Maa Kali – Hindu Goddesses and Deities

Kali is the Goddess of Destruction and Dissolution in Hinduism, and she is one of the most popular goddesses in India. Kali is known for destroying ignorance, and she helps those who strive for knowledge of God. Her name means “The Black One” and the city of Calcutta is named in her honor. Kali is considered to be a malevolent form of Parvati. Kali’s name is also a form of the Sanskrit work “kala,” which means “time”. She is one of the few Hindu deities to whom blood sacrifices are still made.

Goddess Ambika Lead the Eight Matrikas in Battle against the Demon Raktabija – Narasimhi, Vaishnavi, Kumari, Maheshvari, Brahmi, Varahi, Aindri, Chamunda or Kali (drinking the demon’s blood).

In Kali’s most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduced a clone of himself. The battlefield became increasingly filled with his clones. Durga, in need of help, summons Kali to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kali at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

Out of the surface of her (Durga’s) forehead, fierce with frown, suddenly spawned Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange Khatvanga (skull-topped staff), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger’s skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue rolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the skies with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured the demons.

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many clones of Raktabija in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

Goddess Kali Iconography

Goddess Kali is fearsome in appearance. She has wild eyes, a protruding tongue, and she wields a bloody sword. Kali also holds the severed head of a demon, and she wears a belt of severed heads.

The background is a cremation ground or a burial ground or a Warfield, showing the dead bodies including the mutilated ones. She herself is standing in a challenging posture, on a ‘dead’ body, which is her own spouse, Shiva himself.

If Shiva is pure white, she is deep blue in color bordering on blackness. She is completely naked, except for an apron of human hands. She is wearing a garland made of 52 skulls and a skirt made of dismembered arms because the ego comes out of identification with the body. It suggests that physical body is false and spirit is the only reality. Her luxuriant hair is completely disheveled. She has three eyes and four hands. In her upper hands she is holding a freshly severed and bleeding human head, as also the sword (or chopper), representing a great battle in which she defeated the demon Raktabija. The two lower hands are in the Abhaya and Varada Mudras. Her face is red and the tongue protruding. The background or the setting is in complete harmony with the theme. The severed head and the sword are graphic representations of destruction that has just taken place.

Festivals of Goddess Kali

The festivals of Kali Puja and Navratri are celebrated mainly in honour of Kali.

Kali Mantras

(1) Mula Mantra:

Om Kreem Kalikaye Namah
Kring Kring Kring
Hing Hring Dakshine Kalike
Kring Kring Kring Hring Hring
Hung Hung Swaha

(2) सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तुते ॥

Goddess Kali Avatars

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi if often considered as incarnations of Kali.

Kali Temples

The most notable Kali temples are in Eastern India — Dakshineshwar and Kalighat in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Kamakhya in Assam, a seat of tantrik practices.