As children we draw playful situations around us, conferring them with our own meanings solely for our innocent eyes. Layers upon layers of magic, fun and innovation combine beyond the logic and comprehension of adulthood to produce whole worlds that we as children inhabit – feeling safe and comfortable in them. In such a world of warmth and friendship, I remember how agencies of monitoring and control used to be summoned. If I refused to share my dessert (which I still do) a chorus of voices would remind me how the old man or the ghost from the ruins would seek me out at night, or how a bad stomach ache would befall me. One such means of propagating the rules of an imaginary situation was Goddess Kali, fondly called Kali Mata in Hindi by children, whose duty it was to happily consume children who broke the rules of the children’s world. And with our worlds intentionally well insulated from adult eyes and ideas, there was no one to tell us really what mythological significance Kali Mata carried – beyond that of her fearsome persona.
Calendar representations of Kali almost always show her as dark and naked with long disheveled hair, a necklace of heads, children corpses as earrings, long nails and blood smeared lips, sharp teeth and claw like hands. Also, she is usually depicted in battlefields drunk with the blood of her victims or atop dead bodies in cremation grounds. In short – she is portrayed as fearsome. Sacrifices made to her are also bloody and ring with horror. The earliest references locate her in the periphery of society, worshipped by tribal or low caste people with temples also built far away from the villages.
However, there are ample allusions linking this fearsome aspect of hers with other goddesses and gods. For instance, Kali’s association with Parvati is an interesting one. Parvati is generally a benign goddess. But whenever she exhibits fierce aspects like rage, Kali is sometimes described as being brought into being – as her alter ego. Similarly, in various episodes Kali appears to represent Durga’s personified wrath too. Kali makes appearances in myths concerning Sati and Sita too. When Sati is snubbed by her father, she rubs her nose in fury and Kali appears. In the case of Sita, Kali appears as her fierce, blood thirsty aspect when she defends Rama against a demon. Thus, Kali represents a personification of the dangerous dimension of insipient f o achieves salvation and frees himself from fear itself. Thus, Kali is not just a symbol of death but of triumph over death too.
In fact, and in an ambiguous manner, Kali is known to be approached as ‘mother’ by her devotees, particularly in Bengal, where she is worshipped on Deepawali and receives blood offerings. Her terrible appearance and fearsome habits remain intact. I quote here an ardent devotee of hers called Ramprasad Sen, who describes her in almost shocked terms:
O Kali! Why dost Thou roam about nude?
Art Thou not ashamed, Mother!
Garb and ornaments Thou hast none; yet Thou
Pridest in being a King’s daughter.
O Mother! Is it a virtue of Thy family that
Thou placest Thy feet on Thy Husband?
O Mother! We are all ashamed of you; do put on
Thy garb. Thou hast cast away Thy necklace of jewels,
O Mother, and worn a garland of human heads.
Unlike the tantric hero with a heroic approach, a devotee approaches Kali as a helpless child. Clear answers do not exist as to why and in what sense Kali is approached as a mother, especially since her representations are far from benign, nurturing or fertile and very different from those of the mother goddesses” such as Parvati. However, while the devotee’s attitude to her may differ from that of a Tantric hero’s, the aim of approaching Kali rings with similarities. The truths about life that Kali conveys, like life feeds on death and death is inevitable, are just as apparent to the hero as the devotee. If accepted, these truths are transformed into liberating wisdom. Acceptance of the terrible Kali is also acceptance of the terrible truths of life – both for the Tantric hero as well as a devotee. A reconciliation to death and its inevitability dawns on the devotee, along with Kali’s sometimes indifferent attitude towards his worldly desires and worldly goods. Thus, to be her child is to suffer and face disappointment. It is this very response of the goddess that makes the devotee look beyond material comforts and bodily security. Here is how Ram Prasad puts it lyrically:
Can mercy be found in the heart of her
Who was born of the stone?
Were she not merciless,
Would she kick the breast of her lord?
Men call you merciful, but there is
Not trace of mercy in you, Mother.
You have cut off the heads of the children of others,
And these you wear as a garland around your neck.
It matters not how much I call you Mother, Mother.”
You hear me but you will not listen.
To me, the most essential role that Kali plays is that of putting the whole concept of Hindu Dharma into perspective. By challenging the orderly and pure aspects of life, Kali reminds us that reality is actually untamable and cannot be purified. That life itself is disorderly. That death is equally a part of life and for every beautiful idea a grotesque one exists simultaneously. Comforting and naďve assumptions about the world are shaken and a clearer and mature perception of how things really are emphasized. A holistic picture is presented by her.
Modern women have much to learn from this goddess, who is universally viewed as a union of opposites, combining within herself the poles of creation and destruction, love and fear. The feminists say that claiming Kali is a way of owning female energy and empowerment and sexual liberation thus follows. As a representation of female wholeness, she can help women heal divisions in their lives by standing as a reminder of the depths of one’s being. No surprise then how Kali has been beautifully contextualized into our everyday lives of today. With the democratization of knowledge sources through the internet and meeting of different cultures, Kali is being claimed and consumed by cultures far removed from those she was born in. New interpreters and interpretations are taking birth in Kali-centered dance, theatre, art drawings, CDs, magazines, posters and websites. Our goddess has ventured beyond artificial barriers into lands and minds that understand what she stood for.
Such is the power of what Kali signifies.
(References drawn from ‘Encountering Kali; in the margins, at the center, in the West’ ed. Rachel Fell McDermott and Jeffrey J. Kripal)
(A versatile writer and environmentalist, the author has worked as writer/producer for ‘Hindustan Times’. Presently she is pursuing a Ph.D. in English Literature)
eminine wrath and fury. Kali’s association with Siva is one of disruptive behavior and situations, incited and finally overcome, usually after she is tamed and calmed by Siva. This is a common image in Bengali devotional hymns to Kali. Siva and Kali complement each other in their madness and destructive habits. In some other situations though, it is Siva shown inactive as Kali overpowers him, showing that she was never totally subdued by him. In general we may say that Kali is a goddess who threatens order and stability. Even though she is a slayer of demons, often, she becomes drunk on the blood of her victims and begins to destroy the very world she was to protect.
Kali is of central importance in Tantrism – a cult based on the symbiotic interaction of male and female and the creative tension produced from this interaction. As a result, goddesses are important in Tantric philosophy. Although Parvati is usually said to be the recipient of Siva’s wisdom, it is Kali who seems to dominate Tantric iconography. In fact, in many places, she is worshipped as the highest deity. In the Nirvana-tantra, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are said to arise from her, like bubbles from the sea. Kali’s mantra is considered the greatest of all mantras. Interestingly, in Kamada-tantra, she is declared attributeless; neither male nor female and sinless and imperishable. It is the Yogini-tantra that proclaims Kali as the greatest of all Vidyas or divinity herself. Why Kali came to occupy such a central position in Tantrism is not known exactly. However, since the consistent theme of this cult is the merging of opposites (male-female, microcosm-macrocosm, sacred-profane) we can discern why the figure of Kali is important. The figure of Kali conveys death, fear, terror and destruction - Kali is death herself. And the tantric hero is taught not to fear the forbidden but to triumph over it, master it and control it. Interestingly, we see how Kali’s representation changes from the terrible and emaciated to young, beautiful and gently smiling goddess, since it is through her that the her |
