ABSTRACT
This chapter explores why the Sati myth was only illustrated from the nineteenth century onwards, arguing that it was reinterpreted as a nationalist symbol. From the late nineteenth century, images of Shiva carrying Sati began proliferating in Calcutta. The chapter argues that Sati represented a fundamental transitional symbol of propaganda between Mother India imagined as impoverished and Mother India envisioned as heroic. A souvenir of Sati sold at Kalighat reminded devotees that the temple represented one element of a powerful network that made up the goddess's body. Kalighat watercolour paintings, or pats, and lithographic prints of Sati sold around Kalighat temple were powerful devotional artefacts. The enduring appeal of the Sati and Shiva image of pathos displayed in the Kalighat souvenirs would lead to its iconographic consistency right up until the present day in the form of contemporary prints, monuments, sculptures and even film.
