("black") The Mother Goddess in an incomprehensibly ferocious and mighty heavenly
aspect.
In its most frightening forms, Kali is the divine's
horrible, uncontrollable power.
Her home is a cremation site, and she is often connected
with imagery of blood, death, and devastation.
Her iconography depicts her as having several heads and
limbs, as well as a thin, gaunt, and haggard figure with a lolling tongue and
blood-smeared lips.
Surprisingly, millions of Kali's bhakta (devotees) refer to
her as "mother." Kali's origins are unknown, however she is thought
to be an autochthonous ("of the soil") goddess.
Her dark skin, which is linked with low social status, her
affinity for living in remote locations, and her worship by Indian aboriginal
tribes and individuals on the fringes of society all appear to indicate to her
roots as a local deity, maybe of tribal people.
Some early Sanskrit operas, such as Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava,
mention violent deities who accepted blood gifts from their worshippers.
The Thugs were featured prominently in nineteenth-century
fiction using the same idea.
The Devimahatmya, the oldest known source for the belief
that God is feminine, has one of Kali's earliest descriptions.
The birth of Kali (in her Mahakali form) is described in one
of the Devimahatmya events as the Goddess incarnate's fury.
Kali begins the myth by stuffing the demon armies into her
mouth and devouring them whole, signifying her all-consuming ability to
destroy.
In this book, she also defeats Raktabija, a demon who is
granted the blessing that each drop of his blood that falls on the ground would
instantaneously change into a clone of himself, making him almost unconquerable.
Kali defeats him by consuming his blood as it is shed till
it runs out.
Both of these instances bolster her reputation as a
terrifying and powerful goddess, as well as her proclivity for destruction and
her links with drugs and acts that are generally deemed defiling.
As Kinsley points out, Kali may also be seen as a symbol for
the inevitability of human existence, and that catastrophe and misfortune can
strike without warning, despite the best-laid preparations.
Kali worship has taken two courses, one in accord with these
gruesome visions and the other in opposition to them.
On the one hand, Kali has long been revered by practitioners
of tantra, a hidden, ritual-based religious practice.
Reality, according to the tantras, is created by the
interplay of polar opposites, personified by the deities Shiva (awareness) and
Shakti ("power").
Shiva is the Ultimate Reality and provides the organizing
principle, while Shakti is the energy and dynamism that makes things happen.
As a result, goddesses play a significant part in tantric
practice.
Kali stands out among these goddesses, maybe because she is
the most extreme expression of feminine power and hence can be perceived as
wielding the most power on behalf of her adherents.
The representations of Kali standing over the prostrate
Shiva, plainly in a dominating position, indicate her power over all things and
Shiva's helplessness without it.
The tantric specialist is seen as a heroic character who
obtains strength from the goddess in this faith.
The tantras also emphasize the reconciliation of opposites
as a means of eradicating all mental dualism and affirming the ultimate oneness
of the world.
Tantric rituals may involve acts utilizing generally banned
substances, such as the Panchamakara, or "Five Forbidden Things," in
order to underline the provisional nature of all purity and impurity judgements
(ashaucha).
Kali is the ultimate tantric goddess since her iconography
and story include activities that are generally considered unclean, such as
consuming blood and accepting animal sacrifices, residing in a crematory, and
dressing herself in severed limbs.
The adoration of Kali as a mother is another popular
picture.
This image is dominant in the Bengal area, where it has
grown well-established over the last several centuries.
Kali's image is based on Indian maternal imagery, which are
highly idealized in terms of a mother's dedication to her offspring.
The basic concept is that if a devotee approaches Kali as a
meek child willing to bear whatever blows she delivers, she would eventually
direct her mighty energies to defend her follower.
The nineteenth-century Bengali celebrities Ramprasad and
Ramakrishna are Kali's most renowned worshippers; the former is famed for a
poem in which he claims that there are terrible children but never a bad
mother.
This conflict between Kali's horrible demeanor and her image
as a mother has been maintained by religious adepts such as Ramprasad and
Ramakrishna, but it has mostly been lost in common devotion.
Kali is often shown as youthful, lovely, and even benevolent
in modern depictions, which seek to sweeten or overlook her horrible qualities.
See David R. Kinsley's The Sword and the Flute (1975) and
Hindu Goddesses (1986) for further information about Kali.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
