About Mahakali:
The Eternal Mother
Kali is the Hindu primal Mother Goddess who brings Life and Death, from which all things sprang. . Kali is the eternal, divine
mother. Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess. She assumed the form of a powerful goddess and became
popular with the composition of the Devi Mahatmya, a text of the 5th - 6th century AD. Here she is depicted as having born from
the brow of Goddess Durga during one of her battles with the evil forces. As the legend goes, in the battle, Kali was so much
There are numerous gods and goddesses worshipped by Hindus all over India. Among these is Kali, the black earth mother whose
rites involve sacrificial killing.
Her nudity is primeval, fundamental, and transparent like Nature — the earth, sea, and sky.
Kali is free from the illusory covering, for she is beyond all maya or "false consciousness." Kali's garland of fifty human heads that stands for the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet,symbolizes infinite knowledge.She represents the silent darkness of the time
when nothing was there, and from there, from darkness, from nothingness, she shaped life. She is every woman, every mother,
which stands in darkness, so much so that she herself becomes darkness (Kali~ Darkness) and creates life, beholds life, births life
and nourishes life. The light emerges from the darkness, and the colors rise from the lack of colors.
Kali's proximity to cremation grounds where the five elements or "Pancha Mahabhuta" come together and all worldly
attachments are absolved, again point to the cycle of birth and death. The reclined Shiva lying prostrate under the feet of Kali
suggests that without the power of Kali (Shakti), Shiva is inert.
She is the furious embodiment of the divine feminine that is released when she becomes enraged. She is the dark womb from
where the feeble light of human life takes first breath. She is the consort of Mahakaal (Kaal-Death), Shiva- The lord of
death, Mahakali. She is death. Hinduism celebrates life as well as death
The goddess Kali is another form of the goddess Durga to play an important role. Thus Kali comes to be another name for Durga.
She is called mother Shakti.
Image of Kali: Kali is represented with perhaps the fiercest features amongst all the world's deities. She has four arms, with a
sword in one hand and the head of a demon in another. She is shown standing upon her husband, Shiva. She is naked. Her hair is
disheveled. She wears round her neck a garland of demon’s skulls.Her girdle of severed human hands signifies work and
liberation from the cycle of karma. Her white teeth show her inner purity, and her red lolling tongue indicates her omnivorous
nature — "her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world's 'flavors'." Her sword is the destroyer of false consciousness and the
eight bonds that bind us.
Her three eyes represent past, present, and future, — the three modes of time — an attribute that lies in the very name Kali ('Kala'
in Sanskrit means time).
The Origin of Kali Puja:
The kali Puja is a ‘Tantric Puja’. The origin of the Kali Puja has a mystic and mythological side. According to mythology two
demons Shumbh and Nisumbh became very powerful. They teased the gods who sought the protection of the goddess Durga. The
goddess, in her anger, changed herself in the form of Kali. She did so to frighten the enemies. She fought against the demons and
killed them.
During the fight she became very furious. Her anger showed that she would finish the whole world. At this critical moment the
gods approached her husband, Shiva. They requested him to cool her anger. Shiva did his best to bring her back to her sense.
Ultimately he laid himself prostrate at her feet. She placed her feet on his body. As soon as she did this, her senses returned. She
felt shame for placing her husband under her feet. She bit her tongue. That is the posture which she is worshiped at present in
Bengal.
Forms, Temples, and Devotees
Kali's guises and names are diverse. Shyama, Adya Ma, Tara Ma and Dakshina Kalika, Chamundi are popular forms. Then there
is Bhadra Kali, who is gentle, Shyamashana Kali, who lives only in the cremation ground, and so on. The most notable
Kali temples are in Eastern India — Dakshineshwar and Kalighat in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Kamakhya in Assam, a seat of tantric
practices.
Kali is still one of India's most popular Goddesses. In fact the city of Calcutta is an anglicized version of the name Kali-Ghatt, or
"steps of Kali", Her temple. The bloody rites of Kali worship are sometimes so terrifying, that few understand them. Kali is a
symbol of the worst we can imagine and by knowing Her, we can overcome the terror of our own death and destruction
Kali represents the source of energy and Shiva represents the source of Knowledge. The passions are overcome by energy in
attainment of truth.
The goddess Kali is worshipped in the darkness of the new moonlight. It comes off in the month of Kartik. The ceremony is
serious and awe-inspiring. Goats and buffaloes are sacrificed before her. Her devotees get relief and comfort from her. They pray
to her for blessings. According to them she is the giver of all good.
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