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Kali

Overview

Not to be confused with Kali (demon)

Kali (Demon)

In Hinduism, Kali is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga and nemesis of Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu...

, the personification of Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga , is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...

Kali , also known as Kalika , is a Hindu goddess

Devi

Devi is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination,...

associated with eternal energy. The name Kali means "black", but has by folk etymology come to mean "force of time (kala)". Despite her negative connotations, Kali is today considered the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence.

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Not to be confused with Kali (demon)

Kali (Demon)

In Hinduism, Kali is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga and nemesis of Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu...

, the personification of Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga , is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...

Kali , also known as Kalika , is a Hindu goddess

Devi

Tantra

Tantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...

beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the "ultimate reality" or Brahman
Brahman
In the Hindu religion, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe. The nature of Brahman is described as transpersonal, personal and impersonal by different...

. She is also revered as Bhavatarini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother goddess

Mother goddess

A mother goddess is a term used to refer to any goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, creation or the bountiful embodiment of the Earth...

.

Kali is represented as the consort of god Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like Durga

Durga

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress"...

, Bhadrakali

Bhadrakali

Bhadrakāli , is according to legends a fierce form of Kali. Bhadra in Sanskrit means blessed, auspicious; fair, beautiful; good; fortunate, prosperous....

, Sati

Dakshayani

Satī or Dākshāyani is a Hindu goddess of marital felicity and longevity; she is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands...

, Rudrani

Rudrani

The Shakti of Rudra, considered to preside over blood sacrifice, sickness and death in the Vedic Period. She later came to be identified as an incarnation of Durga....

, Parvati

Parvati

Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is also regarded as a representation of Shakti, albeit the gentle aspect of that goddess because she is a mother goddess. Parvati is considered by some schools of Hinduism as the supreme Divine Mother or Lordess and all other goddesses are referred to as her...

and Chamunda

Chamunda

In Hinduism, Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess...

. She is the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidya

Mahavidya

Mahavidyas or Dasa Mahavidyas are a group of ten aspects of the Divine Mother or Devi in Hinduism. The Ten Mahavidyas are Wisdom Goddesses, who represent a spectrum of feminine divinity, from horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other .The development of Mahvidyas...

s, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.

Etymology

is the feminine of "black, dark coloured" (per Panini 4.1.42). In the Mundaka Upanishad
Mundaka Upanishad
The Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is associated with the Atharvaveda. It figures as number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads....

Kali is mentioned as one of the seven tongues of Agni

Agni

Agni is a Hindu and Vedic deity. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" , cognate with Latin ignis , Russian огонь , Polish "ogień," Lithuanian - ugnis - all with the meaning 'fire' -, with the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root being h₁égni-. Agni has three forms: fire, lightning and the sun...

, the Rigvedic God of Fire (Mundaka Upanishad
Mundaka Upanishad
The Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is associated with the Atharvaveda. It figures as number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads....

2:4), thus giving rise to Kali's tongue, seen in images. It appears as the name of a form of Durga

Durga

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress"...

in the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....

4.195, and as the name of an evil female spirit in Harivamsa
Harivamsa
The Harivamsha is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 verses, mostly in metre. The text is also known as . This text is believed as a khila to the Mahabharata and traditionally ascribed to Krishna Dvaipayana Veda Vyasa...

11552.

The homonymous , "appointed time", which depending on context can mean "death", is distinct from "black", but became associated with it through folk etymology. The association is seen in a passage from the , depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain warriors and animals. She is called (which Thomas Coburn, a historian of Sanskrit Goddess literature, translates as "night of death") and also (which, as Coburn notes, can be read here either as a proper name or as a description "the black one").

Kali's association with blackness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: ) in which he meditates, and with which Kali is also associated, as .

Origins

According to David Kinsley, Kali is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess, related to war, around 600 CE. Scriptures like Agni Purana
Agni Purana
Agni Purana, one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, contains descriptions and details of various incarnations of Vishnu. It also has details account about Rama, Krishna, Prithvi, and the stars. It has a number of verses dealing with ritual worship, cosmology and astrology,...

and Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana is one of the Puranas which are part of the Hindu body of texts known as smriti.-Further details:Garuda Purana is in the form of instructions by Vishnu to his carrier, Garuda . This Purana deals with astronomy, medicine, grammar, and gemstone structure and qualities...

describe her terrible appearance and associate her with corpses and war. The oldest mention of Kali dates back to Rigvedic age.The 'Ratri Sookta' in rigveda actually calls her as Goddess 'Ratri' and regards Ratri as the Supreme force in the universe.In the Tantras, she is regarded as the Shakti(Power)of The Great Mahakala(a form of Lord Shiva).Her portrayal on dead bodies in crematorium symbolizes her presence in the hearts of devotees who have killed their Earthly desires andwant Supreme Consciousness in the lap of the Ultimate Mother, Kali. In another form, she is regarded as the destroyer, the Mahakali as Kali Tantra says-"kali kalanat" meaning Kali is the one who finishes. Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti"(Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

In Tantra

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...

Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati

Parvati

is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kali is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman. Brahmā's consort is Saraswati, the goddess of learning...

, Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...

, and Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kali's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kali vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kali is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

praises her:

At the dissolution of things, it is Kala [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahakala [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahakala Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kalika. Because Thou devourest Kala, Thou art Kali, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [primordial Kali. Resuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.

The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka
Sadhaka
A sādhaka is someone who follows a particular sādhana, or a way of life designed to realize the goal of one's ultimate ideal, whether it is merging with Brahman or realization of one's personal deity. The word is related to the sanskrit sādhu, which is derived from the verb root sādh-, to accomplish...

boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise to Kali describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

He, O Mahakali who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. 0 Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Sakti [his female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kali is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga

Durga

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress"...

or Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

, who is said to be her spouse, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

In Bengali tradition

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengal

Bengal

Bengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...

i devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen

Ramprasad Sen

' was a Shakta poet of eighteenth century Bengal. His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and written in Bengali...

(1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati

Parvati

as Shiva's

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

consort, Kali is rarely pictured in Hindu mythology and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengali tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

The Tantric approach to Kali is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kali's teachings, adopting the attitude of a child. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Ramprasad's work.

Ramprasad comments in many of his other songs that Kali is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

To be a child of Kali, Ramprasad asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kali is said to not give what is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kali as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet

Shyama Sangeet

Shyama Sangeet is a genre of Bengali devotional songs dedicated to the Hindu goddess Shyama or Kali. It is also known as Shaktagiti.Shyama Sangeet appeals to the common man because it is a musical representation of the relationship of eternal and sublime love and care between the mother and her child...

. Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyama Sangeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

In Bengal, Kali is venerated in the festival Kali Puja

Kali Puja

Kali Puja or Shyama Puja is a festival dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, celebrated on the new day of the Hindu month Ashwin in Bengal. It coincides with the pan-Indian Lakshmi Puja day of Diwali. While rest of India worships goddess Lakshmi, Bengalis, Oriyas and Assamese adore...

- the new moon day of Ashwin

Ashwin

Ashwin , also known as Aswayuja, is the seventh month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar and the sixth month of the solar Bengali calendars, and also sixth month in the solar India's national civil calendar, where it is the second month in Shôrot, or Autumn.It overlaps September and October of the...

month which coincides with Diwali

Diwali

Diwali or ' is a significant festival in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and an official holiday in India and Nepal. Adherents of these religions celebrate Diwali as the Festival of Lights...

festival.

Slayer of Raktabija

In Kali's most famous myth, Durga

Durga

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress"...

and her assistants, Matrikas

Matrikas

Matrikas , also called Matara and Matris , are a group of Hindu goddesses, who always depicted together. Since they are usually depicted as a heptad, they are called Saptamatrikas : Brahmani, Vaishnavi, Maheshvari, Indrani, Kaumari, Varahi and Chamunda or Narasimhi...

, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons, in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation, as for every drop of blood that is spilt from Raktabija, the demon reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in dire need of help, summons Kali to combat the demons. It is also said that Goddess Durga takes the form of Goddess Kali at this time.

The Devi Mahatmya
Devi Mahatmya
The Devi Mahatmyam or Devi Mahatmya , or "Glory of the Goddess") is a Hindu text describing the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. As part of the Markandeya Purana, it is one of the Puranas or secondary Hindu scriptures, and was composed in Sanskrit around c...

m describes:

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga

Khatvanga

Khatvanga is a long, club-like instrument originally created to be used as a weapon. The khatvanga, comes as a danda with three severed heads denoting liberation from the three worlds or triloka, crowned by a trishula and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the...

(skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger’s skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

lies among the dead beneath her feet, a representation of Kali commonly seen in her iconography as Daksinakali.

In the Devi Mahatmya
Devi Mahatmya
The Devi Mahatmyam or Devi Mahatmya , or "Glory of the Goddess") is a Hindu text describing the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. As part of the Markandeya Purana, it is one of the Puranas or secondary Hindu scriptures, and was composed in Sanskrit around c...

version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The...

or power of Devi

Durga

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress"...

. She is given the epithet (Chamunda
Chamunda
In Hinduism, Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess...

), i.e the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

Daksinakali

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, it is said that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. In her fury she fails to see the body of her husband, Shiva, who lies among the corpses on the battlefield. Ultimately the cries of Shiva attract Kali's attention, calming her fury. As a sign of her shame at having disrespected her husband in such a fashion, Kali sticks out her tongue. However, some sources state that this interpretation is a later version of the symbolism of the tongue: in tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna
Guna
' means 'string' or 'a single thread or strand of a cord or twine'. In more abstract uses, it may mean 'a subdivision, species, kind, quality', or an operational principle or tendency....

) of rajas
Rajas
In Samkhya philosophy, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, there are three operating principles that form the basis of manifest creation or Nature and they are called: sattva, rajas and tamas. These are known as the three "gunas" and no single guna can exist without the other two...

(energy and action) controlled by sattva
Sattva
In Hindu philosophy, sattva is the most rarefied of the three gunas in Samkhya, sāttvika "pure", rājasika "dim", and tāmasika "dark"...

, spiritual and godly creatures who served as assassins.

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in a forest. With fierce companions she terrorizes the surrounding area. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, and defeats her when she is unable to perform the energetic Tandava

Tandava

' or ', the divine art form, is a dance performed by the Hindu god Shiva. According to Hindu mythology, Shiva’s Tandava is a vigorous dance that is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution...

dance. Although in this case Kali is defeated, and is forced to control her disruptive habits, there are very few other images or other myths depicting her in such a manner.

Maternal Kali

Another myth depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar story, Kali again defeated her enemies on the battlefield and began to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to take care of the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This myth depicts Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect; something that is revered in Hinduism, but not often recognized in the West.

Mahakali

Mahakali (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....

: Mahākālī, Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari , also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together. Devanāgarī is the main script used to...

: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman

Brahman

In the Hindu religion, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe. The nature of Brahman is described as transpersonal, personal and impersonal by different...

. It can also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala

Mahakala

Mahakala is a Dharmapala in Vajrayana Buddhism .In Japanese Buddhism, , belongs to the fourth hierarchy of deities .-Name:...

or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death
Death
Death is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...

), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya
Devi Mahatmya
The Devi Mahatmyam or Devi Mahatmya , or "Glory of the Goddess") is a Hindu text describing the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. As part of the Markandeya Purana, it is one of the Puranas or secondary Hindu scriptures, and was composed in Sanskrit around c...

. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti

Shakti

Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The...

. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

Iconography

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents

Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent is a word of Latin origin that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some potent symbolic value.-Cross-cultural symbolic...

and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great protector.
When the Bengali

Bengali people

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

saint Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay , was a famous mystic of 19th-century India...

once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, “Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?”

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;
indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.
The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.
This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

-Sri Ramakrishna

Throughout her history artists the world over have portrayed Kali in myriad poses and settings, some of which stray far from the popular description, and are sometimes even graphically sexual in nature. Given the popularity of this Goddess, artists everywhere will continue to explore the magnificence of Kali’s iconography. This is clear in the work of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish

Charles Wish

Charles Wish is an American artist best known for visually fusing Regionalism imagery with 16th - 19th century South Asian, Tantra & Buddhist motifs .Confronting the information age challenges of extreme, cultural contrariety and...

, and Tyeb Mehta

Tyeb Mehta

Tyeb Mehta was a noted Indian painter. He was part of the noted Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, which included greats like F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza and M.F...

, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

Popular form

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword

Sword

A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used in many civilizations throughout the world, primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon and occasionally for clubbing...

, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala

Kapala

A kapala or skullcup is a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement in both Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra...

) catching the blood of the severed head.

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha

Moksha

In Indian religions, Moksha or Mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth or reincarnation and all of the suffering and limitation of worldly existence after realization of God...

. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudra

Mudra

A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers...

s, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108

108 (number)

108 is the natural number following 107 and preceding 109.- In mathematics :One hundred [and] eight is an abundant number and a semiperfect number. It is a tetranacci number....

(an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa

Japa

Japa is a spiritual discipline involving the meditative repetition of a mantra or name of God. The mantra or name may be spoken softly, enough for the practitioner to hear it, or it may be spoken purely within the recitor's mind. Japa may be performed while sitting in a meditation posture, while...

Mala

Japa mala

A Japa mala or mala is a set of beads commonly used by Hindus and Buddhists, usually made from 108 beads, though other numbers, usually divisible by 9, are also used. Malas are used for keeping count while reciting, chanting, or mentally repeating a mantra or the name or names of a deity...

or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari

Devanagari

. Hindus believe Sanskrit

Sanskrit

is a language of dynamism

Dynamism

Dynamism is a concept that has several meanings.*Dynamism , a cosmological explanation of the material world in the vein of process philosophy.*Dynamism , a Japanese retailer specializing in exports....

, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities — she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her — she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

Mahakali form

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Deva

Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a God, angel, spirit, celestial being, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence, and is thus comparable to the Hebrew Elohim...

s or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace

Divine grace

In Christianity, grace is "unmerited favor" from God. Divine grace is a description of the character of God, which is displayed by God's gifts to humanity. Grace describes the means by which humans are granted salvation...

Shiva in Kali iconography

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

. There is a mythological story for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva’s corpse, which translates as follows:

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon her husband she realized her mistake and bit her tongue in shame.

The Tantric

Tantra

Tantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...

interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The...

tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva, or Mahadeva
Mahadeva
Mahadeva may refer to :* Shiva in Hinduism* Gautama Buddha - in Buddhism* Mahadeva - a Buddhist monk and founder of the Mahasanghika school in about 320 BCE....

represents Brahman
Brahman
In the Hindu religion, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe. The nature of Brahman is described as transpersonal, personal and impersonal by different...

, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman.

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika

Trika

Trika in Sanskrit means trinity. On the other hand, Trika has been the name by which Kashmir Shaivism has been known before year 1900, because the concept of trinity is manifested in many ways and on multiple levels throughout its whole philosophical system.Regarding trika and kashmir Shaivism,...

philosophy of Kashmir

Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...

, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism

Kashmir Shaivism

Among the various Hindu philosophies, Kaśmir Śaivism is a school of Śaivism identical with trika shaivism categorized by various scholars as monistic idealism . These descriptors denote a standpoint that Cit - consciousness - is the one reality...

and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta

Abhinavagupta

Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exeget, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in a...

. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism

Shaktism

Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi – the Hindu Divine Mother – as the absolute, ultimate Godhead...

or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism

Shaivism

Shaivism names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. Shaivism is...

.

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara

Shankara

Shankara can refer to:*Shiva, the Hindu god*Adi Shankara, 9th century Hindu philosopher*K. N. Shankara, Indian space scientist*with honorific: Shankaracharya...

or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda — existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time

Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort than the spatial dimensions...

and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality — the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti

Prakrti

Prakrti or Prakriti is, according to the Bhagavad Gita, the basic nature of intelligence by which the Universe exists and functions. It is described in Bhagavad Gita as the "primal motive force". It is the essential constituent of the universe and is at the basis of all the activity of the...

and purusa doctrine of Samkhya

Samkhya

Sankhya, also Samkhya, is one of the six schools of classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered to be the founder of the Sankhya school, although no historical verification is possible...

wherein prakāśa

Prakasa

Prakāśa is a concept of Kashmir Shaivism translated by various authors as "light", "splendour", "light of consciousness" , "luminous and undifferentiated consciousness" or "primordial light beyond all manifestations"...

- vimarśa

Prakasa

has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna of India was a yogi, mystic, teacher, social reformer, and writer. His autobiography is known under the title Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man....

proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology...

) in the body conducted by the Kundalini

Kundalini

Kundalini Sanskrit, literally "coiled". In Indian yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent coiled at the base of the spine, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...

Shakti

Development

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.
The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karana

Karana dance

Karanas are the 108 key transitions in the classical Indian dance described in Natya Shastra. Karana is a Sanskrit verbal noun, meaning "doing"...

s appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava

Tandava

, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

Shiva's involvement with Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...

and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric

Tantra

Tantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...

worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos — which could be confronted — to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti

Trimurti

The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer." These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or...

of Brahma, Visnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother

Great Mother

The Great Mother refers to the concept of the mother goddess, including:*Great Mother, in the Mahayana and Vajrayana refers to Prajnaparamita, and the wisdom of the Madhyamaka*Great Mother, anglicization of Latin Magna Mater, Roman title of the goddess Cybele...

, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen

Ramprasad Sen

' was a Shakta poet of eighteenth century Bengal. His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and written in Bengali...

, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay , was a famous mystic of 19th-century India...

, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya

Samkhya

. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi

Lakshmi

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm...

and Maha-Saraswati

Saraswati

and often peacockIn the Vedic system Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Saraswatī has been identified with the Vedic Saraswati River. She is considered as consort of Brahma...

, being her tamas

Tamas (philosophy)

In Samkhya school of philosiophhy, tamas is one of the threegunas , the other two being rajas, "passion, activity" and sattva, "purity". Tamas is the template of inertia or resistance to action...

-ika, rajas

Rajas

In Samkhya philosophy, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, there are three operating principles that form the basis of manifest creation or Nature and they are called: sattva, rajas and tamas. These are known as the three "gunas" and no single guna can exist without the other two...

-ika and sattva

Sattva

In Hindu philosophy, sattva is the most rarefied of the three gunas in Samkhya, sāttvika "pure", rājasika "dim", and tāmasika "dark"...

-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein

Georg Feuerstein

Dr. Georg Feuerstein is a German-Canadian Indologist specializing on Yoga. Feuerstein has authored over 30 books on mysticism, Yoga, Tantra, and Hinduism...

, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva

Shiva

Shiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...

and Devi

Devi

are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same — totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology

Ontology

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as of the basic categories of being and their relations...

and epistemology

Epistemology

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge...

must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric that which suits one’s evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict

Interdict

The term Interdict may refer to:* Court order enforcing or prohibiting a certain action* Injunction, such as a restraining order* Interdict , an ecclesiastical penalty which bars a specific person or group of people from receiving the sacraments* Air interdiction, a military tactic* Interdiction,...

and nothing is orthodox

Orthodox

Orthodox may refer to anything taken to be in accordance with a doctrine. Specifically it may refer to:-In religion:Orthodox in Christianity may refer to:...

. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi’s more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

A TIME Magazine article of October 27, 1947 used Kālī as a symbol and metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. The English metaphor derives from the 16th c...

for the human suffering in British India during its partition

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India that led to the creation, on August 14, 1947 and August 15, 1947, respectively, of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India...

that year.

In New Age and Neopaganism

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural misappropriation:

"A variety of writers and thinkers [...] have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists
Feminism
The term Feminism can be used to describe an academic discourse, or to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing more rights and legal protection for women...

and participants in New Age
New Age
The New Age is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks "Universal Truth" and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It includes aspects of cosmology, astrology, esotericism, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature...

spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. [...] The most important issue arising from this discussion – even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation – concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. [...] It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available."

Gerald Gardner

Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an English civil servant, amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist who wrote some of the definitive texts for the religion of Wicca, which he was instrumental in bringing to public...

was reportedly particularly interested in Kali whilst he was in the far east

Far East

The Far East is a term used in English mostly equivalent to East Asia and Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of South Asia for economic and cultural reasons."Far East" came into use in European geopolitical discourse in...

, before returning to England to write his seminal works on Wicca

Wicca

Wicca is a neopagan, nature-based religion. It was popularised in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant, who at the time called it a "Witch cult" and "Witchcraft", and its adherents "the Wica"....

Syncretism

Kali is sometimes syncretized the Black Virgin of Candelaria
Virgin of Candelaria
The cult of the Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candelaria , popularly called La Morenita, celebrates an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands . The center of worship is located in the city of Candelaria in Tenerife. She is depicted as a Black Madonna...

, especially the Hindu community of the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the...

(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...

).

Kali

Etymology

Origins

In Tantra

In Bengali tradition

Slayer of Raktabija

Daksinakali

Maternal Kali

Mahakali

Iconography

Popular form

Mahakali form

Shiva in Kali iconography

Development

In New Age and Neopaganism

Syncretism

Further reading

External links