A Semiotic Perspective on the Representation of the Hindu Goddess Kali
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-0115
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-0115
- Author or attribution
- Sai Vipin Nikam
- Record type
- Article
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- n.d.
- Source / repository
- Material Merge, University of Toronto Libraries
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- Kali Library Research Catalogue; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion; Art, Iconography, and Epigraphic Studies
Description and curator notes
Uses a painting attributed in the essay to Raja Ravi Varma as the starting point for interpreting Kali through semiotics. Nikam applies ideas associated with Roland Barthes and Marcel Danesi to the goddess’s attributes, visual signs, and cultural meanings. The essay considers how representations can signify creation, destruction, protection, motherhood, and power, and how readings change with the viewer’s interpretive position. It provides a short, accessible example of modern visual analysis. Because this is student scholarship, the essay’s art attribution and larger historical claims should be checked against specialist art-historical sources before reuse.
KALI-0115 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.
Author / attribution: Sai Vipin Nikam
Publication: Material Merge, University of Toronto Libraries · n.d.
Complete essay, pp.45–50; publication date not established from the retrieved PDF
Format / language: Scholarly student essay · English
Kali relevance: Entire essay concerns the visual representation of Kali.
Context: Semiotics; modern interpretation; undergraduate scholarship.
Subjects: Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion; Art, Iconography, and Epigraphic Studies
Evidence / reliability: Institutional repository; degree level or research format stated explicitly
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Freely readable from the stated institutional or original publication host. Copyright retained; no general republication licence established. Link to the work rather than copying it.
Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/materialmerge/article/download/40942/31346/109455
Source access
Read or locate the original source at Material Merge, University of Toronto Libraries
Rights and reading conditions
Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Freely readable from the stated institutional or original publication host. Copyright retained; no general republication licence established. Link to the work rather than copying it. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.
Citation
Sai Vipin Nikam. A Semiotic Perspective on the Representation of the Hindu Goddess Kali. Material Merge, University of Toronto Libraries · n.d..
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.