Posture
In most images, Kali appears to be walking from the south in the direction of the devotee, frozen momentarily when she accidentally steps on Shiva, with her left foot on his chest. Left is associated with feminine instinct while right is the side of masculine logic. Shiva thus restrains Kali’s instinctive urge to be wild and free. Narratives inform us that this is essential for the sake of safeguarding culture. Otherwise, after killing demons and drinking their blood, Kali loses all control and kills randomly until Shiva intervenes.
In Tantrik texts, Shiva is not simply a physical obstacle. He waylays Kali with his handsome face and beautiful body, stirring her erotic urges until they overpower her violent side. Hence in Tantrik iconography, Kali does not merely sit on Shiva; she copulates with him while drinking blood from a human skull.
Sometimes Kali is depicted seated on a throne held up by male gods such as Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. As Chamunda, she sits on a pile of corpses.
Surroundings
Kali always stands amidst death and decay. It is grey and gloomy around her. She is to be found in battlegrounds and cremation grounds. The battleground witnesses the collapse of culture and orderly conduct, giving way to unbridled violence as man lets loose his rage. The cremation ground witnesses the triumph of nature as death claims one and all.
Companions
Kali’s male companions include Virabhadra or the eight Bhairavas who are the fierce manifestations of Shiva. They are variously described as her sons, husbands, brothers, priests and attendants. Kali is visualized either dancing with them, being adored by them, or standing or sitting on them.
Kali’s female companions include hags (dakinis), witches (yoginis), mothers (matrikas) and virgins (kumaris). Either she is part of their collective or they stand around adoring her.
Cats are sacred to the Devi in general and Kali in particular. The Devi rides, hence domesticates, male cats. Harming female cats is supposed to incur her wrath. Male cats are known to kill their young so that the female cats stop nursing, come into heat rapidly and become receptive to their sexual demands. Female cats, on the other hand, protect their young fiercely, thus becoming the symbol of motherhood. In the Devi Bhagvatam Purana and the Devi Bhagvatam, Kali rides into battle on a lion. She thus domesticates even the lord of the jungle. In Punjab, Kali is sometimes addressed as ‘Sheravali’—she of the tigers. In Tantrik art, black cats are closely associated with Kali. Occasionally, Kali is visualized riding, hence taming, a sexually aroused bull-elephant, otherwise considered to be unstoppable and dangerous. Thus Kali subdues even the most powerful beast’s desire to dominate and have its way.
Kali also rides dogs, considered inauspicious, as they symbolize death. In the form of the gaunt Chamunda, Kali is associated with scorpions that have no utility, only a venomous sting and a legacy of ripping open their mothers’ bellies during birth. They are all dear to Kali. In Kali’s presence, even the most unappealing aspects of the cosmos reclaim their divinity.
All fertility goddesses, including Kali, are associated with snakes. Snakes are symbols of renewal—they shed their skin regularly and rejuvenate themselves just like the earth restores its fertility each year. Snakes are also symbols of kundalini, the seed of occult wisdom that lies coiled in all beings, waiting to be aroused by various Tantrik practices.
The Manifestations
Although today Kali is worshipped as an autonomous goddess manifesting in a variety of forms, in her long history she has been visualized as part of a divine female collective, as the embodiment of one of the three Devi powers, and as the ‘other’ face of the two-faced village-goddess. Over the centuries there has been a rise of several deities who display Kali-like characteristics but distinguish themselves from her in name and narrative. Much of the information about the manifestations of Kali comes to us from folklore and from the manuscripts known as Tantras, written after the sixth century AD.
One who takes many forms
According to Mahanirvana Tantra, Kali is adya, the primal form of the Devi, and the Maha-Vidyas are her emanations. Naradapancharatra mentions that there are seven crore Maha-Vidyas and as many Upa-Vidyas; their number can never be settled conclusively. Thus Kali has innumerable forms and is known by many names. In the Shakti-sangama Tantra, according to Hadimata, one of the several contributors to the manuscript, Maha-Shakti is called Kali in Kerala, Tripura in Kashmira and Tara in Gauda (Bengal), while according to Kadimata, another contributor, she is called Tripura in Kerala, Tarini in Kashmira and Kali in Gauda. Kali has eight forms in Todala-Tantra: Dakshina-, Siddha-, Guhya-, Shri-, Bhadra-, Chamunda-, Smashana- and Maha-Kali. Mahakala Samhita enumerates nine types of Kali: Dakshina-, Bhadra-, Smashana-, Kala-, Guhya-, Kamakala-, Dhana-, Siddhi- and Chandika-Kali. The tenth-century Jayadhratayamala mentions twelve forms of Kali—Kalika, Dambara, Raksha, Indivara, Dhanda, Ramani, Ishana, Jiva, Virya, Dhyana, Prajna and Saptarna—each representing a state of consciousness, with the highest state symbolized by the thirteenth Kali, Kalasamkarshini.
Dakshina-Kali, enshrined in temples and even in households, is the most important of Kali’s forms because it is her most acceptable and conventional form. She is characterized by a fierce but smiling face, four hands, untied hair and a garland of severed heads. She is naked, dark, full breasted, holds a severed head in one hand and a sword in the other. The third hand is raised to protect while the fourth arm blesses. She steps on a corpse-like Shiva as she approaches from the south. The devotee considers her his mother.
Smashana-Kali is the form of Kali that is restricted to the cremation ground. Unlike Dakshina-Kali who is bluish purple in colour, she is black. She neither blesses, nor gives boons. She looks fierce with snakes slithering around her body and jackals keeping her company. She drinks blood, yells into the night and dances with goblins. The Tantrik aspirant seeks to face her without fear and thus win her appreciation.
Siddha-Kali is the form taken by Kali when she is pleased with the Tantrik aspirant. In this form, she reveals the occult mysteries of the cosmos to the worthy hero and makes him powerful. Bejewelled with the sun and the moon as her earrings, she has the complexion of a deep blue lotus in the moonlight. She has a flaming tongue and drinks the nectar of immortality from a skull, which she shares with the Tantrik hero.
Guhya-Kali, according to Tantra Sara, is the mysterious occult teacher of Tantra who lives in caves far away from human habitation. She has sunken eyes, wears black clothes, and has snakes for jewellery. Sometimes she has the crescent moon on her forehead, sometimes she nurses Shiva who takes the form of her child, and sometimes she appears with ten heads before those determined to see her.
As Bhadra-Kali, the fierce protector, she holds weapons of war in her hands, including an axe, a trident, a whip, a bell and a rattle-drum to frighten enemies. The skull that she uses as her drinking bowl also serves as the top of her mace.
As Chamunda-Kali, she is dark, emaciated, gaunt with bloodshot eyes, fangs and claws, shrivelled breasts, a scorpion on her sunken belly and a tiger skin around her waist. She sits on a pile of corpses, eats entrails, smears herself with gore, and drinks blood.
One of two
Traditionally, Tantrik schools are classified as Kali-kula and Shri-kula—the former worships the dark, fearsome forms of the Devi and the latter worships the fair, alluring forms. As Kali, the Devi is Tripura-Bhairavi, the most terrifying form in the three worlds; as Shri-Vidya, she is Tripura-Sundari, the most beautiful form. As Kali, the Devi bears weapons of war and skulls; as Shri, she bears symbols of fertility, including sugarcane, a parrot, conch shells and lotus flowers. As Kali, the Devi demands blood sacrifice; as Shri she gives food and knowledge to her devotees. Kali thus represents the ‘other’ face of Nature, one that is wild and untamed, one that is associated with death and decay, one that mankind tries very hard to deny, repress and suppress. Those of the Kali-kula school are also known as Vama-Tantriks or the left-handed Tantriks because their rites include objects and activities th
at defile the sanctity of religion, such as the use of flesh, alcohol, blood, corpses, hallucinogens and sex. Those of the Dakshina-Tantra or the right-handed Tantra school, who worship the Devi as Shri-Vidya, practise the same rites symbolically, substituting fruits and vegetables for animal and human sacrifices and red powder for blood.
The idea of the ‘two-faced’ goddess is at the core of the simplest and most ancient form of Devi-worship that exists in most villages of India, where a grama-devi or a village-goddess embodies the village itself. The deity is commonly represented by a vermillion- or saffron-smeared stone with a prominent pair of metal eyes. She has no body; the entire village—with its houses and fields—constitutes her body. The villagers in effect, live on the body of the village-goddess. This body is nothing but the wilderness, which has been fenced and domesticated to sustain a human settlement. Metaphorically speaking, wild Nature has been tamed, Kali has been converted to Shri, in order to establish and sustain the village.
However, once a year, the village-goddess returns to her wild state: Shri becomes Kali. Her tongue spreads across the village and she demands blood. This happens in autumn, after the harvest. This is the time when a male buffalo representing the dark, unspoken desires of the villagers—visualized as a demon—is sacrificed to the village-goddess. In the celebrations that follow, women get hysterical fits as they let their suppressed emotions express themselves. Men walk on fire or indulge in hook-swinging. Blood is spilt and pain experienced. The village experiences the wild side of Nature that the villagers otherwise keep at bay with their rules in order to establish and preserve the community.
Villagers address the grama-devi as Amma, Ai, Mata—various vernacular terms for mother. Her life-giving form Shri is known by various names, including Gauri, the radiant one; Mangala, the auspicious one; Bimala, the untainted one; and Lalita, the beautiful one. Her life-taking form Kali is known as Bhairavi, the fearsome one; Chamunda, the killer; Chandi, the aggressive one; and Jari-Mari, the hot-cold one. The following story from Shiva Purana clearly links the two forms of the Devi:
Kali’s dark form, outstretched tongue, naked body scared everyone in the three worlds. The terrified gods, demons and humans invoked Shiva and begged him to calm her down. Shiva promised to help. He stood before Kali and began laughing. ‘Why are you laughing?’ asked a curious Kali. ‘They say you are beautiful. But take a look at yourself; you look dark and hideous,’ replied Shiva. Kali went to a river and saw her reflection. She realized what Shiva said was true. She bathed in the river until her black skin turned golden. She emerged looking beautiful. Shiva called her Gauri, the radiant one, and took her to his abode where she resumed her role as his consort. Kali’s dark complexion was absorbed by the river, which became deep blue in colour. The river became known as Kalindi.
One of three
Between the fifth century BC and the fifth century AD, Hinduism was transformed. Vedic rituals were being abandoned, monastic ideology was gaining popularity and society was becoming increasingly theistic. People sought an almighty deity who would answer their prayers and solve their problems. Some visualized the deity as male—either the ascetic Shiva or the regal Vishnu. Others visualized the deity as female.
Devi-worshippers were known as Shaktas. Their deity, Mahadevi (which literally means ‘the great goddess’), was the embodiment of shakti (energy or substance of the cosmos), prakriti (the natural, material world), and maya (perceived reality). In shrines she was represented by three stones, each stone embodying a third of her divinity. The stones represented Maha-Lakshmi, Maha-Saraswati, and Maha-Kali, the goddesses of wealth, knowledge and power. Shrines where three stones still represent the Devi are located at Vaishno-Devi in Jammu, Mookambika in Karnataka and Maha-Lakshmi in Mumbai.
As one of the triad, Kali is rarely depicted with an outstretched tongue, but her symbols such as the lion and the trident dominate the shrine. Blood sacrifice associated with Kali is, however, discouraged as worshippers prefer to visualize the goddess in her milder, vegetarian form.
The following story from a Kannada ballad, which is a recurring theme in many folk narratives, informs us how the three forms of the Devi came into being when male deities usurped the primal position once occupied by the ultimate female divinity. In the story, cultural values such as incest taboo are associated with the male deities, implying that the female deities are embodiments of ‘wild Nature’ while the male deities are upholders of ‘domesticated Culture’:
Once long ago, even before there was the sun and the moon in the sky, there bloomed a lotus in the ocean of milk. On that lotus sat the Goddess, Mahadevi, who is Adi-Maya-Shakti, the mother of all forms. All alone and lonely, she decided to create a consort to please her. She produced three eggs. From the first one came Brahma, who looked like a priest ready to perform a yagna. From the second came Vishnu, who looked like a king ready to uphold dharma. From the third came Shiva, with matted locks, who looked like an ascetic. All three were handsome and the Devi desired them all. She first went to Brahma. ‘Be my husband and make me happy,’ she said, smiling coquettishly. Brahma was horrified. ‘You are my mother,’ he said, ‘You ask me to do what a son must not do!’ Mahadevi said, ‘This does not apply to me. I make the rules.’ Brahma refused to satisfy the Devi. Angry, she opened her third eye, let loose a glance of fire and reduced Brahma to ashes. The Devi then approached Vishnu. He too turned away, refusing to do what a son must not do with his mother. His fate was the same as Brahma’s. Then standing between two piles of ashes where Brahma and Vishnu once stood, Mahadevi looked at Shiva. ‘Well, will you be my husband and quench my thirst?’ Shiva knew what was in store for him if he refused. ‘I will,’ he said, ‘but don’t you think to be a worthy husband I should have more strength than you? Otherwise everyone will mock you and me.’ The Devi agreed. She shared her wisdom with Shiva, even the ability to create things out of thin air. But Shiva was not satisfied. Give me the jewel that rests on your forehead. ‘That is no jewel. That is the third eye, the source of all my power,’ said Mahadevi. ‘Give me the third eye, then,’ said Shiva. Mahadevi, blinded by lust, agreed. She plucked out her third eye and gave it to Shiva. No sooner had he laid his hands on the Devi’s power than he reduced her to ashes. Then using his new-found powers, Shiva revived Brahma and Vishnu. They looked at the heap of ash where Mahadevi once stood. ‘What do we do with that?’ They decided to create wives out of it. They divided the ash into three heaps. Brahma transformed one heap into Lakshmi, made her the goddess of wealth, called her his sister and gave her in marriage to Vishnu. Vishnu transformed the second heap into Kali, made her the goddess of power, called her his sister and gave her in marriage to Shiva. Shiva transformed the third heap into Saraswati, made her the goddess of knowledge, called her his sister and gave her in marriage to Brahma. From the tiny amounts of ash left behind came many dark, naked and fierce-looking goddesses with fangs, bloodshot eyes and unbound hair, holding serpents and sickles in their hands. These became village-goddesses, ready to fight with demons and inflict disease on villagers who annoyed them.
One of several
Kali or a Kali-like goddess is often one of the seven Kumaris (virgins), one of the seven Matrikas (mothers), one of the ten Maha-Vidyas (teachers), one of the sixty-four Yoginis (witches) or one of the 108 Dakinis (crones). Although each member of these groups has a unique name and a characteristic form, no member is worshipped in isolation. They are sacred as a group.
The Matrikas are no different from Kumaris—virgins who inadvertently become the mothers of Skanda, the hypermasculine commander of the celestial armies. Skanda is born of the seed of one god—Agni, the fire-god, in early scriptures, and Shiva, the ascetic-god, in later scriptures—which is so potent that it needs to be incubated in seven virgin wombs. The narratives vary on how the seven sisters, sometimes described as wives of the seven celestial sages, get pregnant. In the following story from the Mahabharata, the sisters make love to Agni through a surrogate:
The fire-god,
Agni, burnt with lust at the sight of the wives of the seven celestial sages but he knew that his passion for married women was inappropriate. He would caress the women with his heat and light each time they approached the fire-altar to make offerings to the gods. Realizing that it was just a matter of time before Agni had illicit relations with these unsuspecting women, Agni’s consort Svaha decided to take the matter into her own hands. She took the form of the seven women and made love to her husband seven times. She succeeded only six times as the seventh sister was too chaste. Agni therefore spilt his seed six times. This Svaha collected and transformed into a single hypermasculine child called Skanda who was powerful enough to lead the celestial armies even when he was a child. His passion spent, Agni thanked Svaha for saving him from committing an unforgivable crime.
In the Skanda Purana, six of the Kumaris become pregnant when they bathe in a pond in which the gods have placed a potent seed of Shiva. Though innocent, the women are accused of adultery. To purify their bodies of shame, they shed the unborn child. A forest fire fuses the six foetuses into the six-headed Skanda. The virgins are sometimes called the Krittikas, hence Skanda is also known as Kartikeya, the son of the six virgins.
The Mahabharata mentions that outraged at being penalized for no fault of theirs, the virgins turn into ferocious beings. They decide to kill Skanda, but no sooner do they lay their eyes on their child than they are overcome with maternal affection. Skanda declares, ‘If women do not worship you, feel free to destroy their unborn and newborn children.’ The virgins thus become goddesses of several childhood ailments. They are appeased with offerings of neem leaves, curd and lemons every time a child or pregnant woman has fever with pox or rashes. Their shrines are no more than seven vermillion-smeared stones on the banks of water bodies, usually under neem trees.
The Book of Kali Page 2