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KALI: THE MOST POWERFUL

COSMIC FEMALE

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 KALI: THE MOST POWERFUL COSMIC FEMALE

Article of the Month – February 2009

Kali, the embodiment of three-aspected cosmic act, which reveals in creation,

preservation and annihilation, is the most mysterious divinity of Indian religious
order, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Buddhist, Jain or any. She assures 'abhaya' –
fearlessness, by her one hand and 'varada' – benevolence, by the other, both
defining in perpetuity the ultimate disposition of her mind, but in contrast, the
feeling that the goddess inspires by her appearance, plundering death with the
naked sword carried in one of her other hands and feeding on blood gushing from
the bodies of her kills, is of awe and terror. Instruments of destruction are her
means of preservation, and from across the cremation ground, lit by burning pyres
and echoing with shrieks of moaning jackals and goblins, and from over
dismembered dead bodies – her chosen abode, routes her passage to life. The most
sacred, Kali shares her habitation with vile wicked flesh-eating 'pishachas' –
monsters, and rides a dead body. She is enamoured with Shiva but unites with
Shiva's 'shava' – the passive, enactive dead body, herself being its active agent. She
delights in destruction and laughs but only to shake with terror all four directions,
and the earth and the sky. A woman, Kali seeks to adorn herself but her ornaments
are a garland or necklace of severed human heads, girdle of severed human arms,
ear-rings of infants' corpses, bracelets of snakes – all loathsome and horrible-
looking. Such fusion of contradictions is the essence of Kali's being, a mysticism
which no other divinity is endowed with. Vashishtha Ganapati Muni has rightly said
of her:

"All here is a mystery of contraries,

Darkness, a magic of self-hidden light,
Suffering, some secret rapture's tragic
mask,
And death, an instrument of perpetual
life."

Kali

Page 2
Fusion of contraries – not just as two co-existents but as two essential aspects of
the same, is what defines Kali, as also the cosmos which she manifests. As from the
womb – darker than the ocean's deepest recesses where even a ray of light does not
reach, emerges life, so from the darkness is born the luminous light, and deeper the
darkness, more lustrous the light. A realisation in contrast to suffering, delight is
suffering's glowing face – her child born by contrast. The tree is born when the seed
explodes and its form is destroyed, that is, the life is death's re-birth, and form, all
its beauty and vigour, the deformation incarnate. This inter-related unity of
contraries defines both, cosmos and Kali. The dark-hued Kali, who represents in her
being darkness, suffering, death, deformation and ugly, is the most potent source of
life, light, happiness and beauty – the positive aspect of the creation. She destroys
to re-create, inflicts suffering so that the delight better reveals, and in her fearful
form one has the means of overcoming all fears, not by escaping but by befriending
them.

Light's invocation is common to all

religious orders and all divinities; in Kali's
invocation, the devotee stands face to face
with darkness which aggregates death,
destruction, suffering, fear and all
negative aspects of the universe. Not its
prey but a valiant warrior, the devotee
seeks to overcome darkness and uncover
all that it conceals – light, life, delight,
even liberation from the cycle of birth and
death. Kali assists him in his battle. She
allows her devotee to win her grace and
command thereby the total cosmic
darkness – accessible or inaccessible,
known or unknown, or unknowable, that
she condenses into her being. Otherwise
than thus condensed, the devotee could
not apprehend and command its cosmic
enormity. Kali is Tantrikas' supreme deity,
for in her they discover the instrument
which enables them command diverse
cosmic forces in one stroke. Kali's ages-
long popularity among ignorant primitive
tribes is inspired, perhaps, by her power to
reveal light out of darkness, something Mother Goddess Kali
that they have within and without and in
great abundance. Other way also, Kali
assures light in perpetuity. Cyclically, a journey that takes off from the light
terminates into darkness but that which takes off from the darkness is bound to land
into the valleys of endless light.

Page 3
 Invoking and befriending the awful
– the negative aspect of the
creation, and warding off thereby
evils and their influence, is a
primitive cult still prevalent in
world's several ethnic groups and
even classical traditions such as
Buddhism that has a number of
Kali-like awe-inspiring deities,

Wrathful Vajrapani with Wisdomfire Aureole

or Athenian tradition of Nemeses, the wrathful maidens inflicting retribution for a

wrong and effecting purgation by way of wreaking ill-fate. Not with such cosmic
width as has Kali, or for the attainment of such wide objectives as commanding
cosmic elements, motifs like the Chinese dragon, memento mori, a skeleton form
considered very auspicious by certain sections of Russian society, Islamic world's
semurga, grotesque and dreaded animal forms, ghost-masks… venerated world-
over, all reveal man's endeavour to befriend, or mitigate the influence of some or
the other wrathful aspect of nature – the manifest cosmos.

ORIGIN OF KALI

Not merely her form, mysticism

enshrouds Kali's origin also. Among
lines on which her origin has been
traced three are more significant,
though she transcends even those.
She is sometimes seen as a
transformation, or a form developed
out of some of the Vedic deities
alluded to in Brahmins and
Upanishadas, mainly Ratridevi, the
goddess of dark night, also named
Maha-ratri, the Transcendental Night,

Tantric Devi Series - Kalaratri - The Cosmic

Night

Page 4
and Nirtti, the cosmic dancer. Kali's darker aspect is claimed to have developed out
of Ratridevi's darkness, and her dance, which she performed to destroy, to have its
origin in the cosmic dance of Nirtti who too trampled over whatever fell under her
feet. Mundaka Upanishada talks of seven tongues of Agni, the Fire-god, one of them
operating in cremation ground and devouring the dead. Over-emphasising the
factum of association of Kali and this tongue of Agni with cremation ground a few
scholars have sought in Agni's tongue the origin of Kali's form.

Whatever variations in their versions, the Puranas perceive Kali as an aspect of Devi
– Goddess, a divinity now almost completely merged with Durga. However,
considering Kali's status as a goddess within her own right, as well as her wide-
spread worship-cult prevalent amongst various tribes and ethnic groups scattered
far and wide in remote rural areas Kali seems to be an indigenous, and perhaps,
pre-Vedic divinity. As suggests the term Kali, she appears to be the feminine aspect
of Kala – Time, that being invincible, immeasurable and endless has been venerated
as Mahakala – the Transcendental Time, represented in Indian metaphysical and
religious tradition by Shiva. In Hindu religious terminology Mahakala is Shiva's just
another name. Like Shiva, some Indus terracotta icons seem to represent a
ferocious female divinity that might be Kali or a form preceding her, and in all
probabilities, Shiva's feminine counterpart. Buddhism, a thought that opposed Vedic
perception in most matters, inducted into its pantheon Mahakala and a ferocious
female divinity in her various manifest forms, as Mahakala's feminine counterpart.
Obviously, Buddhism must have inducted her from a source other than the Vedic, as
the Vedic it vehemently opposed. Invoked with great fervour on many occasions in
the Mahabharata, more especially in Bhishma-Parva, just before Lord Krishna
delivers his Gita sermon, Kali seems to be a well established divinity during the Epic
days, that is, centuries before the Puranic era began. Though invoked as 'Arya', a
term denotative of great reverence, Arjuna lauds her as tenebrous maiden
garlanded with skulls, tawny, bronze-dark… and with epithets such as Mahakali,
Bhadrakali, Chandi, Kapali …, the features yet relevant in Kali's imagery. A number
of literary texts : Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava, Subandhu's Vasavadatta,
Banabhatta's Kadambari, Bhavabhuti's Malitimadhava, Somadeva's Yashatilaka…, of
the period from 2nd to 9th century, also allude to Kali, a fact denotative of her great
popularity in realms other than religion. This Kali essentially transcends Vedic
Ratridevi, Maharatri, Nritti or one of Agni's seven tongues or a divine form grown out
of any of them.

Page 5
 However, Kali cannot be attributed
this or that mode of origin. Even if a
goddess of indigenous origin and one
of primitive tribes, she has far greater
width and operativeness than the
non-operative boon-giving primitive
deities usually had. Unless her
absolute 'at homeness' in the
traditional Hindu line and her status in
it are sacrificed she can not be treated
as a mere tribal deity with indigenous
origin. Alike, the tradition can not owe
her as absolutely her own creation
unless her status of being a goddess
in her own right is compromised and
she is reduced to what she is not.
Whatever her origin, perhaps
indigenous, Kali emerges in the
tradition as its own with far greater
thrust and reverence than it attributed
to others. Not a mere epithet or
aspect of another goddess, Kali has
been conceived as the Shakti – Power
of Kala - Time. Like Kala she pervades
Devi's Victory all things, manifest or unmanifest.
Puranas perceive Kali as Durga's
personified wrath – her embodied fury, but in every case she is her real Shakti. Even
her own fury, Durga summons Kali to accomplish what she herself fails to do. After
Durga separates Kali from her being and Kali emerges with a form of her own – an
independent being, she reigns supreme in entire Hindu pantheon as regards the
power to destroy and defeat enemies.

Not merely Durga's Shakti, Kali has been conceived also as Lord Shiva's dynamic
aspect. In a delightful equation, 'a', the main component of 'Shava' and 'Kala',
negates what 'i', the main component of 'Shiva' and 'Kali', accomplishes. Shava is
the lifeless body, whatever is left of the manifest universe when the Power of Time
takes it under its control, and Kala is what reveals only in the manifest aspect of the
universe, and thus, both are 'timed'. When 'i', symbolic of the feminine energy which
manifests as Kali, unites into their beings transforming Shava into Shiva and Kala
into Kali, both emerge as 'timeless'. In Shiva this universe is contained, and hence,
in him, the transition from the 'timed' to the 'timeless' takes place. Kali, being the
Power of Time, does not undergo this transition.

Page 6
KALI IN PURANAS

Allusions to Kali occur in some early

Puranas too, it is, however, the 5th-6th
century Devi-Mahatmya, a part of the
Markandeya Purana, which comes out with
her more elaborate vision in regard to her
origin, appearance, personality, power and
exploits.

Mysticism of the Devi Mahatmya:

Worship of the Divine Mother

The Devi-Mahatmya comprises independent 'Dhyana' on Mahakali and uses Kali's

names, such as Bhadrakali, Kalika, Chandika… as epithets of Devi in its different
parts; these are, however, two episodes that give to her fuller exposure in regard to
her origin, role and other things. One of them relates to Chanda and Munda, the
ferocious demons she kills, and other, to Rakta-bija.

Defeated and thrown out of Devaloka – their abode, by demons Shumbha and
Nishumbha, erstwhile generals of Mahisha, gods lauded Devi and invoked her to
come to their rescue and free their abode from the notorious demons. Devi, bathing
in river Ganga as Parvati, heard gods' laudation and asked herself who they were
lauding, and when she so questioned, from her own being sprang up a female form
– a bewitching beauty that had unique lustre, teemed in great youthfulness, and was
richly bejeweled and brilliantly costumed. She replied that it was her they lauded.
She then proceeded to the region which demons of Shumbha's army swarmed and
sat under a tree all alone. Hearing of her from a messenger Shumbha intensely
desired to marry her and sent to her his proposal. However, the divine maiden sent
back his messenger with words that she would marry only such one who defeated
her in a battle. Thinking that a young maiden with no arms in hands was hardly a
challenge, Shumbha sent a small contingent to fight and capture her. The Goddess
defeated and destroyed it and one after the other all contingents that followed.
Finally, with a huge army of demons under the command of their generals Chanda
and Munda Shumbha and Nishumbha themselves came to fight the Goddess. Seeing
Chanda and Munda advancing towards her the Goddess blazed with fury. As the
Devi-Mahatmya has it:

Page 7
 "From the knitted brows of her
forehead's surface
immediately came forth Kali,
with her dreadful face, carrying
sword and noose,
she carried a strange skull-topped
staff,
and wore a garland of human heads,
she was shrouded in a tiger skin,
and looked utterly gruesome
with her emaciated skin,
her widely gaping mouth, terrifying
with its lolling tongue,
with sunken, reddened eyes
and a mouth that filled the directions
Annihilation of Demons Shumbha and Nishumbha
with roars."

The Goddess asked Kali to

destroy demons' army,
Chanda and Munda in
particular, on which Kali
inflicted great destruction all
around, danced on the
corpses, killed Chanda and
Munda and as trophies of war
brought to the Goddess their
severed heads. The Goddess
attributed to Kali the epithet
of Chamunda – destroyer of
Chanda and Munda. Deaths
of Chanda and Munda greatly
infuriated Shumbha and
Nishumbha and with all
demons at their command,
which included the demon Matrikas and Mahavidyas Battling Against Demons
Rakta-bija and others of his
clan, they attacked the Goddess and surrounded her along Kali from all sides. To
face their massive number the Goddess summoned Sapta-Matrikas – Seven
Mothers, Brahmani, Maheshwari, Kumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Narsimhi and Aindri, the
powers of all major gods, Brahma, Shiva, Skanda, Vishnu and Indra.

Page 8
 A fierce battle ensued but what
upset the Goddess most was
the multiplication of Rakta-bija
who had a boon to the effect
that a new Rakta-bija demon
would rise from wherever a
drop of his blood fell. Finally,
the Goddess called Kali to drink
the blood of Rakta-bija before
it fell on the earth. With a
gaped mouth devouring hosts
of demons and a tongue
extended into all directions and
moving faster than did the
demon Kali consumed every
drop of blood oozing from the
Annihilation of Raktabija by Goddess Durga and Kali wounds of Rakta-bija.

Not Devi-Mahatmya alone, almost all Puranas, Agni and Garuda in particular,
venerate Kali as the goddess who assures success in war and eliminates enemies.
Skanda Purana links Kali's origin to Parvati. Initially Parvati had dark complexion for
which Shiva used to tease her every now and then. One day on being addressed
twice as Kali – black-complexioned, Parvati deserted Shiva. She said that she would
not return unless she got rid of her black complexion. After Parvati left, Shiva felt
very lonely. Taking advantage of her absence and Shiva's loneliness a demon named
Adi, who was looking for an opportunity to kill Shiva and avenge his father's death,
disguised as Parvati and managed to enter into Shiva's chamber. It took some time
but Shiva identified the demon, and soon killed him. Meanwhile by rigorous penance
and with Brahma's help Parvati was able to cast off her outer black sheath and from
inside emerged her golden form. Now Gauri – golden-hued, she came back to Shiva.
Gods, looking for a female form to kill Mahisha, transformed with their lustre this
black sheath of Parvati into Kali and after she had accomplished gods' errand Parvati
banished her to the region beyond Vindhya Mountain. Here she became known as
Katyayani.

Page 9
The Linga Purana contains yet
another episode responsible for Kali's
origin. A demon named Daruka had a
boon that no other than a woman
would kill him. In view of reports of
his atrocities reaching him, Shiva one
day asked Parvati to kill him.
Thereupon Parvati entered into the
body of Shiva and from the poison
contained in his throat transformed
herself and re-appeared as Kali. She
gathered an army of flesh-eating
Pishachas and with their help
destroyed Daruka. The Skanda
Purana further expands the legend.
Kali did not stop destruction even
after killing Daruka. Intoxicated by
consuming poison and demon's blood
Kali, uncontrollable as she was, went
crazy and by her destructive activities
endangered cosmic equilibrium.
Finally, Shiva transformed himself as
one of Kali's own forms and sucked
from Kali's breasts all poison after
which she became quiet. Goddess Kali Suckling Lord Shiva

Though in a different
context, an identical
tradition prevails in South
India. After defeating
Shumbha and Nishumbha
Kali retired to a forest with
her retinue of fierce
companions and began
terrorizing surroundings and
its inhabitants. A Shiva's
devotee went to him with
petition to get the forest
free of Kali's terror. When
Kali refused to oblige Shiva
claiming that it was her
domain, Shiva asked her to
compete him in dance to
which Kali agreed, though
unable, or perhaps
unwilling, to reach Shiva's
energy level she got
defeated and left.

The Dance of Shiva and Kali

Page 10
Though insignificantly, Kali's origin has been linked also with Sati, Shiva's first
consort, and Sita, consort of Lord Rama. Insulted by her father Daksha the
infuriated Sati rubbed her nose in anger and there appeared Kali. After conquering
Ravana Rama was returning to Ayodhya. On his way, it is said, he confronted a
monster that so much terrified Rama that in fear his blood froze. Thereupon Sita
transformed herself as Kali and defeated it.

KALI : APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITY

Numerous are Kali's

manifestations; however, her
external appearance, both in
texts as well as art, basic
nature and overall
personality do not vary
much. In her usual form the
black-hued Kali is a terrible
awe-inspiring divinity
frightening all by her
appearance. Except that
some of her body parts are
covered by her ornaments,
she is invariably naked. An
emaciated figure with long
disheveled hair and
gruesome face, Kali has been The Annihilation of Rakta Bija
conceived with any number
of arms from two to eighteen, and sometimes even twenty or more, though her
more usual form being four-armed. The four arms are interpreted as symbolising her
ability to operate into and command all four directions, that is, the cosmos in
aggregate. She has long sharp fangs, alike long ugly nails, a fire-emitting third eye
on her forehead, a lolling tongue and blood-smeared mouth, which, when expanded,
not only swallows hordes of demons but its lower part extends to ocean's depth and
upper, beyond the sky. When required to lick blood falling from a fleeing demon's
body she extends her tongue to any length and turns it faster than the wind in
whichever direction the blood falls.

In her more usual iconography Kali carries in one of her four hands an unsheathed
sword – her instrument to overcome enemies and command evils, in another, a
severed demon head, and other two are held in postures denotative of abhaya and
varada – fearlessness and benevolence. Sometimes, the severed head is replaced
with a skull-bowl filled with blood.

Page 11
 Abhaya is the essence of Kali's entire being.
One of the permanent dispositions of her
mind, 'abhaya' is her assurance against all
fears which, embodied in her, are rendered
inoperative or to operate only as
commanded. Denotative of her boundless
power to destroy, Kali's frightening aspect
is her power to dispel evil and wicked, and
in this the freedom from fear is re-assured.
Kali's usual place is a battlefield where all
around lay scattered pools of blood,
headless torsos, severed heads, arms and
other body-parts. When not in battlefield,
Kali roams around cremation ground where
reigns death's silence except when yelling
winds, groans of wailing jackals or sound of
fluttering wings of vultures tearing corpses
lying around break it. Its abyssal darkness,
which flames of pyres occasionally lit, is
what suits Kali most. In battlefield or
otherwise, she walks on foot. Except rarely
when she borrows or forcibly takes Durga's
lion or Shiva's Nandi, Kali does not use a
mount, an animal or whatever, either to
ride or to assist her in her battle. She
Mother Kali dances to destroy and under her dancing
feet lay the corpse of destruction. Standing
or seated, she has under her a sprawling ithyphallic corpse, not lotuses, the
favourite seat of most other deities. She stands upon nonexistence – the corpse of
the ruined universe, but which nonetheless contains the seed of new birth.

In her imagery while the corpse represents non-existence or ruined universe, Kali's
figure engaged in union either with Shiva or his Shava symbolise continuum of
creative process. The manifest universe is what veils Time but when Kali, the Power
of Time, has destroyed the manifest universe, that veil is lifted and Time, and
correspondingly Kali, the Power of Time, is rendered naked, a phenomenon that
Kali's naked form denotes.

By nature, Kali is always hungry and never sated. She laughs so loud that all three
worlds shake with terror. She dances madly not merely trampling upon corpses but
also on the live cosmos reducing it to non-existence. She crushes, breaks, tramples
upon and burns her enemies or those of her devotees. Kali is not only a deity of
independent nature but is also indomitable, or rather all dominating. She is Shiva-
like powerful, unconventional and more at home when dwelling on society's margins.
Aspects of nobility or elite life-mode are not her style of life. She is Shiva's consort
or companion but not Parvati-like meek and humble. Herself wild and destructive,
she incites Shiva to resort to wild, dangerous and destructive behaviour threatening
stability of cosmos. Every moment a warrior, Kali does not miss any opportunity of
war; She is one of Shiva's warriors in his battle against Tripura.

Page 12
KALI'S FORMS :

Far more than in texts, a huge

body of Kali's mythology has
evolved in Kali-related
tradition. Apart that a rough-
cut crude image of Kali painted
in black, and the tongue, in
blood-red, occupies a corner in
every hamlet, even with a
dozen hutments, it also
abounds in tales of her
mysterious powers, both
inflicting damage and
protecting from harm. More
significant is her presence in
Indian art where she
underlines many important
Goddess Shri Bhairavi Devi
Hindu themes. What
sometimes occur in texts as
mere epithets of Kali are in Indian arts her well established forms. Mahakali,
Bhadrakali, Dakshina Kali, Guhyakali, Shmashana Kali, Bhairavi, Tripura-Bhairavi,
Chamunda… are some of her more popular forms in texts as well as art.

In her Mahakali form, an equivalent to

Mahakala, the all-powerful aspect of Shiva,
who devours time and effects dissolution,
Kali is Mahakala's feminine transform. In her
form as Mahakali she presides over the
Great Dissolution which Shiva in the form of
Shava symbolises.

Mahakali - The Cosmic Form of Goddess

Kali

In art, Kali invariably enshrines it. Initially, as Mahakali her role was confined to
demon-slaying. In Puranas, while still representing dissolution, destruction, death
and decay, she more emphatically personified in her being horror, awe and
loathsomeness. She still slew demons but mostly when summoned and in

Page 13
subordination. In her form as Chamunda – the slayer of Chanda and Munda, she was
most ferocious multi-armed demon-killer. She carried in her hands most deadly
weapons and in her eyes a lustre that burnt her enemies.

As Shmashana Kali, a form

more popular in Tantrism,
Kali haunts cremation ground
amidst burning pyres – the
interim domain in between
this and the next world and
where death and dissolution
reign.

Kali, Mahakali or Shmashana-Kali

As Tripura-Bhairavi, consort of death, Kali is conceived with a form wearing a large

necklace of human bodies, a shorter one of skulls, a girdle of severed hands, and
ear-rings of the corpses of infants. Around her lie a greater number of corpses and
feed on them wily jackals and vile vultures. Sometimes in loincloth, Tripura-Bhairavi
is more often covered in elephant skin and carries other Shaivite attributes.

Elaborately jeweled Dakshina Kali also wears a long necklace of severed heads, a
girdle of unusually small severed arms and a couple of corpses as ear-rings, but
instead of being gruesome her figure comprises smooth perfectly proportioned fully
exposed youthful limbs. She stands on the body of a supine ithyphallic Shiva
stretched out on an already burning pyre in cremation ground where scavenging
birds hover and jackals roam. Dakshina Kali carries in one of her hands a sword, in
another, a human head, and other two are held in abhaya and varada. Bhadra Kali,
the auspicious one, Kali's majestic, benign, benevolent and mild form, has been
conceived with arms varying in number usually two to four. She often carries two
bowls, one for wine and other for blood. Kali's form that gods, even Shiva, Vishnu
and Brahma, worship is invariably her Bhadra Kali form. The delightful one, she
joyously drinks, dances and sings.

Page 14
 Guhyakali, literally meaning 'Secret Kali', is
Kali's esoteric aspect, which only those well
versed in the Kali tradition know.

Guhyakali - The Secret Form of

Goddess Kali

In the related 'Dhyana' – the form that reveals when meditating on her, snakes
constitute a significant part of her attire and adornment. Her necklace, sacred
thread, girdle, all are made of serpents, and the thousand hooded serpent Ananta
makes her umbrella. Apart, her form assimilates other Shaivite attributes to include
crescent on her forehead. In visual representation, instead of snakes' pre-eminence,
Guhyakali is identified by the Kali-yantra invariably represented along with.

KALI IN YOGA AND TANTRA

Kali has quite significant place in Yoga and

Tantra, though in Yoga her status is not
that high as in Tantra. Kundalini-sadhana,
kindling of Kundalini – dormant energy
seen as black serpent that lies coiled and
asleep in the inner body, is the prevalent
practice in both but it is the very basis of
Yoga. The Yoga perceives Kali as Kundalini
Shakti. Kali is thus the basis of Yoga,
though beyond such equation it does not
involve Kali any further. Tantra seeks its
accomplishment in Ten Mahavidyas – the
Great Wisdoms, Kali, being the foremost
among them, is the most significant deity
of Tantra.

The Ten Mahavidyas with the Supremely

Auspicious Shri Yantra

Page 15
 Kali's disruptive behaviour, unkempt
appearance, confronting activities and
involvement with death and defilement are
what better suit Tantra, especially the
Vamachara Tantrism. Kali's form that
contains in an unclean or even unholy
body-frame the highest spiritual sanctity
helps Tantrika to overcome the
conventional notion of clean and unclean,
sacred and profane and other dualistic
concepts that lead to incorrect nature of
reality. Yogini-Tantra, Kamakhya Tantra
and Nirvana-Tantra venerate Kali as the
supreme divinity and Nirvana-Tantra
perceives Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as
arising from Kali as arise bubbles from the
sea.

Mahanirvanatantram: Sanskrit Text,

Transliteration and English Translation
with Copious Notes

To the Tantrika, Kali's black is symbolic of disintegration; as all colours disappear in

black, so merge into her all names and forms. Density of blackness – massive,
compact and unmixed, represents Pure Consciousness. Kali as Digambari, garbed in
space – in her nakedness, free from all covering of illusion, defines to the Tantrika
the journey from the unreal to the real. In full breasted Kali, symbolic of her
ceaseless motherhood, the Tantrika discovers her power to preserve. Her disheveled
hair – elokeshi, are symbolic of the curtain of death which surrounds life with
mystery. In her garland of fifty-two human heads, each representing one of the
fifty-two letters of Sanskrit alphabets, the Tantrika perceives repository of power
and knowledge. The girdle of hands, the principal instrument to work, reveals her
power with which the cosmos operates and in her three eyes, its three-aspected
activity – creation, preservation and destruction. Both Kali and Tantra are epitome of
unity of apparent dualism. As her terrifying image, the negative aspect of her being
and thus of the cosmos, is the creative life-force, the source of creation, so in
Tantra-sadhana, the journey takes off from the 'material' to the apex – the ultimate.

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FOR FURTHER READING :

1. Mahabharata, Gita Press Gorakhpur

2. Shrimad Devi Bhagavata, Chaukhambha Sanskrit Pratishthan, Delhi
3. Devimahatmyam, tr. By Devadatta Kali, Delhi
4. Dahejia, Vidya : Devi, The Great Goddess, Washington D.C.
5. Menzies, Jackie : Goddess, Divine Energy, Art Gallery, NSW
6. Kinsley, David : Hindu Goddesses, Delhi
7. Kinsley, David : The Ten Mahavidyas : Tantric Vision of Divine Feminine,
Delhi
8. Hawley, J. S. & Wulff, Monna Marie (ed) : Devi, Goddesses of India, Delhi
9. Hawley, John S. & Donna M. Wolfe (ed) : Devi : Goddesses of India, Delhi
10. Rosen, Steven J. (ed) : Vaishnavi, Delhi
11. Mitchell, A. G.: Hindu Gods and Goddesses, London
12. Mookarjee, Ajit & Khanna, Madhu : The Tantrika Way, Boston
13. Kanwar Lal : Kanya and the Yogi, Delhi
14. Upadhyaya, Padma : Female Images in Museums of Uttar Pradesh and
Their Social Background, Delhi

This article by Dr. P. C. JAIN AND DR. DALJEET.

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