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Kali (Demon)
Encyclopedia
In Hinduism
, Kali (IAST
: ; Tamil
: காளி ; Devnāgari: ; from a root
"suffer, grieve, hurt; confound, confuse") is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga
and archenemy of Kalki
, the 10th and final Avatar
of the Hindu god Vishnu
. According to the Vishnu Purana
, he is a negative manifestation of Vishnu, who along with his extended evil family, perpetually operates as a cause of the destruction of this world. In the Kalki Purana
, he is portrayed as a demon and the source of all evil. In the Mahabharata
, he was a gandharva
who possessed Nala
, forcing him to lose his Kingdom in a game of dice to his brother Pushkara
. His most famous incarnation is the Kaurava
King Duryodhana
. Kali is similar to the demon Kroni
and his incarnation Kaliyan
of Ayyavazhi mythology
.
According to the Mahabharata
, the gandharva
Kali became jealous when he was late to Princess Damayanti
's marriage
ceremony and discovered she had overlooked the deities Indra
, Agni
, Varun
, and Yama
(and ultimately himself) to choose Nala
as her husband. In anger, Kali spoke to his companion Dvapara, the personification of Dwapara Yuga:
Kali traveled to Nala’s kingdom of Nishadhas and waited twelve long years for the right moment to strike. Because Nala had rendered himself impure by not washing his feet before his prayers, Kali was able to bewitch his soul. Kali then appeared before Pushkara
and invited him to play a game of dice with his brother, guaranteeing Nala’s downfall. Dwarpa took the form of the Vrisha die that would be used in the fixed game. Kali forced Nala to lose and, each time, he would raise the stakes higher despite the protest of his advisors and wife. Finally, Nala lost his kingdom to Pushkara. Both he and Damayanti were exiled to the forest.
During their exile, Kali drove Nala to abandon Damayanti, who later enacted a curse against everyone that had caused the downfall of her husband. She eventually returned home after a short time as a hand-maiden to the Princess of Chedi
. Nala, meanwhile, saved the Naga
Karkotaka
from fire (where he was cursed to suffer by sage Narada
). Intending to exorcize the devil within him, the serpent bit Nala, injecting him with deadly poisons that forever tortured Kali. The venom also changed Nala into an ugly dwarf named Bahuka
. He later became the charioteer of the Ayodhya King Rituparna
, who was a master mathematician and dice player.
Years later, King Rituparna revealed to Bahuka the supreme skill of controlling the dice in exchange for horsemanship lessons. This skill awakened Nala from Kali’s control and allowed him (with the help of Damayanti’s curse and Karkotaka's venom) to exorcise the demon; vomiting him in the form of poison from his mouth. Nala forced the Kali’s trembling spirit into a Vibhitaka tree. He then counted the fruits of the tree and left in search of his wife and later regained his true form. Kali returned to his abode as well.
Kali was later incarnated as king Duryodhana
, eldest of the one hundred Kaurava
brothers. His companion Dvapara became his uncle Sakuni. The day Duryodhana was born, he unleashed a donkey-like scream which the donkeys outside the home replied to. Despite the advise from Vidura
to discard the evil baby, Duryodhana's father Dhritarashtra
kept the child because demons had received a boon from Shiva
that the future king would be invincible.
describes him as a huge being, the color of “soot
,” with a large tongue, and a terrible stench. From his birth, he carried an Upaasthi (worship) bone. The Kalki Purana says this demon "chose gambling
, liquor, women and gold as his permanent abodes." The Sanskrit-English Dictionary states Kali is "of a class of mythic beings (related to the Gandharvas, and supposed by some to be fond of gambling)". The Bhagavata Purana
describes him as a sudra
wearing the garments of a king. An early 20th century anti-beef eating pamphlet protesting the slaughter of the sacred cow in India
portrays Kali as a brownish-skinned demon with a dog-like face, protruding fangs, pointed ears, long green bushy hair and wearing a red loin cloth and golden jewelry. (See Religion and politics)
The names of the four yuga
s of time—Satya
, Treta
, Dvapara
and Kali
—are named after “dice throws” from a game of dice popular during the Vedic period
. Their order coincides with the favorability of each throw: Satya is the best throw, whereas Kali is considered the worst. During the Mahabharata
, king Nala
exorcises the disembodied spirit of Kali to a vibhitaka tree, the nuts of which were used to create the dice for the vedic dice game. Therefore, not only Kali’s name, but his penchant for gambling and reputation as being evil comes from this dice game.
version of the legend, during the churning of the ocean of milk
, a great poison known as halahala
was produced, which Vayu
, the god of wind, rubbed in his hands to reduce its potency. Then a small portion was given to god Shiva
, turning his throat blue. The rest was collected in a golden vessel and digested by Vayu. (One source states he drank the Kalakuta poison of Vasuki
nāga
. Still others more commonly state that Shiva drank alone.) A little portion of poison that wasn't swallowed by Shiva became the body of Kali. From this poison also came, "cruel objects like snakes, wolves, and tigers."
Later, when the asura
Rahu
was decapitated by Vishnu's Mohini
Avatar
, the demon’s allies attacked her and all except Kali were killed. Having the power to possess the bodies of immortal and mortal beings, he entered the hearts of man and escaped death. He occasionally entered Shiva and caused him to write evil scriptures, which created great confusion and misconceptions. Because Kali was “invisible, unimaginable, and present in all” the only way to correct the chaos born from the miswritten texts was to completely renew the sacred scriptures entirely. Thus Vishnu descended to earth as Vedavyasa, the compiler of the sacred scriptures Vedas
and the writer of the Puranas
.
, the Brahmin
Pravara was given a magical ointment that allowed him to fly. But when he flew to the Himalayas, the ointment was washed away from the bottoms of his feet keeping him from returning home to his wife. During this time, the nymph
Varuthini fell madly in love with him and begged the Brahmin to stay with her forever. But eventually, he rejected her. He prayed to Agni who returned him home safely.
The gandharva
Kali was in love with Varuthini and had been rejected by her in the past. He saw how she hungered for the Brahmin, so he took on the appearance of Pravara and came before the courtesan. He led her into the bedchamber and told her to close her eyes during their shared pleasure [sambhoga]. ((Another version of this tale explains the reason he told her to shut her eyes was because gods revert to their true forms whenever they do the basest of things, such as eating, sleeping, and making love (including dying for demons)). As they made love, Varuthini noticed that his body became flaming hot and believed it was because his Brahmin spirit was infused with the sacrificial fire. After climax, Kali, still-as-Pravara, left the apsara and returned to his abode. Varuthini soon became pregnant and nine months later gave birth to a human child that not only looked like the Brahmin but possessed his soul as well. The authors of the book Science in Culture comment this was an example of the Sanskrit phrase "from his semen and from her thinking," meaning the child was indeed Pravara's child because she believed it was his.
In another version, Kali stipulates he will only marry the apsara if she keeps her eyes closed while they are in the forest (presumably making love). However, Kali leaves after their marriage and the birth of their son Svarocisa. Svarocisa grows up to become a very learned scholar of the Vedas and learns to speak the languages of all creatures from one of his three wives. He later marries a goddess and fathers Svarocisa Manu
, one of the progenitors of mankind. (See Progeny)
states the very day and moment god Krishna
left this earth, Kali, "who promotes all kinds of irreligious activities, came into this world.”
After setting off to wage war against the evils of the world with his armies, Emperor Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna
, came across a Sudra dressed as a king who was beating a cow and an ox with a club. Parikshit immediately lead his chariot over to the scene and angrily berated the sudra for abusing the sacred cow and her mate. However, this was no ordinary sudra and these were no ordinary bovine, for the sudra was Kali and the cow and ox were embodiments of the earth goddess and Dharma
. The Emperor noticed the ox was standing on one of his legs because the other three had been broken by Kali. Dharma explained his four legs represented "austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness", but he had only the leg of “truth” to stand on since the other three had been broken by kali over the preceding yuga
s. Kali was intent on breaking all the legs that supported the reign of dharma so he could effect the expansion of his own dark reign on earth. The earth goddess cried for she had once been plentiful, but when Krishna died and ascended to heaven, she was forsaken and all of the prosperity left from the world. She feared evil kings like Kali would continue to lay waste to the earth.
When Parikshit raised his sword to kill Kali, the sudra stripped himself of his royal garments and prostrated himself at the emperor’s feet. The emperor knew Kali tainted the world with his evil and so had no place in it and raised his sword once more. But Kali interceded again and begged the emperor to spare his life and allow him a place to live within his empire. Parikshit decided that Kali would live in “gambling houses, in taverns, in women of unchaste lives, in slaughtering places and in gold”. And as long as Parikshit ruled India, Kali stayed within the confines of these five places. This act allowed Dharma to regain his legs and the earth to be relieved of much burden. However, Parikshit was later cursed to die by snake bite after hunting in the forest and throwing a dead snake on an unresponsive sage practicing austerities. Upon the emperor’s death, “Kali made his way to other places like wild fire and established his power throughout the length and breadth of the whole world.”
In another version of the tale, Kali enters into the Emperor’s crown when Parikshit gives him permission to reside wherever there is gold. Upon returning home after offending the sage, Parikshit says to himself, "Kali-yug’s abode is in gold; this was on my head; hence I had so evil a thought that, having taken a dead snake cast it on the sage
’s neck. Therefore, I now understand that Kali-yug has taken his revenge on me. How shall I escape this grievous sin?"
The beginning of the Kalki Purana describes Kali’s lineage starting with the creator-god Brahma
, his great-great grandfather, and ending with the birth of his children’s children. Instead of being born of poison from the churning of the ocean of milk, he is the product of a long line of incestuous monsters born from Brahma's back. (See Family Lineage below) Kali and his family were created by Brahma to hurry the dissolution of the cosmos after the pralaya
period was over. When his family takes human form on earth, they further taint the hearts and minds of mankind to bring about the end of Dvapara Yuga and the beginning of Kali Yuga. During the first stage of Kali-Yuga, the Indian caste system breaks down and god-worship is forsaken by man. All through the second, third, and fourth stages, man forgets the name of god and no longer offers Yagya (offerings) to the Devas
. It is at this point when god Vishnu
reincarnates as Kalki
in the name of the Devas and all of mankind to rid the cosmos of Kali's dark influence.
The remainder of the tale describes Kalki's childhood, military training under the immortal Parashurama
, his marriage, his preparation for war against Kali, and the decisive war between the two. Kalki kicks off his campaign by performing the Ashvamedha
sacrifice and leading his armies behind the horse as it runs freely from kingdom to kingdom. If any evil king tries to stop the horse, Kalki engages them in combat. After defeating them, he continues to follow the horse until all evil kingdoms are vanquished. When Kali finally faces Kalki's forces, his entire family blood line is wiped out by the avatar's generals and he presumably dies from wounds inflicted by Dharma
and Satya Yuga
personified. Kalki, meanwhile, battles and simultaneously kills the demon's most powerful generals, Koka and Vikoka
, twin devils adept in the dark arts.
. During the decisive battle between Kali and Kalki’s armies, Kali tried to face both Dharma
and Satya Yuga
personified, but was overwhelmed and fled on his donkey
because his chariot
had been destroyed, leaving his owl
-crested war flag
to be trampled on the battlefield. Kali retreated to the citadel
of his capital city of Vishasha where he discovered his body had been mortally stabbed and burned during his battle with the two devas. The stench of his blood billowed out and filled the atmosphere with a foul odor. When Dharma and Satya burst into the city, Kali tried to run away, but, knowing his family had been destroyed, coupled with his grevious wounds, he "entered his unmanifested years". This might lead some to believe he died, but one version of the Kalki Purana in the book The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology states Kali does not die but, instead, escapes through time and space to live in the Kali Yuga
of the next Kalpa
. The author comments, "Unlike most battles between gods and demons, however, this apparent victory is immediately undercut, for Kali escapes to reappear in 'another age'—in our age, or the next Kali Age." Since he had the power to manifest himself in human form on earth, he was able to forsake his dying corporal form to escape in spirit.
. He is the son of Krodha (Anger) and his sister-turned-wife Himsa (Violence). He is the grandson of Dambha (Vanity) and his sister-turned-wife, Maya
(Illusion). He is the great-grandson of Adharma
(Impropriety) and his wife, Mithya (Falsehood). Adharma was originally created from Lord Brahma's back as a Maleen Pataka (a very dark and deadly sinful object).
B.K. Chaturvedi, a modern translator of the Kalki Purana
, states in a foot note that the growth of this dark sinful object into Adharma seems to, "convey the growth of Kaliyuga and its obnoxious offshoots."
, which is a father purana to the Kalki Purana
:
The wife of Adharma (vice) was Himsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita
(falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and Naraka
(hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Maya (deceit) and Vedaná (grief), who became their wives. The son of Bhaya and Máyá was the destroyer of living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the offspring of Naraka and Vedaná. The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they are the terrible forms of Vishńu, and perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha
and the other Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power, and treading in the path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation.
In this version, Himsa is Adharma's wife instead of his granddaughter.
, Adharma is the husband of Mrishá (falsehood), and the father of Dambha (hypocrisy) and Máyá (deceit), who were adopted by Nirritti (Hindu god/dess of misery). The series of their descendants is also somewhat varied from our text; being in each descent, however, twins which intermarry, or Lobha (covetousness) and Nikriti, who produce Krodha (wrath) and Hinsá: their children are, Kali (wickedness) and Durukti (evil speech): their progeny are, Mrityu and Bhí (fear); whose offspring are, Niraya (hell) and Yátaná (torment).
In this version, Mrisha is the wife of Adharma and not Himsa or Mithya.
enumerates Adharma among the Prajapatis (Lords of Creatures).
is one of the major antagonists of Kali, it is important to note this personified deity has his own line of offspring that work against the demon and his family to bring balance to the world. The following comes from the Vishnu Purana
:
The progeny of Dharma by the daughters of Daksha
were as follows: by Sraddha
he had Kama
(desire); by Lakshmi
, Darpa (pride); by Dhriti, Niyama
(precept); by Tushti, Santosha (content); by Pushti, Lobha (cupidity); by Medhá, Sruta (sacred tradition); by Kriya
, Danda
, Naya, and Vinaya
(correction, polity, and prudence); by Buddhi
, Bodha (understanding); by Lajj, Vinaya
(good behaviour); by Vapu, Vyavasaya (perseverance). Santi gave birth to Kshema (prosperity); Siddhi
to Sukha
(enjoyment); and Kírtti to Yasas. These were the sons of Dharma; one of whom, Kama
, had Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight).
Again, the Bhagavata Purana
gives a different account of his children's names.
(Hell) and a girl named Yatana (Torture). Again, there are some discrepancies here. The Vishnu Purana
says Mrityu and Bhayanak are his brother and sister. Mrityu is even represented as male instead of female.
Kali is the grandfather of Svarocisa Manu
, one of the progenitors of mankind. As previously mentioned, Kali had a son named Svarocisa with the Apsara Varuthini. Svarocisa once traveld to Mt. Mandara and was met by Manorama, a cursed-woman being chased by a demon. In the past, she had made fun of a sage
practicing Tapasya austerities on Mt. Kailas and was cursed to be captured by a demon. When her friends Vibhavari and Kalavati berated the sage for enacting a curse for such a minor offence, he cursed one to be a leper and the other a carrier of diseases. Manorama had knowledge of a powerful spiritual weapon, but did not know how to wield it, so she taught it to Svarocisa. When the demon leaped out of the forest and grabbed a hold of the woman, Svarocis called forth the weapon. But the demon stayed his hand and explained he was actually Manorama’s father, Indivara. He had also been cursed to become a demon by the sage Brahmamitra because he tried to covertly obtain the secrets of Ayurveda
medicine without the sage’s knowledge. The sage told him that the curse would end when he was about to eat his own daughter. Once he regained his true form, Indivara taught Svarocisa the Ayurveda medication, which he used to cure Manorama’s friends. He later married the three and had three sons with them. He learned the languages of all creatures from Vibhavari and the Padmini vidya from Kalavati.
Despite his prosperity, Svarocis was unhappy in his life and could hear the ducks and deer talking about him behind his back. One day he went hunting and took aim at a boar, but a deer came through the clearing and asked to be shot in its place. When he enquired why, the deer told him that she was really the goddess of the forest and wished to marry Svarocisa. So he embraced the deer and she turned into a beautiful woman. Together, they had a son named Dyutiman, who later became the Svarocisa Manu.
One source states, "Kali's wife Alakshmi
and her sons who supervise evil also came from Kshirasagara [the ocean of milk]." Alakshmi is the elder sister of the goddess Lakshmi
, the consort of Vishnu. Since the Kalki Purana states his wife Durukti is his sister, Alakshmi would be a second wife because she is not directly related to him.
There are a number of connections and similarities between Kali and Alakshmi. First and foremost, Alakshmi’s sister is the consort of Lord Vishnu
, who sent his Kalki
avatar to earth to defeat Kali. Second, legends say she was born either from the churning of the ocean of milk, the poison from Vasuki
(who helped churn the ocean) or the back of Prajapati
. As previously mentioned, Kali is said to have been born from the halahala
poison created from churning the ocean or from a lineage created from Lord Brahma
’s back. Third, Alakshmi takes the form of an owl. Kali's emblem on his war flag
is of an owl. Fourth, whenever Alakshmi enters a house, families fight and turn on one another. The presence of Kali and his family on earth causes mankind to fight and turn on one another. Finally, Alakshmi is said to ride a donkey. Kali also rides a donkey in the Kalki Purana
.
Kali’s image was used in several pamphlets circulated by various Agorakshanasabh (“cow protection leagues”) and “wandering ascetics” as a protest against the Muslim practice of beef-eating during the British raj
. These pamphlets were produced in a time when Hindu-Muslim riots over cow slaughter occurred in several areas of India
; including Azamgarh district
(1893), when a total of 100 people died in similar conflagrations throughout the empire; Ayodhya (1912–1913); and Shahabad
(1917). One such pamphlet entitled “The Present State” showed a cow being slaughtered by a trio of "Muhammadan
" butchers. Another portrayed Kali raising a sword above the head of a sacred cow, whose body was illustrated to be a microcosmic
paradise in which all the Hindu gods resided. There were many different editions of this version. For instance, one showed a woman labeled "The Hindu" waiting with bowl-in-hand for the cow's calf to finish suckling before she could get milk. A form of Krishna
labeled Darmaraj ("Ruler of Dharma") stood behind the cow and Kali was, again, harassing her with his sword. Still, a different one deleted the woman and calf and instead portrayed Dharmaraj in front of the cow pleading mat maro gay sarv ka jivan hai ("don’t kill the cow, everyone is dependent on it"), while Kali rebuts he manusyaho! Kaliyugi Mansahari jivom ko dekho ("mankind, look at the meat-eating souls of the kaligyug").
Some Hindus considered Kali’s presence in the picture to be a representation of the Muslim community. When one of the versions of these pamphlets came into the possession of a state official in 1893, he commented that the image “contained a representation of a Musalman [Muslim] advancing to slay the cow ...”. One book states, “The Magistrate [at Deoria] found Muhammadans excited because they heard a picture was in circulation representing a Muhammadan with a sword drawn sacrificing a cow, and this they considered an insult.” In 1915, a color version of this picture ran by the Ravi Varma Press caught the attention of the colonial censors and was presumably censored in some way.
, starting with Narada
's ascent of Mount Meru. It shows Swarga, the Heaven of Indra
, the Transformation in the Clouds of the Four Gods into impersonations of King Nala, Swan Messengers of Love, the Transformation of Kali into a Serpent, the Meeting of Kali and Dwarpa and the Four Gods amidst the Blue Air.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Kali (IAST
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...
: ; Tamil
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:* Tamil language, one of the Dravidian languages primarily spoken in India, Tamil Eelam and Southeast Asia* Tamil script, primarily used to write the Tamil language* Tamil people -See also:...
: காளி ; Devnāgari: ; from a root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
"suffer, grieve, hurt; confound, confuse") is the reigning lord 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...
and archenemy of Kalki
Kalki
In Hinduism, Kalki is the tenth and final Maha Avatar of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. The name Kalki is often a metaphor for eternity or time...
, the 10th and final Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of the Hindu god Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
. According to the Vishnu Purana
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
, he is a negative manifestation of Vishnu, who along with his extended evil family, perpetually operates as a cause of the destruction of this world. In the Kalki Purana
Kalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
, he is portrayed as a demon and the source of all evil. In the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, he was a gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
who possessed Nala
Nala
Nala , a character in Hindu mythology, is the king of Nishadha Kingdom, son of Virasena. Nala is known for his skill with horses and culinary expertise. He marries princess Damayanti, of Vidarbha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata. His main weakness is gambling...
, forcing him to lose his Kingdom in a game of dice to his brother Pushkara
Pushkara
In Hindu mythology Pushkara was the brother of Nala to whom Nala lost his kingdom and all that he possessed in gambling. Kali got very angry when Damayanti chose Nala in the swayamvar. Kali possessed Nala and was defeated by his brother Pushkara....
. His most famous incarnation is the Kaurava
Kaurava
The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...
King Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
. Kali is similar to the demon Kroni
Kroni
Kroni is a figure in Ayyavazhi mythology. He is the primordial manifestation of evil, and manifests in various forms of evil, such as Ravana and Duryodhana, in different ages or yugas. In order to counteract and destroy the evil of Kroni's manifestations, Mayon incarnates as Avatars such as Rama...
and his incarnation Kaliyan
Kaliyan
Kali was the sixth fragment of the primordial manifestation of Kroni according to Akilam, the source of Ayyavazhi mythology and the holy book of Ayyavazhi religion. Unlike other previous manifestations, Kali spread in this yugam as maya...
of Ayyavazhi mythology
Ayyavazhi mythology
Ayyavazhi mythology is the mythology of the growing South Indian religious faith and a sect of Hinduism known as Ayyavazhi. The main source of Ayyavazhi mythology is the Ayyavazhi scripture, Akilattirattu Ammanai, and its supplement, Arul Nool. The Akilattirattu Ammanai is a recitation by Mayon to...
.
Mahabharata
- See also: The Gandharvas mentioned in Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, the gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
Kali became jealous when he was late to Princess Damayanti
Damayanti
Damayanti , a character in Hindu mythology, was the princess of Vidarbha Kingdom, who married king Nala, of Nishadha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata.-The story:...
's marriage
Swayamvara
Swayamvara , in ancient India, was a practice of choosing a husband, from among a list of suitors, by a girl of marriageable age. Swayam in Sanskrit means self and vara means choice or desire ....
ceremony and discovered she had overlooked the deities Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
, Agni
Agni
Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...
, Varun
Varun
Varun is an Indian name. It refers to Varuna, the god of the sky and rain, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld, who is mentioned in Vedas. He is one of the oldest Hindu deities. Unlike Indra, whose birth was described as the product of a union...
, and Yama
Yama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
(and ultimately himself) to choose Nala
Nala
Nala , a character in Hindu mythology, is the king of Nishadha Kingdom, son of Virasena. Nala is known for his skill with horses and culinary expertise. He marries princess Damayanti, of Vidarbha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata. His main weakness is gambling...
as her husband. In anger, Kali spoke to his companion Dvapara, the personification of Dwapara Yuga:
"I am ill able, O Dwapara, to suppress my anger. I shall possess Nala, deprive him of his kingdom, and he shall no more sport with Bhima's daughter. Entering the dice, it behoveth thee to help me."
Kali traveled to Nala’s kingdom of Nishadhas and waited twelve long years for the right moment to strike. Because Nala had rendered himself impure by not washing his feet before his prayers, Kali was able to bewitch his soul. Kali then appeared before Pushkara
Pushkara
In Hindu mythology Pushkara was the brother of Nala to whom Nala lost his kingdom and all that he possessed in gambling. Kali got very angry when Damayanti chose Nala in the swayamvar. Kali possessed Nala and was defeated by his brother Pushkara....
and invited him to play a game of dice with his brother, guaranteeing Nala’s downfall. Dwarpa took the form of the Vrisha die that would be used in the fixed game. Kali forced Nala to lose and, each time, he would raise the stakes higher despite the protest of his advisors and wife. Finally, Nala lost his kingdom to Pushkara. Both he and Damayanti were exiled to the forest.
Chedi Kingdom
Chedi kingdom was one among the many kingdoms ruled during early periods by Paurava kings and later by Yaduvanshi Rajput kings in the central and western India. It falls roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna and along river Betwa or Vetravati...
. Nala, meanwhile, saved the Naga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
Karkotaka
Karkotaka
Karkotaka was a naga king, who bit Nala at the request of Indra, transforming Nala into a twisted and ugly shape. Karkotaka had deceived Narada who cursed him due to which he could not move a step...
from fire (where he was cursed to suffer by sage Narada
Narada
Narada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
). Intending to exorcize the devil within him, the serpent bit Nala, injecting him with deadly poisons that forever tortured Kali. The venom also changed Nala into an ugly dwarf named Bahuka
Bahuka
Bahuka was the changed name of Nala, a character of Hindu mythology, while he was a charioteer of Rituparna, the king of Ayodhya. His story is told in the Mahabharata, published around the 8th century BC....
. He later became the charioteer of the Ayodhya King Rituparna
Rituparna
Rituparna : was a king of Ayodhya, and son of Sarvakama, into whose service king Nala entered after he had lost his kingdom. Rituparna was a master mathematician and profoundly skilled in dice Kali...
, who was a master mathematician and dice player.
Years later, King Rituparna revealed to Bahuka the supreme skill of controlling the dice in exchange for horsemanship lessons. This skill awakened Nala from Kali’s control and allowed him (with the help of Damayanti’s curse and Karkotaka's venom) to exorcise the demon; vomiting him in the form of poison from his mouth. Nala forced the Kali’s trembling spirit into a Vibhitaka tree. He then counted the fruits of the tree and left in search of his wife and later regained his true form. Kali returned to his abode as well.
Kali was later incarnated as king Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
, eldest of the one hundred Kaurava
Kaurava
The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...
brothers. His companion Dvapara became his uncle Sakuni. The day Duryodhana was born, he unleashed a donkey-like scream which the donkeys outside the home replied to. Despite the advise from Vidura
Vidura
Vidura was an important figure in the Mahabharata, a major Hindu epic. He was half-brother to the kings Dhritarashtra and Pandu of Hastinapura, born the son of the sage Vyasa and a lady-in-waiting to the queens Ambika and Ambalika of the city...
to discard the evil baby, Duryodhana's father Dhritarashtra
Dhritarashtra
In the Mahābhārata, Dhritarashtra was King of Hastinapur at the time of the Kurukshetra War, the epic's climactic event. He was born the son of Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika, and was fathered by Vyasa. He was blind from birth, and became father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari...
kept the child because demons had received a boon from Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
that the future king would be invincible.
Puranic accounts
The Kalki PuranaKalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
describes him as a huge being, the color of “soot
Soot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
,” with a large tongue, and a terrible stench. From his birth, he carried an Upaasthi (worship) bone. The Kalki Purana says this demon "chose gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, liquor, women and gold as his permanent abodes." The Sanskrit-English Dictionary states Kali is "of a class of mythic beings (related to the Gandharvas, and supposed by some to be fond of gambling)". The Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
describes him as a sudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
wearing the garments of a king. An early 20th century anti-beef eating pamphlet protesting the slaughter of the sacred cow in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
portrays Kali as a brownish-skinned demon with a dog-like face, protruding fangs, pointed ears, long green bushy hair and wearing a red loin cloth and golden jewelry. (See Religion and politics)
The names of the four yuga
Yuga
Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is...
s of time—Satya
Satya Yuga
The Satya Yuga , also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme...
, Treta
Treta Yuga
Treta Yuga is the second out of four yugas, or ages of mankind, in the religion of Hinduism, and follows the Satya Yuga of perfect morality and precedes the Dvapara Yuga. The most famous events in this yuga were Lord Vishnu's fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parashurama and...
, Dvapara
Dvapara Yuga
Dvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga...
and Kali
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...
—are named after “dice throws” from a game of dice popular during the Vedic period
Vedic period
The Vedic period was a period in history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is uncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE, also...
. Their order coincides with the favorability of each throw: Satya is the best throw, whereas Kali is considered the worst. During the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, king Nala
Nala
Nala , a character in Hindu mythology, is the king of Nishadha Kingdom, son of Virasena. Nala is known for his skill with horses and culinary expertise. He marries princess Damayanti, of Vidarbha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata. His main weakness is gambling...
exorcises the disembodied spirit of Kali to a vibhitaka tree, the nuts of which were used to create the dice for the vedic dice game. Therefore, not only Kali’s name, but his penchant for gambling and reputation as being evil comes from this dice game.
The churning of the ocean of milk
According to a lesser known MadhvaMadhwas
The Madhwa are one community of Brahmins of India, whose members follow the doctrine of Dvaita or Dualism as codified by Madhwa Acharya ....
version of the legend, during the churning of the ocean of milk
Samudra manthan
In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or Ksheera Sagara Mathanam, Churning of the Ocean of Milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas...
, a great poison known as halahala
Halahala
Halāhala or Kalakootam is the name of a poison created from the sea when Devas and Asuras churned the sea in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality.Fourteen different ratnas were recovered in this exercise mostly retained by Gods after Demons tried to cheat...
was produced, which Vayu
Vayu
Vāyu is a primary Hindu deity, the Lord of the winds, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman...
, the god of wind, rubbed in his hands to reduce its potency. Then a small portion was given to god Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, turning his throat blue. The rest was collected in a golden vessel and digested by Vayu. (One source states he drank the Kalakuta poison of Vasuki
Vasuki
Vasuki is a Sanskrit name for a naga, one of the serpents of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a great King of the nagas and has a gem on his head. Manasa, another naga, is his sister...
nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
. Still others more commonly state that Shiva drank alone.) A little portion of poison that wasn't swallowed by Shiva became the body of Kali. From this poison also came, "cruel objects like snakes, wolves, and tigers."
Later, when the asura
Asura
-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
Rahu
Rahu
In Hindu mythology, Rahu is a cut-off head of an asura, that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses. He is depicted in art as a serpent with no body riding a chariot drawn by eight black horses. Rahu is one of the navagrahas in Vedic astrology...
was decapitated by Vishnu's Mohini
Mohini
Mohini , in Hindu mythology, is the name of the only female Avatar of the god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a femme fatale, an enchantress, who maddens lovers, sometimes leading them to their doom. Mohini is introduced into the Hindu mythos in the narrative epic of the Mahabharata...
Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
, the demon’s allies attacked her and all except Kali were killed. Having the power to possess the bodies of immortal and mortal beings, he entered the hearts of man and escaped death. He occasionally entered Shiva and caused him to write evil scriptures, which created great confusion and misconceptions. Because Kali was “invisible, unimaginable, and present in all” the only way to correct the chaos born from the miswritten texts was to completely renew the sacred scriptures entirely. Thus Vishnu descended to earth as Vedavyasa, the compiler of the sacred scriptures Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
and the writer of the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
.
Markandeya Purana
According to Markandeya PuranaMarkandeya Purana
The Markandeya Purana is one of the major eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It is written in the style of a dialogue between the ancient sage Markandeya and Jaimini, a disciple of Vyasa.-Contents:...
, the Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
Pravara was given a magical ointment that allowed him to fly. But when he flew to the Himalayas, the ointment was washed away from the bottoms of his feet keeping him from returning home to his wife. During this time, the nymph
Apsara
An Apsara , also known as Vidhya Dhari or Tep Apsar in Khmer, Accharā or A Bố Sa La Tư , Bidadari , Biradali , Widodari and Apson , is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in...
Varuthini fell madly in love with him and begged the Brahmin to stay with her forever. But eventually, he rejected her. He prayed to Agni who returned him home safely.
The gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
Kali was in love with Varuthini and had been rejected by her in the past. He saw how she hungered for the Brahmin, so he took on the appearance of Pravara and came before the courtesan. He led her into the bedchamber and told her to close her eyes during their shared pleasure [sambhoga]. ((Another version of this tale explains the reason he told her to shut her eyes was because gods revert to their true forms whenever they do the basest of things, such as eating, sleeping, and making love (including dying for demons)). As they made love, Varuthini noticed that his body became flaming hot and believed it was because his Brahmin spirit was infused with the sacrificial fire. After climax, Kali, still-as-Pravara, left the apsara and returned to his abode. Varuthini soon became pregnant and nine months later gave birth to a human child that not only looked like the Brahmin but possessed his soul as well. The authors of the book Science in Culture comment this was an example of the Sanskrit phrase "from his semen and from her thinking," meaning the child was indeed Pravara's child because she believed it was his.
In another version, Kali stipulates he will only marry the apsara if she keeps her eyes closed while they are in the forest (presumably making love). However, Kali leaves after their marriage and the birth of their son Svarocisa. Svarocisa grows up to become a very learned scholar of the Vedas and learns to speak the languages of all creatures from one of his three wives. He later marries a goddess and fathers Svarocisa Manu
Manu (Hinduism)
In various Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of mankind, and also the very first brahman king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood. He was absolutely honest which was why he was initially known as "Satyavrata"...
, one of the progenitors of mankind. (See Progeny)
Bhagavata Purana
The Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
states the very day and moment god Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
left this earth, Kali, "who promotes all kinds of irreligious activities, came into this world.”
After setting off to wage war against the evils of the world with his armies, Emperor Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, came across a Sudra dressed as a king who was beating a cow and an ox with a club. Parikshit immediately lead his chariot over to the scene and angrily berated the sudra for abusing the sacred cow and her mate. However, this was no ordinary sudra and these were no ordinary bovine, for the sudra was Kali and the cow and ox were embodiments of the earth goddess and Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
. The Emperor noticed the ox was standing on one of his legs because the other three had been broken by Kali. Dharma explained his four legs represented "austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness", but he had only the leg of “truth” to stand on since the other three had been broken by kali over the preceding yuga
Yuga
Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is...
s. Kali was intent on breaking all the legs that supported the reign of dharma so he could effect the expansion of his own dark reign on earth. The earth goddess cried for she had once been plentiful, but when Krishna died and ascended to heaven, she was forsaken and all of the prosperity left from the world. She feared evil kings like Kali would continue to lay waste to the earth.
When Parikshit raised his sword to kill Kali, the sudra stripped himself of his royal garments and prostrated himself at the emperor’s feet. The emperor knew Kali tainted the world with his evil and so had no place in it and raised his sword once more. But Kali interceded again and begged the emperor to spare his life and allow him a place to live within his empire. Parikshit decided that Kali would live in “gambling houses, in taverns, in women of unchaste lives, in slaughtering places and in gold”. And as long as Parikshit ruled India, Kali stayed within the confines of these five places. This act allowed Dharma to regain his legs and the earth to be relieved of much burden. However, Parikshit was later cursed to die by snake bite after hunting in the forest and throwing a dead snake on an unresponsive sage practicing austerities. Upon the emperor’s death, “Kali made his way to other places like wild fire and established his power throughout the length and breadth of the whole world.”
In another version of the tale, Kali enters into the Emperor’s crown when Parikshit gives him permission to reside wherever there is gold. Upon returning home after offending the sage, Parikshit says to himself, "Kali-yug’s abode is in gold; this was on my head; hence I had so evil a thought that, having taken a dead snake cast it on the sage
Rishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...
’s neck. Therefore, I now understand that Kali-yug has taken his revenge on me. How shall I escape this grievous sin?"
Kalki Purana
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, his great-great grandfather, and ending with the birth of his children’s children. Instead of being born of poison from the churning of the ocean of milk, he is the product of a long line of incestuous monsters born from Brahma's back. (See Family Lineage below) Kali and his family were created by Brahma to hurry the dissolution of the cosmos after the pralaya
Pralaya
Pralaya, in Hindu cosmology, is an aeonic term which specifies different periods of time during which non activity situation persists, as per different formats or contexts...
period was over. When his family takes human form on earth, they further taint the hearts and minds of mankind to bring about the end of Dvapara Yuga and the beginning of Kali Yuga. During the first stage of Kali-Yuga, the Indian caste system breaks down and god-worship is forsaken by man. All through the second, third, and fourth stages, man forgets the name of god and no longer offers Yagya (offerings) to the Devas
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
. It is at this point when god Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
reincarnates as Kalki
Kalki
In Hinduism, Kalki is the tenth and final Maha Avatar of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. The name Kalki is often a metaphor for eternity or time...
in the name of the Devas and all of mankind to rid the cosmos of Kali's dark influence.
The remainder of the tale describes Kalki's childhood, military training under the immortal Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
, his marriage, his preparation for war against Kali, and the decisive war between the two. Kalki kicks off his campaign by performing the Ashvamedha
Ashvamedha
The Ashvamedha was one of the most important royal rituals of Vedic religion, described in detail in the Yajurveda...
sacrifice and leading his armies behind the horse as it runs freely from kingdom to kingdom. If any evil king tries to stop the horse, Kalki engages them in combat. After defeating them, he continues to follow the horse until all evil kingdoms are vanquished. When Kali finally faces Kalki's forces, his entire family blood line is wiped out by the avatar's generals and he presumably dies from wounds inflicted by Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
and Satya Yuga
Satya Yuga
The Satya Yuga , also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme...
personified. Kalki, meanwhile, battles and simultaneously kills the demon's most powerful generals, Koka and Vikoka
Koka and Vikoka
According to the Kalki Purana, the twin brothers Koka and Vikoka serve as generals under the demon Kali, overlord of Kali Yuga. In their battle with Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of Lord Vishnu, the brothers display their mastery over the dark arts by raising themselves from the dead faster than...
, twin devils adept in the dark arts.
Death
Kali dies one-third of the way through the Kalki PuranaKalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
. During the decisive battle between Kali and Kalki’s armies, Kali tried to face both Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
and Satya Yuga
Satya Yuga
The Satya Yuga , also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme...
personified, but was overwhelmed and fled on his donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
because his chariot
Chariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
had been destroyed, leaving his owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
-crested war flag
War flag
A war flag is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign — the battle ensign...
to be trampled on the battlefield. Kali retreated to the citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
of his capital city of Vishasha where he discovered his body had been mortally stabbed and burned during his battle with the two devas. The stench of his blood billowed out and filled the atmosphere with a foul odor. When Dharma and Satya burst into the city, Kali tried to run away, but, knowing his family had been destroyed, coupled with his grevious wounds, he "entered his unmanifested years". This might lead some to believe he died, but one version of the Kalki Purana in the book The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology states Kali does not die but, instead, escapes through time and space to live in the 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...
of the next Kalpa
Kalpa
Kalpa is a small town in the Sutlej river valley, above Recong Peo in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, in the Indian Himalaya. Inhabited by Kinnauri people and famous for its apple orchards. Apples are a major cash-crop for the region...
. The author comments, "Unlike most battles between gods and demons, however, this apparent victory is immediately undercut, for Kali escapes to reappear in 'another age'—in our age, or the next Kali Age." Since he had the power to manifest himself in human form on earth, he was able to forsake his dying corporal form to escape in spirit.
Family lineage
Kali is the great-great grandson of Lord BrahmaBrahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
. He is the son of Krodha (Anger) and his sister-turned-wife Himsa (Violence). He is the grandson of Dambha (Vanity) and his sister-turned-wife, Maya
Maya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
(Illusion). He is the great-grandson of Adharma
Adharma
Adharma is the Sanskrit antonym of Dharma. It means 'that which is not in accord with the law' - referring to both the human written law and the divinely given law of nature. Connotations include unnaturalness, wrongness, evil, immorality, wickedness, or vice....
(Impropriety) and his wife, Mithya (Falsehood). Adharma was originally created from Lord Brahma's back as a Maleen Pataka (a very dark and deadly sinful object).
B.K. Chaturvedi, a modern translator of the Kalki Purana
Kalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
, states in a foot note that the growth of this dark sinful object into Adharma seems to, "convey the growth of Kaliyuga and its obnoxious offshoots."
Vishnu Purana
Kali's family lineage is told differently in the Vishnu PuranaVishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
, which is a father purana to the Kalki Purana
Kalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
:
The wife of Adharma (vice) was Himsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita
Anrita
In Hindu mythology, Anrita is falsehood, son of Adharma, married to Nikriti. They had two sons, Bhaya and Naraka, and twins to them two daughters, Máya and Vedanú, who became their wives....
(falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and Naraka
Naraka
Naraka is the Sanskrit word for the underworld; literally, of man. According to Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, Naraka is a place of torment, or Hell...
(hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Maya (deceit) and Vedaná (grief), who became their wives. The son of Bhaya and Máyá was the destroyer of living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the offspring of Naraka and Vedaná. The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they are the terrible forms of Vishńu, and perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
and the other Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power, and treading in the path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation.
In this version, Himsa is Adharma's wife instead of his granddaughter.
Bhagavata Purana
According to the Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
, Adharma is the husband of Mrishá (falsehood), and the father of Dambha (hypocrisy) and Máyá (deceit), who were adopted by Nirritti (Hindu god/dess of misery). The series of their descendants is also somewhat varied from our text; being in each descent, however, twins which intermarry, or Lobha (covetousness) and Nikriti, who produce Krodha (wrath) and Hinsá: their children are, Kali (wickedness) and Durukti (evil speech): their progeny are, Mrityu and Bhí (fear); whose offspring are, Niraya (hell) and Yátaná (torment).
In this version, Mrisha is the wife of Adharma and not Himsa or Mithya.
Linga Purana
The Linga PuranaLinga Purana
The Linga Purana is one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text. The extant text is divided into two parts, comprising 108 and 55 chapters respectively. These parts contain the description regarding the origin of universe, origin of the linga, and emergence of Brahma and Vishnu, and...
enumerates Adharma among the Prajapatis (Lords of Creatures).
Dharma Personified
Since DharmaDharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
is one of the major antagonists of Kali, it is important to note this personified deity has his own line of offspring that work against the demon and his family to bring balance to the world. The following comes from the Vishnu Purana
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
:
The progeny of Dharma by the daughters of Daksha
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
were as follows: by Sraddha
Śrāddha
Śrāddha or Shraaddha is a Sanskrit word which literally means anything or any act that is performed with all sincerity and faith . In the Hindu religion, it is the ritual that one performs to pay homage to one’s 'ancestors' , especially to one’s dead parents...
he had Kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
(desire); by Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, Darpa (pride); by Dhriti, Niyama
Niyama
Niyama generally denotes a duty or obligation adopted by a spiritual aspirant , or prescribed by a guru or by scripture...
(precept); by Tushti, Santosha (content); by Pushti, Lobha (cupidity); by Medhá, Sruta (sacred tradition); by Kriya
Kriya
Kriya most commonly refers to a "completed action", technique or practice within a yoga discipline meant to achieve a specific result. Types of kriya may vary widely between different schools of yoga. Another meaning of Kriya is the outward physical manifestations of awakened kundalini...
, Danda
Danda
In the Devanāgarī script, the danda is a punctuation character. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke. The character can be found at code point U+0964 in Unicode. The "double danda" is at U+0965 . ISCII encodes danda at 0xEA....
, Naya, and Vinaya
Vinaya
The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...
(correction, polity, and prudence); by Buddhi
Buddhi
Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar masculine form Buddha Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar masculine form Buddha Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar...
, Bodha (understanding); by Lajj, Vinaya
Vinaya
The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...
(good behaviour); by Vapu, Vyavasaya (perseverance). Santi gave birth to Kshema (prosperity); Siddhi
Siddhi
is a Sanskrit noun that can be translated as "perfection", "accomplishment", "attainment", or "success". The term is first attested in the Mahabharata. In the Pancatantra, a siddhi may be any unusual skill or faculty or capability...
to Sukha
Sukha
Sukha is a Sanskrit and Pāli word that is often translated as “happiness" or "ease" or "pleasure" or "bliss." In Buddhism's Pali literature, the term is used in the context of describing laic pursuits, meditative absorptions and intra-psychic phenomena....
(enjoyment); and Kírtti to Yasas. These were the sons of Dharma; one of whom, Kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
, had Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight).
Again, the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
gives a different account of his children's names.
Progeny
Kali’s sister-turned-wife, Durukti (Calumny), gave him two offspring: a son named Bhayanak (Fear) and a daughter named Mrityu (Death). His son and daughter gave him two grandchildren: a boy named NarakaNaraka
Naraka is the Sanskrit word for the underworld; literally, of man. According to Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, Naraka is a place of torment, or Hell...
(Hell) and a girl named Yatana (Torture). Again, there are some discrepancies here. The Vishnu Purana
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
says Mrityu and Bhayanak are his brother and sister. Mrityu is even represented as male instead of female.
Kali is the grandfather of Svarocisa Manu
Manu (Hinduism)
In various Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of mankind, and also the very first brahman king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood. He was absolutely honest which was why he was initially known as "Satyavrata"...
, one of the progenitors of mankind. As previously mentioned, Kali had a son named Svarocisa with the Apsara Varuthini. Svarocisa once traveld to Mt. Mandara and was met by Manorama, a cursed-woman being chased by a demon. In the past, she had made fun of a sage
Rishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...
practicing Tapasya austerities on Mt. Kailas and was cursed to be captured by a demon. When her friends Vibhavari and Kalavati berated the sage for enacting a curse for such a minor offence, he cursed one to be a leper and the other a carrier of diseases. Manorama had knowledge of a powerful spiritual weapon, but did not know how to wield it, so she taught it to Svarocisa. When the demon leaped out of the forest and grabbed a hold of the woman, Svarocis called forth the weapon. But the demon stayed his hand and explained he was actually Manorama’s father, Indivara. He had also been cursed to become a demon by the sage Brahmamitra because he tried to covertly obtain the secrets of Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
medicine without the sage’s knowledge. The sage told him that the curse would end when he was about to eat his own daughter. Once he regained his true form, Indivara taught Svarocisa the Ayurveda medication, which he used to cure Manorama’s friends. He later married the three and had three sons with them. He learned the languages of all creatures from Vibhavari and the Padmini vidya from Kalavati.
Despite his prosperity, Svarocis was unhappy in his life and could hear the ducks and deer talking about him behind his back. One day he went hunting and took aim at a boar, but a deer came through the clearing and asked to be shot in its place. When he enquired why, the deer told him that she was really the goddess of the forest and wished to marry Svarocisa. So he embraced the deer and she turned into a beautiful woman. Together, they had a son named Dyutiman, who later became the Svarocisa Manu.
One source states, "Kali's wife Alakshmi
Alakshmi
Alakshmi is the older sister of Lakshmi and the Hindu goddess of misfortune. She is also the second wife of Kali, the male demon from the Kalki Purana and the Mahabharata.-Background:...
and her sons who supervise evil also came from Kshirasagara [the ocean of milk]." Alakshmi is the elder sister of the goddess Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, the consort of Vishnu. Since the Kalki Purana states his wife Durukti is his sister, Alakshmi would be a second wife because she is not directly related to him.
There are a number of connections and similarities between Kali and Alakshmi. First and foremost, Alakshmi’s sister is the consort of Lord Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
, who sent his Kalki
Kalki
In Hinduism, Kalki is the tenth and final Maha Avatar of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. The name Kalki is often a metaphor for eternity or time...
avatar to earth to defeat Kali. Second, legends say she was born either from the churning of the ocean of milk, the poison from Vasuki
Vasuki
Vasuki is a Sanskrit name for a naga, one of the serpents of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a great King of the nagas and has a gem on his head. Manasa, another naga, is his sister...
(who helped churn the ocean) or the back of Prajapati
Prajapati
In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...
. As previously mentioned, Kali is said to have been born from the halahala
Halahala
Halāhala or Kalakootam is the name of a poison created from the sea when Devas and Asuras churned the sea in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality.Fourteen different ratnas were recovered in this exercise mostly retained by Gods after Demons tried to cheat...
poison created from churning the ocean or from a lineage created from Lord Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
’s back. Third, Alakshmi takes the form of an owl. Kali's emblem on his war flag
War flag
A war flag is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign — the battle ensign...
is of an owl. Fourth, whenever Alakshmi enters a house, families fight and turn on one another. The presence of Kali and his family on earth causes mankind to fight and turn on one another. Finally, Alakshmi is said to ride a donkey. Kali also rides a donkey in the Kalki Purana
Kalki Purana
The Kalki Purana is a prophetic work in Sanskrit that details the life and times of Kalki, the tenth and final Dashavatara of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu...
.
Role in modern communalism
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. These pamphlets were produced in a time when Hindu-Muslim riots over cow slaughter occurred in several areas of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; including Azamgarh district
Azamgarh district
Azamgarh district is one of the three districts of Azamgarh Division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-Etymology:The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit a descendant of Gautam Rajputs of Mehnagar in pargana...
(1893), when a total of 100 people died in similar conflagrations throughout the empire; Ayodhya (1912–1913); and Shahabad
Shahabad
Shahabad, with headquarters at Arrah was one of the districts of Bihar, India. The district was subsequently bifurcated into a number of districts. Kunwar Singh belonged to this district....
(1917). One such pamphlet entitled “The Present State” showed a cow being slaughtered by a trio of "Muhammadan
Mohammedan
Mohammedan is a Western term for a follower of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As an archaic English language term, it is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhammad or the religion, doctrines, institutions and practices that he established...
" butchers. Another portrayed Kali raising a sword above the head of a sacred cow, whose body was illustrated to be a microcosmic
Macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
paradise in which all the Hindu gods resided. There were many different editions of this version. For instance, one showed a woman labeled "The Hindu" waiting with bowl-in-hand for the cow's calf to finish suckling before she could get milk. A form of Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
labeled Darmaraj ("Ruler of Dharma") stood behind the cow and Kali was, again, harassing her with his sword. Still, a different one deleted the woman and calf and instead portrayed Dharmaraj in front of the cow pleading mat maro gay sarv ka jivan hai ("don’t kill the cow, everyone is dependent on it"), while Kali rebuts he manusyaho! Kaliyugi Mansahari jivom ko dekho ("mankind, look at the meat-eating souls of the kaligyug").
Some Hindus considered Kali’s presence in the picture to be a representation of the Muslim community. When one of the versions of these pamphlets came into the possession of a state official in 1893, he commented that the image “contained a representation of a Musalman [Muslim] advancing to slay the cow ...”. One book states, “The Magistrate [at Deoria
In popular culture
Nala Damayanti (1921): This big-budget film depicts a famous episode from the MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, starting with Narada
Narada
Narada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Vaisnava tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana...
's ascent of Mount Meru. It shows Swarga, the Heaven of Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
, the Transformation in the Clouds of the Four Gods into impersonations of King Nala, Swan Messengers of Love, the Transformation of Kali into a Serpent, the Meeting of Kali and Dwarpa and the Four Gods amidst the Blue Air.
External links
- Places of Kali – Podcast of Kali’s tale from the Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata puranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
. - કલિયુગનાં ચાર આશ્રયસ્થાન (Kaliyuga's mainstay) – The tale of Kali and Parikshit in GujaratiGujarati scriptThe Gujarati script , which like all Nāgarī writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages...
. - Srimad Bhagavatam: Cant 1 – See chapters 16 and 17.
- A very large detailed painting of King Parikshit about to kill Kali.
