O Kali, my mother full of
bliss! Enchantress of the almighty Shiva!
In Thy delirious joy Thou dancest, clapping Thy hands together!
Thou art the Mover of all that move, and we are but Thy helpless toys.
-- Ramakrishna Paramhans
Kali is one of the most well known and worshipped
Hindu Goddesses. The name Kali is derived from the Hindu word
that means "time", and that also means "black".
Kali in Hinduism, is a manifestation of the Divine Mother, which
represents the female principle. Frequently, those not comprehending
her many roles in life call Kali the goddess of destruction.
She destroys only to recreate, and what she destroys is sin,
ignorance and decay. She is equated with the eternal night, is
the transcendent power of time, and is the consort of the god
Shiva. It is believed that its Shiva who destroys the world,
and Kali is the power or energy with which Shiva acts. Therefore,
Kali is Shiva's shakti, without which Shiva could not act. Kali
receives her name because she devours kala (Time) and then resumes
her own dark formlessness. This transformative effect can be
metaphorically illustrated in the West as a black hole in space.
Kali as such is pure and primary reality (the "enfolded
order" in modern physics); formless void yet full of potential.
The Matsyapurana states that Kali began as
a tribal Goddess of the high mountain region of Mount Kalanjara,
which is in north-central India and east of the Indus Valley.
However, because of the relatively recent origin of the Matsyapurana
we cannot be certain when or where the worship of Kali actually
began. We do know however, that she was mentioned in the Upanishads,
which were written a thousand years before the Matsyapurana.
In the Vedas the name is associated with fire god Agni, the god
of fire, who had seven flickering tongues of flame, of which
Kali was the black, horrible tongue.
Kali is usually depicted as naked, blood-thirsty,
and wild-haired. Records of Kali's worship date back less than
2,000 years and it is widely assumed by scholars that she represents
a survival of a Dravidian (pre-Aryan) goddess and is thought
of as the great creatrix of the ancient Indian pantheon as she
is well over 2000 years old. Kali is thought to be a pre-Aryan
goddess, belonging to the civilization of the Indus Valley, because
there is no evidence that Aryan people ever raised a female deity
to the rank that she held in the Indus and currently maintains
in Hinduism. Her dark skin evidences the fact that she predated
the lighter-skinned Aryan invasion of the darker-skinned inhabitants
of the Indian sub-continent. This conflict became the subject
of many myths handed down about Kali's fierce passion in defending
her people against the invaders. Kali's passion and fierceness
are due both to her ties to the pre-Aryan Great Mother Goddess,
as well as her place at Shiva's side as his consort, which gives
her the power of the Shakti, or female energy. However the Aryan
Invasion Theory of India's origins is currently in dispute amongst
historians.
The Aryan invaders introduced into India's
culture the patriarchal gods that they had brought with them,
but various matriarchal tribes, such as the Shabara of Orissa
, continues worshipping Kali. She was probably an aboriginal
deity of vegetation and agriculture; but evidence that animal
and human sacrifices were offered to her suggests that Kali became
a fertility deity. Animal sacrifices are still made to her, notably
in temples such as the one at Kalighat in Calcutta, where a goat
is immolated in her honor every day. On her feast in the fall,
goats and buffalos are the usual victims, along with certain
types of vegetation. Although human sacrifices have been banned,
there are occasional reports of alleged sacrifices to authorities
from remote areas.
Kali was first manifested when the Goddess
Parvati knitted her brows in fury when the demon, Daruka, threatened
the Gods. It was then that the three-eyed Kali first sprang forth
from Parvati, fully armed, and immediately putting an end to
Daruka. It is for this reason that Kali is considered an aspect
of Parvati.
Other stories tell of how Kali fought and
killed two demons. It was then, celebrating Her victory, that
She drained the blood from their bodies and, drunk from the slaughter,
She began to dance. Kali became overjoyed with the feel of their
dead flesh under Her feet, and She continued to keep dancing,
more and more wildly, until She finally realized that Her husband,
Shiva, was underneath Her, and that She was dancing him to death.
Realizing this, Kali's wildness did slow down,
but only for a short while; it is believed that She will eventually
continue Her dance and that when she does, it will bring an end
to the world. Yet, her followers still believe that once faced
and understood, Kali has the ability to free Her worshippers
from all their fears. Once this occurs, then Kali metamorphasizes
into another aspect, that of a loving and comforting Mother.
There is yet another version of Kali's manifestation.
The Gods were not able to kill the demon, Raktabija. Each drop
of his blood that touched the ground turned into another Raktabija.
Thus, every time he was struck, millions of his duplicates appeared
all over the battlefield.
At this point the Gods were totally desperate,
and they then turned to Shiva for help. Shiva, though, was so
deep in meditation that he could not be reached. The Gods then
turned to Shiva's consort Parvati for help. The Goddess Parvati
immediately set out to do battle with the demon, and it was then
that She took the form of Kali.
Kali then appeared, with Her red eyes, dark
complexion, gaunt features, hair unbound, and Her teeth as sharp
as fangs. She rode into the midst of the battle on a lion, and
it was only then that the demon Raktabija first began to experience
fear.
Kali then ordered the Gods to attack Raktabija,
while She spread Her tongue over the battlefield, covering it
completely, and preventing even one drop of the demon's blood
from falling. In doing this, Kali prevented Raktabija from reproducing
himself again, and the Gods were then victorious.
Kali is the ferocious aspect of Devi Durga
perfectly personified. According to the Purana, this image of
Durga as Kali, so widely worshipped in eastern parts of India,
owes its origin to the battle of Durga with Shumbha and Nishumbha.
She after her victory over these demons was so overjoyed that
she started the dance of death. In her great ecstasy Kali continued
the destruction. As the prayers of all gods could not calm her,
Lord Shiva had to intervene. Seeing no other way of dissuading
her, the God threw himself amongst the bodies of slain demons.
When Kali saw that she was dancing over the body of her husband,
she put her tongue out of her mouth in sorrow and surprise. She
remained stunned in this posture and this is how Kali is shown
in images with the red tongue protruding from her mouth.
The manifestation of the goddess as Kali is
the most shocking appearance. She is depicted standing on the
prostrate body of Shiva, who is lying on a lotus bed. She has
absorbed the inexorability of Rudra and Shiva as Bhairava. Yet
there is both life and death in this form of the Divine Mother.
The name Kali comes from the word "kala," or
time. She is the power of time which devours all. She has a power
that destroys and should be depicted in awe-inspiring terror.
Kali is found in the cremation ground amid dead bodies. She is
standing in a challenging posture on the prostrate body of her
husband Shiva. Kali cannot exist without him, and Shiva can't
reveal himself without her. She is the manifestation of Shiva's
power and energy. While Shiva's complexion is pure white, Kali
is the color of the darkest night-a deep bluish black. As the
limitless Void, Kali has swallowed up everything without a trace.
Hence, she is black.
Kali's luxuriant hair is disheveled and, thereby,
symbolizes Kali's boundless freedom. Another interpretation says
that each hair is a jiva (individual soul), and all souls have
their roots in Kali. Kali has three eyes; the third one stands
for wisdom. Kali's tongue is protruding, a gesture of coyness-because
she unwittingly stepped on the body of her husband Shiva. A more
philosophical interpretation of Kali's tongue is that it symbolizes
Rajas (the color red, activity) and that it is held by her teeth,
symbolizing sattva (the color white, spirituality).
Kali has four arms. The posture of her right
arms promises fearlessness and boons while her left arms hold
a bloody sword and a freshly severed human head. Looking at Kali's
right, we see good, and looking at her left, we see bad. Kali
is portrayed as naked except for a girdle of human arms cut off
at the elbow and a garland of fifty skulls. The arms represent
the capacity for work, and Kali wears all work (action), potential
work, and the results thereof around her waist. The fifty skulls
represent the fifty letters of the Hindu alphabet, the manifest
state of sound from which all creation evolved.
Kali's nudity has a similar meaning. In many
instances she is described as garbed in space or sky clad. In
her absolute, primordial nakedness she is free from all covering
of illusion. She is Nature (Prakriti in Sanskrit), stripped of
'clothes'. It symbolizes that she is completely beyond name and
form, completely beyond the effects of maya (illusion).
Her nudity is said to represent totally illumined consciousness,
unaffected by maya. Kali is the bright fire of truth, which cannot
be hidden by the clothes of ignorance. Such truth simply burns
them away.
Despite Kali's origins in battle, she evolved
to a full-fledged symbol of Mother Nature in her creative, nurturing
and devouring aspects. Some groups of people, unfamiliar with
the precepts of Hinduism, see Kali as a satanic demon probably
because of tales of her being worshipped by dacoits and other
such people indulging evil acts.
The Goddess Kali is represented as black in
color. Black in the ancient Hindu language of Sanskrit is kaala.
The feminine form is kali. So she is Kali, the black one. Black
is a symbol of The Infinite and the seed stage of all colors.
The Goddess Kali remains in a state of inconceivable darkness
that transcends words and mind. Within her blackness is the dazzling
brilliance of illumination. Kali's blackness symbolizes her all-embracing,
comprehensive nature, because black is the color in which all
the colors merge; black absorbs and dissolves them.
"Just as all colours disappear in
black, so all names and forms disappear in her"
-- Mahanirvana Tantra
On the other hand, black is said to represent
the total absence of color, again signifying the nature of Kali
as ultimate reality. This in Sanskrit, the color black is named
as nirguna (beyond all quality and form). Either way, kali's
black colour symbolizes her transcendence of all form.
"Is Kali, my Divine Mother, of a black
complexion?
She appears black because She is viewed from a distance
But when intimately known She is no longer so
The sky appears blue at a distance, but look at it close by
And you will find that it has no colour
The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance
But when you go near and take it on your hand, you find that it is colourless".
-- Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836-86)
Kali is a great and powerful black earth Mother
Goddess capable of terrible destruction and represents the most
powerful form of the female forces in the Universe. Worship of
the Goddess Kali is largely an attempt to appease her and avert
her wrath. The Goddess Kali constantly drinks blood. She has
an insatiable thirst for blood. As mistress of blood, she presides
over the mysteries of both life and death. Kali intends her bloody
deeds for the protection of the good. She may get carried away
by her gruesome acts but she is not evil. Kali's destructive
energies on the highest level are seen as a vehicle of salvation
and ultimate transformation.
Kali is the central deity of Time. She created
the world and destroys it. She is beyond time and space. After
the destruction of the Universe, at the end of the great cycle,
she collects the seeds of the next creation. She destroys the
finite to reveal the Infinite. This Black Goddess is death, but
to the wise she is also the death of death. This can only be
revealed through the worship of Kali, and meditation on her mysteries.
To her worshippers in both Hinduism and Tantra
she represents a multi-faceted Great Goddess responsible for
all of life from conception to death. Her worship, therefore,
consists of fertility festivals as well as sacrifices (animal
and human); and her initiations expand one's consciousness by
many means, including fear, ritual sexuality and intoxication
with a variety of drugs.
Her three forms are manifested in many ways:
in the three divisions of the year, the three phases of the moon,
the three sections of the cosmos (heaven, earth, and the underworld),
the three stages of life, the three trimesters of pregnancy,
and so on. Women represent her spirit in mortal flesh.
"The Divine Mother first appears in
and as her worshipper's earthly mother, then as his wife; thirdly
as Kalika, she reveals herself in old age, disease and death."
Three kinds of priestesses tend her shrines:
Yoginis or Shaktis, the "Maidens"; Matri, the "Mothers";
and Dakinis, the "Skywalkers". These priestesses attend
the dying, govern funerary rites and act as angels of death.
All have their counterparts in the spirit world. To this day,
Tantric Buddhism relates the three mortal forms of woman to the
divine female trinity called Three Most Precious Ones.
Kali's three forms appear in the sacred colors
known as "Gunas": white for the Virgin, red for the
Mother, black for the Crone, the three together symbolizing birth,
life, death. Black is Kali's fundamental color as the Destroyer,
for it means the formless condition she assumes between creations,
when all the elements are dissolved in her primordial substance.
As Kundalini the Female Serpent, she resembles
the archaic Egyptian serpent-mother said to have created the
world. It was said of Kundalini that at the beginning of the
universe, she starts to uncoil in "a spiral line movement,
which is the movement of creation." This spiral line was
vitally important in late Paleolithic and Neolithic religious
symbolism, representing death and rebirth as movement into the
disappearing-point of formlessness, and out of it again, to a
new world of form. Spirals therefore appeared on tombs, as one
of the world's first mystical symbols.
Kali is considered to be the most fully realized
of all the Dark Goddesses, but even though Kali was originally
worshipped as a warrior goddess, and her followers gave her offerings
of blood and flesh, her followers still found her greatest strength
to be that of a protector.
Kali is not always thought of as a Dark Goddess;
rather, she is also referred to as a great and loving primordial
Mother Goddess in the Hindu tantric tradition. In this aspect,
as Mother Goddess, she is referred to as Kali Ma, meaning Kali
Mother, and millions of Hindus revere her as such.
Kali is also associated with intense sexuality.
Myths tell of the Yoni (vagina) of Kali (when she existed as
Sati - wife of Lord Shiva) falling down to the Earth on the sacred
hill near Gauhati in Assam (India), the same place where the
Temple of Kamakhya is now located. The temple's outer walls are
highly decorated with carvings showing Kali as a Triple Goddess:
squatting, and exposing her Yoni (vagina); as a mother suckling
Her child; and as a warrior woman drawing back Her bow. While
these carvings show Kali as a sexual being, they also show her
as a protective and motherly woman, full of compassion.
Buy
this painting |
THE
GODDESS'S YONI (VAGINA)
AND SHIVA'S LINGAM (PENIS)
Courtesy Exotic India
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Known as the "Dark Mother," the
Hindu Triple Goddess of creation, protection, and destruction,
now most commonly known in her Destroyer aspect, is very often
depicted as squatting over her dead consort Shiva and devouring
his entrails, while her yoni sexually devours his lingam (penis).
Kali is:
"The hungry earth, which devours its
own children and fattens on their corpses ... It is in India
that the experience of the Terrible Mother has been given its
most grandiose form as Kali. But all this and it should not
be forgotten an image not only of the Feminine but particularly
and specifically of the Maternal. For in a profound way life
and birth are always bound up with death and destruction."
-- Erich Neumann from "The Great Mother:
An Analysis of the Archetype"
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