Kali, Mother of all

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The worship of a mother goddess as the source of life and fertility

has prehistoric roots, but the transformation of that deity into a

Great goddess of cosmic powers was achieved with the composition of

the Devi Mahatmya (Glory of the goddess), a text of the fifth to

sixth century, when worship of the female principle took on dramatic

new dimensions. The goddess is not only the mysterious source of

life, she is the very soil, all-creating and all consuming.

Kali makes her 'official' debut in the Devi-Mahatmya, where she is

said to have emanated from the brow of Goddess Durga (slayer of

demons) during one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine

forces. Etymologically Durga's name means "Beyond Reach". She is thus

an echo of the woman warrior's fierce virginal autonomy. In this

context Kali is considered the 'forceful' form of the great goddess

Durga.

Kali is represented as a Black woman with four arms; in one hand she

has a sword, in another the head of the demon she has slain, with the

other two she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two

dead bodies and wears a necklace of skulls ; her only clothing is a

girdle made of dead men's hands, and her tongue protrudes from her

mouth. Her eyes are red, and her face and breasts are besmeared with

blood. She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the

breast of her husband.

Kali's fierce appearances have been the subject of extensive

descriptions in several earlier and modern works. Though her fierce

form is filled with awe- inspiring symbols, their real meaning is not

what it first appears- they have equivocal significance:

 

 

 

Kali's blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature,

because black is the color in which all other colors merge; black

absorbs and dissolves them. 'Just as all colors disappear in black,

so all names and forms disappear in her' (Mahanirvana Tantra). Or

black is said to represent the total absence of color, again

signifying the nature of Kali as ultimate reality. This in Sanskrit

is named as nirguna (beyond all quality and form). Either way, Kali's

black color symbolizes her transcendence of all form.

 

 

 

A devotee poet says:

"Is Kali, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion? She appears black

because She is viewed from a distance; but when intimately known She

is no longer so.The sky appears blue at a distance, but look at it

close by and you will find that it has no colour. The water of the

ocean looks blue at a distance,but when you go near and take it in

your hand, you find that it is colourless."

.... Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836-86)

Kali's nudity has a similar meaning. In many instances she is

described as garbed in space or sky clad. In her absolute, primordial

nakedness she is free from all covering of illusion. She is Nature

(Prakriti in Sanskrit), stripped of 'clothes'. It symbolizes that she

is completely beyond name and form, completely beyond the illusory

effects of maya (false consciousness). Her nudity is said to

represent totally illumined consciousness, unaffected by maya. Kali

is the bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the clothes of

ignorance. Such truth simply burns them away.

She is full-breasted; her motherhood is a ceaseless creation. Her

disheveled hair forms a curtain of illusion, the fabric of space -

time which organizes matter out of the chaotic sea of quantum-foam.

Her garland of fifty human heads, each representing one of the fifty

letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the repository of

knowledge and wisdom. She wears a girdle of severed human hands-

hands that are the principal instruments of work and so signify the

action of karma. Thus the binding effects of this karma have been

overcome, severed, as it were, by devotion to Kali. She has blessed

the devotee by cutting him free from the cycle of karma. Her white

teeth are symbolic of purity (Sans. Sattva), and her lolling tongue

which is red dramatically depicts the fact that she consumes all

things and denotes the act of tasting or enjoying what society

regards as forbidden, i.e. her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the

world's "flavors".

Kali's four arms represent the complete circle of creation and

destruction, which is contained within her. She represents the

inherent creative and destructive rhythms of the cosmos. Her right

hands, making the mudras of "fear not" and conferring boons,

represent the creative aspect of Kali, while the left hands, holding

a bloodied sword and a severed head represent her destructive aspect.

The bloodied sword and severed head symbolize the destruction of

ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is the sword of

knowledge, that cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false

consciousness (the severed head). Kali opens the gates of freedom

with this sword, having cut the eight bonds that bind human beings.

Finally her three eyes represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which

she is able to observe the three modes of time: past, present and

future. This attribute is also the origin of the name Kali, which is

the feminine form of 'Kala', the Sanskrit term for Time.

Another symbolic but controversial aspect of Kali is her proximity to the cremation ground:

O Kali, Thou art fond of cremation grounds; so I have turned my heart

into oneThat thou, a resident of cremation grounds, may dance there

unceasingly.O Mother! I have no other fond desire in my heart; fire

of a funeral pyre is burning there; O Mother! I have preserved the

ashes of dead bodies all aroundthat Thou may come. O Mother! Keeping

Shiva, conqueror of Death, under Thy feet, Come, dancing to the tune

of music; Prasada waits With his eyes closed

.... Ramprasad (1718-75)

Kali's dwelling place, the cremation ground denotes a place where the

five elements (Sanskrit: pancha mahabhuta) are dissolved. Kali dwells

where dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion and worship, this

denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust, and other binding

emotions, feelings, and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this

burning takes place, and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. The

devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns

away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner

cremation fire in the heart is the fire of knowledge, (Sanskrit:

gyanagni), which Kali bestows.

The image of a recumbent Shiva lying under the feet of Kali represents

Shiva as the passive potential of creation and Kali as his Shakti. The

generic term Shakti denotes the Universal feminine creative principle

and the energizing force behind all male divinity including Shiva.

Shakti is known by the general name Devi, from the root 'div',

meaning to shine. She is the Shining One, who is given different

names in different places and in different appearances, as the symbol

of the life-giving powers of the Universe. It is she that powers him.

This Shakti is expressed as the i in Shiva's name. Without this i,

Shiva becomes Shva, which in Sanskrit means a corpse. Thus suggesting

that without his Shakti, Shiva is powerless or inert.

Kali is a particularly appropriate image for conveying the idea of the

world as the play of the gods. The spontaneous, effortless, dizzying

creativity of the divine reflex is conveyed in her wild appearance.

Insofar as kali is identified with the phenomenal world, she presents

a picture of that world that underlies its ephemeral and unpredictable

nature. In her mad dancing, disheveled hair, and eerie howl there is

made present the hint of a world reeling, careening out of control.

The world is created and destroyed in Kali's wild dancing, and the

truth of redemption lies in man's awareness that he is invited to

take part in that dance, to yield to the frenzied beat of the

Mother's dance of life and death.

O Kali, my Mother full of Bliss! Enchantress of the almighty Shiva!In

Thy delirious joy Thou dancest, clapping Thy hands together!Thou art

the Mover of all that move, and we are but Thy helpless toys

....Ramakrishna Paramhans

Kali and her attendants dance to rhythms pounded out by Shiva (Lord of

destruction) and his animal-headed attendants who dwell in the

Himalayas. Associated with chaos and uncontrollable destruction,

Kali's own retinue brandishes swords and holds aloft skull cups from

which they drink the blood that intoxicates them. Kali, like Shiva,

has a third eye, but in all other respects the two are distinguished

from one another. In contrast to Shiva's sweet statement, plump body,

and ash white complexion, dark kali's emaciated limbs, angular

gestures, and fierce grimace convey a wild intensity. Her loose hair,

skull garland, and tiger wrap whip around her body as she stomps and

claps to the rhythm of the dance.

Many stories describe Kali's dance with Shiva as one that "threatens

to destroy the world" by its savage power. Art historian Stella

Kramrisch has noted that the image of kali dancing with Shiva follows

closely the myth of the demon Daruka. When Shiva asks his wife Parvati

to destroy this demon, she enters Shiva's body and transforms herself

from the poison that is stored in his throat. She emerges from Shiva

as Kali, ferocious in appearance, and with the help of her flesh

eating retinue attacks and defeats the demon. Kali however became so

intoxicated by the blood lust of battle that her aroused fury and

wild hunger threatened to destroy the whole world. She continued her

ferocious rampage until Shiva manifested himself as an infant and lay

crying in the midst of the corpse-strewn field. Kali, deceived by

Shiva's power of illusion, became calm as she suckled the baby. When

evening approached, Shiva performed the dance of creation (tandava)

to please the goddess. Delighted with the dance, Kali and her

attendants joined in.

This terrific and poignant imagery starkly reveals the nature of Kali

as the Divine Mother. Ramaprasad expresses his feelings thus:

Behold my Mother playing with Shiva, lost in an ecstasy of joy!Drunk

with a draught of celestial wine, She reels, and yet does not fall.

Erect She stands on Shiva's bosom, and the earth Trembles under Her

tread; She and Her Lord are mad with frenzy, casting Aside all fear

and shame.

.... Ramprasad (1718-75)

Kali's human and maternal qualities continue to define the goddess for

most of her devotees to this day. In human relationships, the love

between mother and child is usually considered the purest and

strongest. In the same way, the love between the Mother Goddess and

her human children is considered the closest and tenderest

relationship with divinity. Accordingly, Kali's devotees form a

particularly intimate and loving bond with her. But the devotee never

forgets Kali's demonic, frightening aspects. He does not distort

Kali's nature and the truths she reveals; he does not refuse to

meditate on her terrifying features. He mentions these repeatedly in

his songs but is never put off or repelled by them. Kali may be

frightening, the mad, forgetful mistress of a world spinning out of

control, but she is, after all, the Mother of all. As such, she must

be accepted by her children- accepted in wonder and awe, perhaps, but

accepted nevertheless. The poet in an intimate and lighter tone

addresses the Mother thus:

O Kali! Why dost Thou roam about nude? Art Thou not ashamed, Mother!

Garb and ornaments Thou hast none; yet Thou Pridest in being King's

daughter. O Mother! Is it a virtue of Thy family that Thou Placest

thy feet on Thy husband? Thou art nude; Thy husband is nude; you both

roam cremation grounds. O Mother! We are all ashamed of you; do put on

thy garb. Thou hast cast away Thy necklace of jewels, Mother, And worn

a garland of human heads.Prasada says, "Mother! Thy fierce beauty has

frightenedThy nude consort.

.... Ramaprasad

The soul that worships becomes always a little child: the soul that

becomes a child finds God oftenest as mother. In a meditation before

the Blessed Sacrament, some pen has written the exquisite assurance:

"My child, you need not know much in order to please Me. Only Love Me

dearly. Speak to me, as you would talk to your mother, if she had

taken you in her arms."

Kali's boon is won when man confronts or accepts her and the realities

she dramatically conveys to him. The image of Kali, in a variety of

ways, teaches man that pain, sorrow, decay, death, and destruction

are not to be overcome or conquered by denying them or explaining

them away. Pain and sorrow are woven into the texture of man's life

so thoroughly that to deny them is ultimately futile. For man to

realize the fullness of his being, for man to exploit his potential

as a human being, he must finally accept this dimension of existence.

Kali's boon is freedom, the freedom of the child to revel in the

moment, and it is won only after confrontation or acceptance of

death. To ignore death, to pretend that one is physically immortal,

to pretend that one's ego is the center of things, is to provoke

Kali's mocking laughter. To confront or accept death, on the

contrary, is to realize a mode of being that can delight and revel in

the play of the gods. To accept one's mortality is to be able to let

go, to be able to sing, dance, and shout. Kali is Mother to her

devotees not because she protects them from the way things really are

but because she reveals to them their mortality and thus releases them

to act fully and freely, releases them from the incredible, binding

web of "adult" pretense, practicality, and rationality.

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Shankaree

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