Indian Iron Tantric Lingam

Brass-brown above, brick red below, polished like a well-loved doorknob.

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. Plump ovoid with a gradient from olive-bronze at the crown to terracotta at the base. Faint dark mottling and a few soft pale marks sit on the shoulders. The surface is glossy and sits on a black ring. It is 14 inches high and 8 in diameter.

Understated, in a rich and slightly smug way.