| Kali | |
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Other Names |
Kalika |
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First Appearance |
Hindu Theology |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Kali also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who provide liberating knowledge. Of the numerous Hindu goddesses, Kali is held as the most famous. She is the preeminent deity in the Hindu tantric and the Kalikula worship traditions, and is a central figure in the goddess-centric sects of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism. Kali is chiefly worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.
Kali is stated to protect and bestow liberation (moksha) to devotees who approach her with an attitude of a child towards mother. Devotional songs and poems that extol the motherly nature of Kali are popular in Bengal, where she is most widely worshiped as the Divine Mother. Shakta and Tantric traditions additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman. In modern times, Kali has emerged as a symbol of significance for women.
n Kāli's most famous legend, Durga and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabīja, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that drips from Raktabīja, he reproduces a duplicate of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga summons Kāli to combat the demons. This episode is described in the Devi Mahatmyam, Kali is depicted as being fierce, clad in a tiger's skin and armed with a sword and noose. She has deep, red eyes with tongue lolling out as she catches drops of Raktabīja's blood before they fall to the ground and create duplicates.
Kali consumes Raktabīja and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), that is, the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.
he goddess Kali is regarded as the most famous female deity of all the numerous Hindu goddesses. The uncommon appearance of Kali is explained as a cause of her popularity. Kali is iconographically depicted as a "terrifying emaciated woman"; with black skin, long tangled hair, red eyes and a long lolling tongue. She is naked barring a grim set of ornamentation: "a necklace of skulls or freshly decapitated heads, a skirt of severed arms and jewellery made from the corpses of infants." The "wildness" is a defining aspect of her character. The terrifying iconography of Kali is considered symbolic of her role as a protector and a bestower of freedom to devotees, of whom she shall take care if they come to her in the "attitude of a child." Devotional songs and poems that glorify the motherly nature of Kali are popular in Bengal, where she is most extensively worshipped.
In the Devi Mahatmya, where Kali first appeared as a personification of the rage of goddess Durga, an aspect of Kali's character was her thirst for blood and fondness to stay at places of death and destruction. In original depictions, Kali was often pictured in a cremation ground or battlefield standing on the corpse of Shiva, which symbolized her manifestation as Shakti. Kali represents the goddess embracing and encompassing the grim worldly realities of "blood, death and destruction".
The Kalika Purana describes Kali as "possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotus, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful". The goddess has two depictions: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali avatar. In both, she is described as being black in color, though she is often seen as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. Her hair is disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. Sometimes she dons a skirt made of demon arms and a garland of demon heads. Other times, she is seen wearing a tiger skin. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on the calm and prostrate Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular dakṣiṇācāra ("right-hand path"), as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive vamachara ("left-hand path"). Her mount, or vahana, is the lion.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Kali from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain literary Appearances[]
- Devi Mahatmyam
- Linga Purana
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Web of Evil #3: Monstrous four-armed goddess Kali demands human sacrifices. When the lovely Caroline is chosen to be the next victim, her lover Kenneth comes to the rescue.
- Three Stooges (1949) #1: Mark Montage tells B. K. the story of how he and Sandy encountered Prince Vila in India and discovered Vila led a cult of Thugees with ambitions to conquer the nation. Mark raises an uprising amongst Vila's prisoners and finally kills him with his statue of Kali. B. K. likes the story and makes a film of it and only at the film's premiere realizes it was a true story after seeing tiger claw marks on Mark's arm.
- Web of Mystery #17: Englishman Charles Delavan visits a friend in India and learns that his friend is a killer and worshipper of the black goddess Kali. Delavan has to kill his friend, but is being tricked into drinking a magic potion: he becomes the next in line of Kali worshippers.
- Voodoo #17: In the Cult of the Cruel, American Sam Willows learns to kill with a handkerchief from a worshiper of Kali named Hassan. After learning the deadly art, Sam murdered Hassan and returns home to kill Ralph, his ex-wife's lover. After killing Ralph, Sam meets a mysterious woman who gives him a letter from Debra, his ex-wife. It revels see was leaving Ralph and was going to India to find Sam. Sam decided to go back to India to find her only to be killed by the mystery woman who is revealed to be the goddess Kali who avenged the death of Hassan, her follower.
- Fantastic Comics #15: Encountering a strange truck, Samson and David follow the criminals to a building rigged up to counterfeit coins from every nation. After Samson destroys the machinery and throws the whole building into the ocean, a single survivor warns him that a high priest of evil was out to destroy him. After finding the cult's hideout, Samson throws their statue of Kali off a cliff and destroys their whole apparition.
- Champ Comics #14: Colonel Blase's daughter Carol has been missing since she was a child, and Dr. Miracle confirms that his servant Akim was present when she was kidnapped. Miracle and Akim learn that Carol was taken by the Cult of Kali, and turned into their priestess, but they manage to restore her memory and return her home.
- Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #1: American reporter Chick Mann uncovers a weapons cache under the Temple of Kali.
Public Domain Comic Appearances Inspired by Kali[]
- Pocket Comics #4: In the story titled The Evil of Kali, The Phantom Sphinx battles a male version of Kali who comes from India to Egypt to cause destruction and abduct Nancy Taylor. The hero rescued the girl and defeated the god by turning him into a skeleton.
- Kid Eternity #1: The villain Kali the Prince of Evil who fought Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper over the Black Diamond of Doom was named after the Hindu goddess.
- Jungle Comics #15, 31:
- Smash Comics #24: In this issue's Black X story, One of the henchmen working for Madame Doom is named Kali.
- Amazing Man #16: Zardi Prince of Zandipore battled a villain named Kali.