Kali
Kali is a destructive and
creative mother goddess in Hinduism. Kali is the fierce aspect of Devi, the
supreme goddess, who is fundamental to all other Hindu deities.
The continuous, ongoing work of Creation is described as "the play of Kali".
Sculpture depicting Kali in Khatmandu, NepalKali is considered to be the
destroyer of evil spirits and the preserver of devotees. She is the consort of
Shiva. Her name apparently derives from the word 'kala' (Sanskrit for 'time'
or 'dark'); it also means Black Female, in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who
is white; and Kali is the common name for Energy in her form as Shiva's wife,
or Shakti. She is also called Durga. Other names are: Bhowani Devi, Sati,
Rudrani, Parvati, Chinnamastika, Kamakshi, Uma, Menakshi, Himavati, Kumari.
These names, if repeated, are believed to give special power to the
worshipper.
Skulls, cemeteries, and blood are associated with her worship. She is black
and emaciated. Her face is azure, streaked with yellow, her glance is
ferocious; her disheveled and bristly hair is usually shown splayed and spread
like the tail of a peacock and sometimes braided with green serpents. She
wears a long necklace (descending almost to her knees) of human skulls. She
may be shown wearing a girdle of severed arms. Children's corpses as earrings,
and cobras as bracelets or garlands add to her terrifying adornments. Her
purple lips are often shown streaming with blood; her tusk-like teeth descend
over her lower lip; and her tongue lolls out. She is often shown standing on
the inert form of her consort, Shiva. She is sometimes accompanied by
she-demons. Her eight arms hold weapons or the severed head of a demon: these
objects symbolize both her creative and her destructive power, for Kali
personifies the ambivalence of deity, which manifests itself, according to
Indian tradition, in the unceasing cycle of life and death, creation and
destruction.
Some of her greatest 'bhaktas' (loving devotees) are to be found in the West
Bengal, South India and Kashmir traditions. Best known is the saint Shri
Ramakrishna. A vast poetic tradition evolved around Kali as a loving albeit
often unpredicatble mother, of infinite tenderness to her devotees. Among
these greats of the Bengali literature on Kali are Ramprasad Sen.
Some of her biggest temples are to be found in the North-East of India, in
particular in Kolkata, West Bengal: Kalighat and Dakshineshwar, and in the
equally famed Kammakha in Assam.
Her poor reputation in the West came from the cult of the Thuggee, Hindus and
Muslims who took the goddess Kali as their deity. They robbed and murdered
travellers as sacrifices to Kali and were broken up by the British.
For her Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of
death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing,
maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no cn has only one side:
as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death.
Source:
Wikipedia.org
|
