Indian Iron Tantric Lingam

Cream-white and smooth, with a yellow-and-red smile painted near the base.

This tantric lingam is from Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is quartz crystal & iron. Dams planned along the Narmada since the 1940s have steadily removed the dry season that harvesting depends on, so gathering genuine lingams from the riverbed has become close to impossible. Portly oval in creamy pale grey with fine hairline cracks and a pearly gleam. A curved band of golden yellow edged in red sits low on the front like a grin, and a faint tan arc marks the upper left. It is 11 inches high and 6.5 in diameter.

Smiling quietly to itself, as pale things sometimes do.