Mother Kali - 1

[Guest guest]

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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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:<br><br>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<br>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.<br><br>....to be contd.