Kala or how to eat yourself

Kala was the faithful servant of Shiva. Legend goes that Shiva was meditating and Kala disturbed him to bring him a message. Extremely unpleased, Shiva shouted at him to go and eat himself. What Kala did. As Shiva found him, nothing was left of Kala but his upper jaw. Ashamed that he had been asking such a thing from his faithful servant, Shiva decided that Kala from now on would reside at the entrance of his temples to remind worshippers what devotion (to god) truly is.

Photo from Jakarta, Museum Nasional, February 2009.