Indian Iron Tantric Lingam

Slim and olive-gray, with red squiggles and dots that look like someone doodled in wax pencil.

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. A slender polished oval with a high gloss on its upper curve. Olive-gray ground carries a wavy red line near the top, two scattered red spots, and a broken red band close to the base. It stands on a small black disc. It is 13 inches high and 6 in diameter.

Abstract expression, courtesy of a very patient geological process.