Left, Sadashiva, with five heads and five pairs of arms, seated on a throne and holding a sword; right, the goddess Kali seated on her consort Shiva. Gouache painting by an Indian artist.

Shiva has a snake around his neck; Kali holds a human head and wears a garland of skulls; both have blue skin. The figure at left is the five-headed form of Shiva known as Sadashiva, who may have up to ten arms (also identified as Shiva by the blue throats, which is a feature peculiar to Shiva, one of whose names, Neelkanth, means 'blue throat')