested and Amara looked closer, her eyes going wide as she recognized it.

"Is that obsidian used for her skin?"

"Exactly, there have been some obsidian tools discovered in India's past but nothing of this magnitude from what I know. Look at the scythe she is holding."

Amara's eyes turned to the half-moon-formed blade that was a Khadga, Kali's choice of weapon. It was shining, bright, and clear. Frowning for a while before she asked quietly, "Silver?"

"No, from what we can tell. It is iron."

"That... can't be possible. We have found no sign of iron tools in the Harappa civilization, if this was made before that then it would change what we know," Amara said, wanting to reach up to touch it.

"That is not the only strange thing we found."

"Oh?"

"The statue is younger than the building. From what we can tell, the statue is built after the temple became a ruin."

"Why build a statue of this magnitude after the temple was abandoned?" Amara asked, inspecting the scripture underneath the sculpture. It wasn't the soft scripture of Sanskrit. Amara recognized the scripture, it was Harappan script from the Indus Valley Civilization. Unfortunately, despite many archeologists trying to crack it, it was still a mystery to the world. "Do you have any theories of what the statue is?"