Where else in the world is black beautiful, baffling and brings together East and West? In Trinidad at the Siparia Roman Catholic Church, a black female statue venerated by Catholics as the Virgin Mary and worshipped by Hindus as a black Hindu Goddess does just that! To Catholics, the statue is known as “La Divina Pastora”, the Divine Shepherdess - to Hindus, she is hailed as ‘Sipari Mai’, (Mother of Siparia) “Siparee Ke Mai” or ‘Mother Kali’ and she is the only symbiosis of Catholicism and Hinduism in the Western hemisphere.

This statue, barely three feet tall, draws pilgrims from every creed and race and intriguing social, cultural and religious rites accompany her devotions.  Popular with pilgrims and devotees who profess her numerous miracles of healings and answered prayers, she is particularly revered by barren women to whom she has given the gift of children, receiving in turn, many gifts of gold and grains, fabric and flowers. 

The Madonna Murti features candid interviews with poojaris and pilgrims, pundits and priests, academics and artists, all who try to tell the tale of a statue who offers health, hope, help and happiness to those who approach her most in need of it.