Indian Iron Tantric Lingam

Camel-brown with a wine-red scribble that looks like a bird in flight.

This tantric lingam is from Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is quartz crystal & iron. Brahmin villages along a short part of the river traditionally gathered lingams from shallow water in the dry season, then shaped and hand-polished them, sometimes for as long as a year. Oval in tan-brown with a pale grey cast near the top. A maroon ribbon curls across the lower front, branching into a small hook shape at its upper end. A few pale specks appear on the shoulder under a soft shine. It is 10 inches high and 5.25 in diameter.

A signature scrawled by something with excellent penmanship and no name.