Kali Ma

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Kali's Worship and History, Kali in Other Countries

 

Worship of Kali takes many forms. Modern eclectic pagans, Hindu syncretists, and

those who do not follow a categorizable path may wish to perform rituals to

focus on Kali. One form of this is puja, or showing reverence to a deity by

making spiritual connection with the deity through invocation, rituals and

prayers.

 

Kali, the Primordial Mother Goddess of Hindu tantric tradition, has her origins

in India's archaic matriarchal culture. Her radiant blackness protected the

dark-skinned tribes who worshipped her and inspired fear and dread in their

enemies. She was, originally, a warrior goddess, worshipped with blood sacrifice

and offerings of flesh and liquor. She was always viewed as all-powerful,

awesome, as mysterious as night, fierce, passionately sensual and demanding. Yet

to her worshippers she was always the all-merciful Protectress, filled with

sublime love and compassion, a Granter-of-boons. Above all, Dark Kali was and

still is Kali Ma, "Kali the Mother", the Cosmic Female Power, always available

for Her devotees, ready to remove their suffering, their negative Karma, their

fear of time (Kala) and death, always ready to bestow bliss and liberation.

 

 

 

 

 

The current representation of Kali is relatively new. Sometime in the mid to

late 16th century, Krsnananda Agamavagisa, a Bengali mystic (born about 1500

AD.) had a powerful experience which caused him to formalize and tell of a "new"

form of Kali. According to Dr. S.C. Banerji, a noted historian of Tantra,

"Krsnananda is credited with the conception, for the first time, of the Kali

image current in Bengal."

 

It is said that Krsnananda Agamavagisa went to bathe in a river near a

cremation-ground (either at Tarapith or Bakreshwar, both in West Bengal). There

he happened to disturb a dark-skinned tribal girl who, believing she was alone,

had stripped nude and was washing herself using a discarded skull-cap from a

nearby funeral pyre. She had her long black hair untied and was engrossed in her

ablutions. Embarassed by Krsnananda's sudden presence, she stuck out her tongue

in shyness (a reflex action still done by village girls in India). Krsnananda,

who had been trying to understand how best to comprehend the many varied forms

of the Dark Goddess, and how to get a direct vision of Her, had a sudden

spiritual insight. He viewed this tribal girl as a living Kali, and took the

"vision" of her naked dark body, long dishevelled hair, extended tongue and

skull in hand as a new and especially potent icon of the Great Goddess.

 

Using this insight as his meditation, he became perfected. He had images made of

this "new" and potent form of Kali and worshipped them as his deeper Self. He

spread this special form of Kali far and wide. In about 1580 AD. he wrote a text

known as the Tantrasara, a "Compendium of Tantras", in which he gave the

following description of the Dark Goddess and which forms the basis of the

typical "Bengali" Kali icon:

 

"Possessed of complexion like the color of sapphire, blue like the sky,

extremely fierce, defeating gods and demons, three- eyed, crying very loudly,

decked with all ornaments, holding a human skull and a small sword, standing on

the moon and sun."

 

Krsnananda described other forms of Kali, named Daksina Kali, Guhya Kali, Bhadra

Kali, Smashana Kali and Maha Kali - meaning "Right, from the South, Kali",

"Secret Kali", "Adamantine Kali", "Cremation-ground Kali" and "Great

Kali",

respectively. Of these, the form of Daksina Kali, also referred to as

DaksinaKalika, is described by him thus:

 

"Dishevelled hair, garland of human heads, face with long or projecting teeth,

four arms, lower left holding a human head just severed, upper left holding a

sword, lower right hand posed as if giving a boon, the upper right hand posed

granting freedom from fear, deep dark complexion, naked, two corpses or arrows

as ornaments in the two ears, girdle of the hands of corpses, three eyes,

radiant like the morning sun, standing on the chest of Mahadeva(Shiva) lying

like a corpse, surrounded by jackals."

 

 

 

 

 

Kali in Other Cultures

Variations on the name Kali for female divinity can be found in many ancient

cultures outside India, which suggests that in the distant past a common or

related matriarchal religion pervaded much of the world. For example, in

pre-historic Ireland people worshipped a powerful goddess known as Kele (her

priestesses were known as Kelles), in ancient Finland there was the all-powerful

goddess Kal-ma, in the Sinai region of the Middle East there was the goddess

Kalu, and in ancient Greece an aspect of the goddess was known as Kalli. It is

likely that these very similar names for the Great Goddess in different cultures

was the result of the export of spiritual ideas and practices "out of India"

prior to the early invasions by light-skinned Aryans (probably around 1500 BC.).

 

The dark goddess Kali also became known and revered in Tibet. Known there as

Lhamo ("God Mother"), several different forms of Her are in the Tibetan

pantheon. As the "Great sickle-wielding all-powerful Queen Mother Goddess" (dPal

ldan dmag zor rgyal mo), She is the Guardian Goddess of Lhasa, the Tibetan

capital and She is the Chief Protectress of the Gelugpa sect of Lamaism, of

which the Dalai Lama is the supreme hierarch. She is the wrathful Protector of

the Buddhist Dharma in Tibet, visualised at the base of the trunk of the

"lineage tree" of several sects. She is the only feminine deity among the

Buddhist Dharmapalas, the Defenders of the Law of Buddhism and one of her names,

Sri Devi, tells of her Hindu origin. A two-armed form of Lhamo/Kali is described

in a Tibetan text as follows:

 

"The goddess is of dark blue hue, has one face, two hands, and rides on a mule.

With her right hand she brandishes a huge sandalwood club adorned with a

thunderbolt and with her left hand she holds in front of her breast the

blood-filled skull of a child. She wears a flowing garment of black silk and a

loincloth made of rough material. Her ornaments are a diadem of skulls, a

garland of freshly-cut heads, a girdle of snakes, and bone ornaments, and her

whole body is covered with the ashes of cremated corpses. She has three eyes,

bares her fangs, and the hair on her head stands on end. She carries a sack of

karmic things and a pair of dice. Among her retinue are countless black birds,

black dogs and black sheep."

 

In various Tibetan Lhamo sadhana texts her names are given as "Kali", "Maha

Kali", "Dhumavati Devi","Chandika Devi","Remati" and "Shankapali

Devi", all of

which are found in Hindu Tantra.

 

 

 

Hammered copper and cast metal image of Lhamo (Kali) in her two-armed form,

riding on a mule through an ocean of blood. She is attended by two animal-headed

goddesses. From Tibet, circa 18th century, height 7 ft 3 inches. The web address

is:http://paganpaths.net/worship.html With Love Shankaree

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

At 7:14 PM 18/7/2, shankaree ramatas wrote:

>The current representation of Kali is relatively new.

 

Namaste.

 

I share your interest in how Kali worship developed historically.

 

But I am not convinced that the current representation of Kali is as new as

you think.

>Sometime in the mid to late 16th century, Krsnananda Agamavagisa, a

>Bengali mystic (born about 1500 AD.) had a powerful experience which

>caused him to formalize and tell of a "new" form of Kali. According to Dr.

>S.C. Banerji, a noted historian of Tantra, "Krsnananda is credited with

>the conception, for the first time, of the Kali image current in Bengal."

 

I have in front of me a copy of Dr S.C.Banerji's book _A Brief History of

Tantra Literature_, published by Naya Prokash, Calcutta, 1988. On page 475,

Dr Banerji says:

 

"It is said that Krsnananda was the first man to introduce Daksina Kali,

the most popular form in Bengal. But, this impression seems to be

erroneous. This image has been described also in pre-Krsnananda works. The

description of this form of Kali occurs in the _Kali Tantra_ (i.27 ff),

quoted in the _Tantrasara_."

 

Another historian, Pratapaditya Pal, has written a detailed study in

English of Krsnananda's work, the _Tantrasara_. Pal's book is called _Hindu

Religion and Iconography According to the Tantrasara_. (Vichitra Press, Los

Angeles, 1981)

 

According to Pal, the _Kali Tantra_ was only one of many books cited by

Krsnananda, who "was obviously an extraordinarily erudite man and... owned

a vast library that must have been a storehouse of religious literature".

(Pal, p1)

 

The dhyanas of Dakshina Kali found in the _Tantrasara_ are from the _Kali

Tantra_, the _Svatantra Tantra_, the _Siddhesvara Tantra_ and the

_Visvasara Tantra_. (Pal, pp 57 to 59)

>It is said that Krsnananda Agamavagisa went to bathe in a river near a

>cremation-ground (either at Tarapith or Bakreshwar, both in West Bengal).

>There he happened to disturb a dark-skinned tribal girl who, believing she

>was alone, had stripped nude and was washing herself using a discarded

>skull-cap from a nearby funeral pyre. She had her long black hair untied

>and was engrossed in her ablutions. Embarassed by Krsnananda's sudden

>presence, she stuck out her tongue in shyness (a reflex action still done

>by village girls in India). Krsnananda, who had been trying to understand

>how best to comprehend the many varied forms of the Dark Goddess, and how

>to get a direct vision of Her, had a sudden spiritual insight. He viewed

>this tribal girl as a living Kali, and took the "vision" of her naked dark

>body, long dishevelled hair, extended tongue and skull in hand as a new

>and especially potent icon of the Great Goddess.

 

This is a beautiful story.

 

But it belongs to the category of legend, not history.

 

Om shantih,

 

Colin Robinson

(colinr)

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