Kali

Something a little different today because this is from my RS brain not a historically verifiable figure but I am gonna argue that she is still historically important for her worshippers and for the woman (i.e me) who are inspired by her independence, ferocity, and celebration of female power. 

Kali is a Hindu goddess worshipped throughout India and Nepal who is known as a destroyer of evil forces and protector of innocence. She is the most powerful embodiment of Shakti (female power). Her devotees have worshipped her as the Divine Mother and Mother of the Universe. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as the ultimate reality (Brahman). She is also viewed as the divine protector and the one who bestows moksha (liberation). Kali is often depicted standing or dancing on her consort, the Hindu god Shiva, who lies calm beneath her. Kali is worshipped by Hindus throughout India and Nepal.

Her name derives from the Sanskrit word for black and originates in the Mahābhārata, depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain warriors and animals. Kālī is also the feminine form of Kāla, an epithet of Shiva.

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Kāli is first mentioned in Hindu tradition as a distinct goddess around 600 AD. She is usually depicted as a warrior on the edges of society. Her most infamous appearance on the battlefield is in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam, which describes who Kali destroyed two demons. In this narrative, the two demons attack the goddess Durga. This evokes such ire in Druga that Kali appears out of her forehead. Kali is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, and depicted wearing a tiger skin sari and a garland of human heads. She immediately defeats the two demons. Later in the same battle, the demon Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali eventually defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, and eating the numerous clones. Thus, Kali has come to represent "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury".

Other origin stories centre more on her relationship with her husband, Shiva. One describes how Shiva asked his wife, Parvati – a typically benign and friendly goddess - to defeat a demon who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat the demon. However, her bloodlust becomes uncontrollable and only Shiva’s intervention is able to reign her in. Thus, while in the form of Parvati she calms Shiva and counterbalances his destruction and enhances his domesticity. Contrarily, Kali provokes his ire and makes him crazy. Kali’s reliance on Shiva’s control is sometimes used as example of women’s dependence on men and the danger of unrestrained female sexuality. However, I prefer to see it as an acknowledgement of female power and the danger to the patriarchy when women are allowed to roam free.

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both, she is described as being black but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art (as is the same of most Hindi deities). Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. She shares her husband’s characteristic dishelved hair, but also has fangs and lolling tongue (which inspired the Rolling Stones famous logo, incidentally). She is also identifiable by her skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads (male heads, usually). Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sickle, a trident, a severed head, and a bowl collecting the blood of the severed head.. The sword signifies divine knowledge and the human head signifies human ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain moksha. She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her purity and her dark sign is seen as evidence that she is Brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. However, she is believed to be infinite and everchanging and thus will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her, further complicating her reputation as a fearsome warrior.

The figure of Kāli conveys death, and destruction. However, the Karpuradi-stotra, dated to approximately 10th century ACE,[43] clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mother of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. She is described as young and beautiful with a gentle smile, who’s hand gestures dispel fear and offer boons. This highlights here more positive features and her triumph of death over evil. Thus the goddess of death also becomes the goddess of salvation.  

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Kāli is especially venerated in the festival of Kali Puja in eastern India. However, she has also become a popular icon in the Western World particularly among feminists and New Age goddess cults. Such groups view Kali as ‘a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. ‘ However, Rachel McDermott has noted that appropriation of Kali often lacks informed knowledge of the Hindu tradition and thus must be taken lightly compared to her traditional importance in Hinduism: ‘...cross-cultural borrowing is appropriate and a natural by-product of religious globalization—although such borrowing ought to be done responsibly and self-consciously.’

Interestingly, there is evidence that forms of Kali worship may have reached the west even by medieval times by Romani travellers. Some authors have drawn parallels between Kali worship and the ceremonies of the annual pilgrimage in honor of Saint Sarah, also known as Sara-la-Kali ("Sara the Black", Romani: Sara e Kali), held at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a place of pilgrimage for Roma in the Camargue, in southern France.

I first learned about Kali studying RMPS in S4 when I was about 16(?) and I was immediately awed and inspired by her. Although her image and origin stories are lowkey terrifying, it is so rare to find a powerful and bloodthirsty woman venerated so centrally in such a major religion – especially in the Abrahamic faiths which I had studied previously. I am not a Hindu, and am wary of appropriating her as discussed above, and I know she technically shouldn’t feature on a page about “real” historical women. However, the figure of Kali and the myths surrounding her have had huge religious and social implications on women (and men) in Asia and beyond, and her justifiable anger and her protective nature are relatable across time and place. Real or not, Kali will always be a hero of mine, and I wish more people knew about her in the West. A lot of my masters work examined how a civilisation which has venerate the female power more than any other could also come to have the worst human rights record when it comes to treatment of women in the world, and I still don’t have an answer for that. What I do know, however, is that strong female figures like Kali have a central place in the Hindu tradition which reflects the key role women have played in history.