Indian Iron Tantric Lingam

An egg of stone with a single band of rust red across it.

This tantric lingam comes from India and is quartz crystal with iron oxide inclusions, its age indeterminate. In Hindu tradition the lingam is the abstract form of Shiva, and smooth natural stones of this egg shape are honored in worship and meditation as images of creative energy. The surface is polished and tan, flecked with small brown speckles and a few fine veins. A rust-colored band runs across the upper part, with a darker cap of the same color above it. Eight and a quarter inches high and six across.

It has no face, and needs none.