***The **Black **Goddess ***
She is the terrible one who has a dreadful face. She should be meditated upon as having disheveled hair and a garland of freshly cut human heads. She has four arms. In her upper left hand she holds a sword that has just been bloodied by the severed head that she holds in her lower left hand. Her upper right hand makes the gesture of assurance and her lower right hand, the sign of granting favors. She has a bluish complexion and is lustrous like a dark cloud. She is completely naked, and her body gleams with blood that is smeared all over it from the garland of bleeding severed heads around her neck. Her ear ornaments are the corpses of children. Her fangs are dreadful, and her face is fierce. Her breasts are large and round, and she wears a girdle made of severed human hands. Blood trickles from the corners of her mouth and makes her face gleam. She makes a terrible sound and lives in the cremation ground, where she is surrounded by howling jackals. She stands on the chest of Siva in the form of a corpse. She is eager to have sexual intercourse in reverse fashion with Mahakala. She wears a satisfied expression. She smiles.1
She is lustrous like a dark cloud and wears black clothes. Her tongue lolls, her face is dreadful to behold, her eyes are sunken, and she smiles. She wears the crescent moon on her forehead and is decorated with serpents. She drinks wine, has a serpent as a sacred thread, is seated on a bed of snakes, and wears a garland of fifty human heads that hangs all the way down to her knees. She has a large belly, and the thousand-hooded serpent Ananta looms above her head. Siva is present as a boy beside her. She makes a loud, laughing sound, is very dreadful, but bestows the desires of the aspirant.2
She is like a mountain of collyrium, and her abode is in the cremation ground. She has three red eyes, her hair is disheveled, and she is awful to look at because of her emaciated body. In her left hand she holds a jar full of liquor mixed with meat, and in her right hand she holds a freshly severed head. She is eating raw flesh, she is naked, her limbs are adorned with ornaments, she is drunk on wine, and she smiles.3
Although the order, number, and names of the Mahavidyas may vary, Kali is always included and is usually named or shown first. She is also affirmed in many places to be the most important of the Mahavidyas, the primordial or primary Mahavidya, the adiMahavidya.4 In some cases it seems apparent that the other Mahavidyas originate from Kali or are her differing forms. In one of the accounts of the origin of the Mahavidyas as a group, it is explicitly stated that they arise from Kali when Siva wishes to leave her.5 In the origin account given in the *Mahdbhagavata-pumna, *Sati takes on the form of a goddess who resembles Kali before actually multiplying herself into the ten Mahavidyas. Although Kali is not specifically named, Sati first turns into a dark, frightening, naked, four-armed goddess with disheveled hair and a garland of skulls (which is just how Kali is usually described), and then creates from herself the other forms.6 Furthermore, in early accounts of Satl’s confrontation with Siva over her right to attend her father’s sacrifice—accounts in which the Mahavidyas do not appear—Sati does turn herself into Kali and in her Kali form convinces Siva to let her go.7 The *Saktisarhgama-tantra *proclaims Kali’s priority explicitly: “All the deities, including the Mahavidyas, Siddhi-vidyas, Vidyas, and Upa-vidyas, are different forms that Kali assumes.“8
Kali’s place as the primary Mahavidya, the first among the goddesses, is reinforced by the fact that she lends the group as a whole her own characteristics. Her character, attributes, and nature are shared by the others. She is typical, perhaps even paradigmatic, as the *adi *Mahavidya. And her symbolic meaning, I think, often helps to uncover the meaning of some of the other goddesses in the group. As we shall see below, according to some interpretations Kali reveals or symbolizes the ultimate goal suggested or implied in the other Mahavidyas. She completes the others, as it were.
Given Kali’s central role among the Mahavidyas, it is important to consider in some detail her history prior to her association with them. Kali appeared quite early in the Hindu tradition, and by the late medieval period, when the cult of the Mahavidyas arose, she was by no means an obscure goddess: she had achieved a clearly defined mythology and character and a cult that was popular throughout India. It is quite clear, furthermore, that Kali’s character has remained fairly intact in the context of the Mahavidyas. That is, her role in the group is not based on a selective use of her characteristics, although there are some aspects of her nature and mythology that are preferred over others, as we shall see. It is also important to look at Kali’s central role in Tantrism generally before seeking to understand her meaning in the context of the Mahavidyas.
The Early History of Kali
The earliest references to Kali date to the medieval period (around 600 C.e.). They usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield. The *Agni- *and *Garuda-purdnas *involve Kali for success in war and victory over one’s enemies. She has an awful appearance: she is gaunt, has fangs, laughs loudly, dances madly, wears a garland of corpses, sits on the back of a ghost, and lives in the cremation ground. She is asked to crush, trample, break, and burn the enemy.9 In the *Bhdgavata-purdna, *Kali is the patron deity of a band of thieves whose leader tries to secure her blessing in order to have a son. The thief kidnaps a saintly Brahman youth with the intention of offering him as a blood sacrifice to Kali. The effulgence of the virtuous youth, however, burns Kali herself when he is brought near her image. Emerging from her image, infuriated, she kills the leader and his entire band. She and her host of demons then decapitate the corpses of the thieves, drink their blood until drunk, and throw their heads about in sport. She is described as having a dreadful face and large teeth and as laughing loudly.10 Kali’s association with thieves is also seen in her role as patron deity of the infamous Thugs, who specialized in befriending and then murdering travelers.11 Kali is also pictured in the Bengali *marigal **kdvyas *as bestowing magical powers on thieves to help them in their criminal deeds.12
Kali’s association with the periphery of Hindu society (she is worshiped by criminals, tribals, and members of low castes in uncivilized and wild places) is also evident in an architectural work of the sixth to eighth centuries, the *Mdnasdra-silpa-sastra. *It says that Kali’s temples should be built far from villages and towns, near cremation grounds and the dwellings of Candalas (very low-caste people).13 Kali’s association with areas outside or beyond the borders of civilized society is also clear in a eleventhcentury C.e. Tamil text, the *Kalingattuparani, *which says that her temple is located in a desert where the trees are withered and the landscape is barren.
The description of the temple itself underlines Kali’s awful, uncivilized nature. The temple is constructed of bones, flesh, blood, heads, and body parts of enemies killed in battle. The severed heads are used as bricks, the blood is used to make mortar, elephant tusks serve as roof trusses, and on top of the enclosure walls (a common feature of South Indian temples) “the severed heads of peacocks, the heads of men offered as sacrifice, the heads of young babies also severed in sacrifice and bloodoozing flesh as standards were placed as beautifying elements.“14 The temple is “cleansed” daily with blood instead of water, and flesh is offered to the goddess instead of flowers. The fires consuming the corpses of sacrificial victims also serve as lamps.
The description of the worshipers and the *pujd *at the temple is equally horrific. A graphic account is given of a devotee chopping off his own head as an offering to the goddess.15 Warriors also offer their heads to the goddess to demonstrate their fearlessness. *Yoginis *frequent the temple and arrive there with swords and severed heads, in appearance like Kali herself. The temple is “full of blood, flesh, burning corpses, vultures, jackals and goblins.“16 Kali herself is seated on a couch of five ghosts *(panca **preta) *with a corpse as a pillow. She sleeps on a bed made of flesh.17
Kali’s most famous appearances on the battlefield are found in the *Devi**mahatmya. *In the third episode, which features Durga’s defeat of the demons Sumbha and Nisumbha and their allies, Kali appears twice. Early in the battle, the demons Canda and Munda approach Durga with readied weapons. Seeing them prepared to attack her, Durga’s face becomes dark with anger. Suddenly the goddess Kali springs from her forehead. She is black, wears a garland of human heads and a tiger skin, and wields a skull-topped staff. She is gaunt, with sunken eyes, gaping mouth, and lolling tongue. She roars loudly and leaps into the battle, where she tears demons apart with her hands and crushes them in her jaws. She grasps the two demon generals and in one furious blow decapitates them both with her sword (7.3-22). Later in the battle, Kali is summoned by Durga to help defeat the demon Raktablja. This demon has the ability to reproduce himself instantly whenever a drop of his blood falls to the ground. Having wounded Raktablja with a variety of weapons, Durga and her assistants, a fierce band of goddesses called the Matrkas, find they have worsened their situation. As Raktablja bleeds more and more profusely from his wounds, the battlefield fills with his duplicates. Kali finally defeats the demon by sucking the blood from his body and throwing the countless duplicate Raktabljas into her gaping mouth (8.49-61).
In these two episodes, Kali emerges to represent Durga’s personified wrath, her embodied fury. Kali plays a similar role in her association with Parvati. In general, Parvati is a benign goddess, but from time to time she exhibits fierce aspects. When this occurs, Kali is sometimes described as being brought into being. In the *Liriga-purana, *Siva asks Parvati to destroy the demon Daruka, who has been given the boon that he can only be killed by a female. Parvati enters Siva’s body and transforms herself from the poison that is stored in Siva’s throat. She emerges from Siva as Kali, ferocious in appearance, and with the help of flesh-eating *pisacas *(demons) attacks and defeats Daruka and his hosts. Kali, however, becomes so intoxicated by the blood lust of battle that she threatens to destroy the entire world in her fury. The world is saved when Siva intervenes and calms her.1H Kali appears in a similar context elsewhere in the same text. When Siva sets out to defeat the demons of the three cities, Kali is part of his entourage. Adorned with skulls and wearing an elephant hide, her eyes half-closed in intoxication from drinking the blood of demons, she whirls a trident. She is also praised, however, as the daughter of Himalaya (the mountain range personified as a god), a clear identification with Parvati (who is Himalaya’s daughter). It seems that, in the course of Parvati’s preparation for war, Kali appears as her personified wrath, her alter ego, as it were.19
In the *Vamana-purana, *Siva calls Parvati “Kali” (the black one) because of her dark complexion. Hearing him use this name, Parvati takes offense and undertakes austerities to rid herself of her dark complexion. After succeeding, she is renamed Gaurf (the golden one). Her discarded dark sheath, however, is transformed into the furious battle queen Kausiki, who subsequently creates Kalf in her fury. So, again, although there is an intermediary goddess (Kausiki), Kali plays the role of Parvati’s dark, negative, violent nature in embodied form.20
Kali makes similar appearances in myths concerning both Sati and Sita. In the case of Satl, Kali emerges when Sati’s father, Daksa, infuriates his daughter by not inviting her and Siva to a great sacrificial rite. Sati rubs her nose in anger, and Kali appears.21 This story, of course, reminds us of one of the accounts of how the Mahavidyas as a group originated, the one in which they come forth as Sati’s embodied anger. In the case of Sita, Kali arises as her fierce, terrible, bloodthirsty aspect when Slta’s husband, Rama, is confronted with such a terrible monster that he is frozen with fear. Sita, transformed into Kali, handily defeats the demon.22
In her association with Siva, Kali’s tendency to wildness and disorder persists. Although sometimes he is said to tame or soften her, at times she incites Siva himself to dangerous, destructive behavior. A South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between the two. After defeating Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in a forest with her retinue of fierce companions and terrorizes the surrounding area. This distracts a local devotee of Siva from his austerities, and he asks Siva to rid the forest of the violent goddess. When Siva appears, Kali threatens him, claiming the region as her own. Siva challenges her to a dance contest and defeats her when she is unable (or unwilling) to match his energetic *tdndava *dance. That Siva should have to resort to his *tdndava *dance to defeat Kali suggests the motif of Kali inciting Siva to destructive activity, as this particular dance is typically performed at the end of the cosmic age and destroys the universe. Descriptions of the dance dwell on its destructive aspects.23
Although Siva defeats Kali in the dance contest and forces her to control her disruptive habits, we find few images and myths depicting her as docile. Instead, we repeatedly find Siva and Kali behaving in disruptive ways, inciting each other, or Kali in her wild activity dominating an inactive or corpselike Siva. In the first type of relationship, the two appear dancing together in such a way that they threaten the world. Bhavabhuti’s *Mdldtimadhava *describes the pair as they dance wildly near the goddess’s temple. Their dance is so frenzied that it threatens to disrupt the cosmos. Parvatl stands by frightened as she watches them.24
Iconographic representations of Kali and Siva nearly always show Kali as dominant. She is usually standing or dancing on Siva’s supine body, and when the two are shown in sexual intercourse, she is on top of him. Although Siva is said to tame Kali in the myth of the dance contest, it seems clear that she is never finally subdued by him; she is most popularly represented as uncontrollable, more apt to provoke Siva himself to dangerous activity than to renounce her own wildness.
In terms of her early history, then, we can say that Kali is primarily a goddess who threatens stability and order. Although she may be said to serve order in her role as slayer of demons, more often than not she becomes so frenzied on the battlefield, intoxicated on the blood of her victims, that she herself begins to destroy the world that she is supposed to protect. Thus, even in the service of the gods, she is dangerous and likely to get out of control. In association with other goddesses, she emerges to represent their embodied wrath and fury, a frightening, dangerous dimension of the divine feminine that is released when these goddesses become enraged or are summoned to take part in war and killing. In relation to Siva, she appears to play the opposite role from that of Parvati. Parvatl calms Siva, counterbalancing his antisocial or destructive tendencies; she brings him within the sphere of domesticity and with her soft glances urges him to moderate the destructive aspects of his *tandava *dance. Kali is Siva’s “other wife,” as it were, provoking him and encouraging him in his mad, antisocial, disruptive habits. It is never Kali who tames Siva but Siva who must calm Kall. Her association with criminals reinforces her dangerous role vis-a-vis society. She is at home outside the moral order and seems to be unrestrained by it.
Kali’s Preeminence in Tantrism
Despite Kali’s terrible appearance, gruesome habits, and association with the periphery of civilization in many early references, she eventually achieved great popularity and prominence in the Hindu tradition. Of particular interest is the centrality that Kali achieved in the tantric tradition, which for our purposes is especially significant. She figures prominently in tantric texts in Kashmir, particularly in the works of Abhinavagupta. In a philosophy that portrays reality as essentially the interaction of two principles, Siva and Sakti, Kali is often designated as one of the forms assumed by Sakti. Many different forms of Kali are mentioned: in *Tantraloka, *Abhinavagupta mentions thirteen.25 It is clear that tantric *sadhana *(spiritual endeavor) featuring Kali was common in Kashmir at an early period.26 An important image in Kashmir Tantrism is the *sakti **cakra, *described as a wheel of energy symbolizing the evolution and dynamics of consciousness. Sometimes the main wheel has additional wheels within it, representing different types of consciousness, or phases in the cognitive process, and these wheels are identified with “the twelve Kalis.“27
Kali is even more popular and dominant in the Tantrism of eastern India, particularly Bengal. Many tantric texts written in Bengal include manuals for her worship; they describe her appearance, mantra, and yantra and give hymns in her praise *(nama **stotras), *typically listing either 108 or 1,000 names. In tantric digests such as the *Tantrasara, Saktapramoda, *and *Prdnatosini, *she plays a central role and is said to have several forms, of which the following are described in detail: Daksina-kali, Mahakali, Smasana-kali, Guhya-kali, Bhadra-kali, Camunda-kali, Siddhakali, Hamsa-kali, and Kamakala-kali.28 Kali is widely worshiped according to tantric rites throughout eastern India, and this tradition is probably quite ancient. It is important at this point to reflect in a general way on how Kali came to achieve such a central position in Tantra.
An underlying assumption in tantric ideology is that reality is the result and expression of the symbiotic interaction of male and female, Siva and Sakti, the quiescent and the dynamic, and other polar opposites that produce a creative tension. Consequently, goddesses in Tantrism play an important role and are affirmed to be crucial in discerning the nature of ultimate reality. Although Siva is usually said to be the source of the *tantras, *the source of wisdom and truth, and Parvati, his spouse, to be the student to whom the scriptures are given, many of the *tantras *emphasize the fact that it is Sakti (personified as Parvatl, Kali, and other goddesses) who is immediately present to the adept and whose presence and being underlie the adept’s own being. For the tantric adept it is her vitality that is sought through various techniques aimed at spiritual transformation; thus it is she who is affirmed as the dominant and primary reality.
Although Parvati is usually said to be the recipient of Siva’s wisdom in the form of the *tantras, *it is Kali who seems to dominate tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many places, Kali is praised as the greatest of all deities or as the highest reality. The *Nirvdna-tantra *says that the gods Brahma, Visnu, and Siva arise from her like bubbles from the sea, endlessly appearing and passing away, leaving their source unchanged. Comparing them to Kali, says this text, is like comparing the puddle of water in a cow’s hoofprint to the waters of the sea.29 The *Nigama-kalpataru *and the *Picchild-tanti’a *declare that, of all mantras, Kali’s is the greatest.30 The *Yogini-, **Kdmdkhyd-, *and *Niruttara-tantras *all proclaim Kali the greatest of the Vidyas, divinity itself; indeed, they declare her to be the essential form *(svarupa) *of the Mahadevi.31 The *Kdmadd-tantra *states unequivocally that she is attributeless, neither male nor female, sinless, the imperishable *sacciddnanda *(being, consciousness, and bliss), *brahman *itself.32 In the *Mahdnh~vdna-tantra, *too, Kali is one of the most common epithets for the primordial Sakti.33 In one passage, Siva praises Kali as she who devours time, who alone remains after the dissolution of the universe, and who is the origin and destroyer of all things.34
Why Kali, instead of some other goddess, attained this preeminent position in Tantrism is not entirely clear, but the explanation may lie in certain tantric ideological and ritual presuppositions. Tantrism generally is oriented toward ritual. By means of certain rituals (exterior and interior, bodily and mental), the *sadhaka *(religious adept), seeks to gain *moksa *(awakening, or the bliss of self-knowledge). A consistent theme in this endeavor is the uniting of opposites or the seeing beyond opposites (malefemale, microcosm-macrocosm, sacred-profane, auspicious-inauspicious, pure-polluted, Siva-Sakti). Tantrism teaches there is an elaborate, subtle geography of the body that must be learned and controlled. By means of the body, including both physical and subtle bodies, the *sddhaka *can manipulate levels of reality and harness the dynamics of those levels to the attainment of the desired goal. With the help of a guru, the *sddhaka *undertakes to gain his or her goal by conquest, to use his or her own body and knowledge of that body to bring the fractured world of name and form, the polarized world of male and female, sacred and profane, pure and polluted, good and bad, back to wholeness and unity.
*Sadhand *takes a particularly dramatic form in left-handed Tantrism. In the attempt to realize the nature of the world as thoroughly pervaded by the one *sakti, *the *sadhaka *(here called the *vira, *“hero”) undertakes the ritual of the *panca **tattva, *the “five (forbidden) things” or “truths”. In a ritual context and under the supervision of a guru, the *sadhaka *partakes of wine, meat, fish, parched grain (perhaps a hallucinogenic drug of some kind), and sexual intercourse. In this way one overcomes the distinction (or duality) of clean and unclean, sacred and profane, and breaks one’s bondage to a world that is artificially fragmented. The adept affirms in a radical way the underlying unity of the phenomenal world, the identity of *sakti *with the whole creation. Heroically, one triumphs over it, controls and masters it. By affirming the essential worth of the forbidden, one disarms it of its power to pollute, degrade, and bind, and changes that negative power into spiritually transformative energy.35
The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, terror, the all-consuming aspect of reality. She is also a “forbidden thing,” or the forbidden par excellence, for she is death itself. The tantric hero does not propitiate, fear, ignore, or avoid the forbidden. During the *panca **tattva *ritual, the adept boldly confronts Kali and thereby assimilates and overcomes her, transforming her into a vehicle of salvation. This is particularly clear in the *Karpurddi-stotra, *a short work in praise of Kali, which describes the *panca **tattva *ritual as performed in the cremation ground *(smasana **sadhand). *Throughout this text Kali is described in familiar terms. She is black (v. 1), has disheveled hair and blood trickling from her mouth (v. 3), holds a sword and a severed head (v. 4), wears a girdle of severed arms, sits on a corpse in the cremation ground (v. 7), and is surrounded by skulls, bones, and female jackals (v. 8). It is she, when confronted boldly in meditation, who gives the *sddhaka *great power and ultimately salvation. In Kali’s favorite dwelling place, the cremation ground, the *sadhaka *meditates on every terrible aspect of the black goddess and thus achieves the desired goal.
He, O Mahakali, who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy *mantra, *and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand *Akanda *flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a lord of the earth.
O Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy *mantra, *makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his *Sakti * [his female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant, (w. 15-16)36
The *Karpuradi-stotra *clearly makes Kali more than a ferocious slayer of demons who serves Durga and Siva on the battlefield. In fact, she is by and large removed from the battle context. She is the supreme mistress of the universe (v. 12), she is identical with the five elements (v. 14), and in union with Siva (who is identified as her spouse) she creates and destroys the worlds. Her appearance also has been modified, befitting her exalted position as ruler of the world and the object of meditation by which the *sadhaka *attains liberation. In addition to her terrible aspects (which are insisted upon), there are now hints of another, benign dimension to the goddess. So, for example, she is no longer described as emaciated or ugly. In the *Karpuradi-stotra *she is young and beautiful (v. 1), has a gently smiling face (v. 18), and makes gestures with her two right hands that dispel fear and offer boons (v. 4). These positive features are apt, because Kali no longer is a mere shrew, the distillation of Durga’s or Parvati’s wrath, but is she through whom the hero achieves success, she who grants the boon of liberation, and she who, when boldly approached, frees the *sadhaka *from fear itself. She is here not only the symbol of death but the symbol of triumph over death.
Kali as the Exemplary Mahavidya
Several of Kali’s prominent characteristics set the tone for the Mahavidyas as a group, and several individual Mahavidyas clearly reflect her character. Moreover, according to several informants, Kali alone among the Mahavidyas, or to the fullest extent, reveals the nature of ultimate reality and symbolizes fully awakened consciousness.
In several of their origin myths, the Mahavidyas arise when a goddess (Satl, Parvati, or Kali) exerts her independence from her husband, invariably Siva. In this sense, the Mahavidyas are symbols of female independence. Kali dramatically illustrates this. She is rarely, if ever, depicted or described as playing the role of the compliant, subservient wife. She is not characterized by the attributes of a *pati **vratd, *a woman totally devoted to her husband, obedient to his wishes and compliant to his will in every way. As Siva’s consort, she violates that stereotype. She dominates him, inciting him to destructive frenzy, standing on his body, or assuming the upper position, the “man’s position,” in sex.
Kali also deviates shockingly from the appearance of the ideal wife, who wears her hair tightly bound and is modestly but carefully attired and adorned with attractive ornaments. Kali is naked, immodestly displaying herself. Her “ornaments” are awful, disgusting: she wears a string of severed heads or skulls as a garland and a string of severed arms as a girdle; infant corpses dangle from her ears. Her hair is completely unbound and ratty, in keeping with her wild nature. She is often smeared with blood, which is highly polluting and inauspicious.
Kali is also sexually powerful. While early descriptions of her emphasize her gaunt, sometimes skeletal, appearance, with sunken eyes, withered, dangling breasts, and wrinkled skin, in later texts her haglike appearance is greatly attenuated, and she is often said to be eternally young, with full and firm breasts and a beautiful, smiling face. In later texts, especially the *tantras, *she is sexually aggressive and is often shown or described as having sex with Siva. In her *sahasranama **stotra *(thousandname hymn) many names emphasize her vigorous sexual appetite or her sexual attractiveness. She is called She Whose Essential Form Is Sexual Desire, Whose Form Is the Yoni, Who Is Situated in the Yoni, Who Is Adorned with a Garland of Yonis, Who Loves the Lirigam, Who Dwells in the Lirigam, Who Is Worshiped with Semen, Who Dwells in an Ocean of Semen, Who Is Always Filled with Semen, and many other such names.37 In this respect, Kali also violates the idea of the controlled woman who is sexually satisfied by marriage. Kali is sexually voracious, and dangerous because of this.
Kali denotes freedom, particularly freedom from societal norms. She dwells outside the confines of normal society. She prefers the cremation ground, which is a place avoided by those who live within society. She lives in the forests or the jungle, among uncivilized people. Her loose hair and nudity suggest that she is totally unrestrained, totally free from social and ethical roles and expectations. In the same vein, she is an outsider, beyond convention. She is worshiped by criminals and outcastes. She is unrefined, raw in appearance and habit. And she is powerful, full of energy, perhaps because of being an outsider, a breaker of boundaries and social models.
Some of these characteristics seem important among the other Mahavidyas. Tara is very close to Kali in appearance and character and shares with her the role of independent outsider. Chinnamasta is even more shocking in appearance than Kali and rudely breaks the model of the subdued, controlled, obedient wife, mother, or daughter. She suggests energy out of control to the point of self-destruction. Matarigl, particularly Uccista-matariginl, as we shall see, has strong associations with the jungle and with pollution. Bagalamukhl is a fierce goddess associated with black magic. Dhumavatl is the essence of the inauspicious: an ugly, withered old widow with a quarrelsome temperament. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that many of the Mahavidyas, in a vein similar to Kall, are deliberately depicted as breaking stereotypes of the properly socialized female. They are symbols of the “other,” of ways of being female that male-dominated mainstream society sees as dangerous.
Kali’s Tongue: Tasting the Forbidden
Two features that typify Kali’s appearance—her unbound, wild hair and her lolling tongue—seem particularly apt expressions of her (and by extension, the Mahavidyas’) “otherness,” her nontraditional, boundary-stretching, role-shattering, liminal character. Both of these features have been the subject of recent scholarly work.
One of the most distinctive features of Kali’s appearance is her grotesquely lolling tongue. In her *dhyana *mantras (meditation mantras) and iconography, she is almost always shown with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out. In her early history, where she is depicted as a wild, bloodthirsty goddess who lives on the edges of civilization or as a ferocious slayer of demons who gets drunk on the blood of her victims, her lolling tongue seems to suggest her great appetite for blood, as does her gaunt and emaciated figure. She is famished and extends her tongue grossly to satisfy her huge appetite, which is all-consuming.
Most contemporary Hindu informants interpret the lolling tongue of her best-known image, Daksina-kali, quite differently. They see it as an expression of her being disconcerted: Kali is embarrassed when she inadvertently finds herself standing on Siva, her husband. The Daksinakall image shows her in the moment of recognizing her husband as she stands on him. She is abashed and “bites her tongue.”
In recent work, Jeffrey Kripal suggests another interpretation of Kali’s tongue, one that seems much more in keeping with the image of Kali in tantric literature and practice as a goddess who subverts social norms and challenges the socialized ego.38 According to Kripal, Kali’s lolling tongue has two primary meanings in the context of Tantra: (1) sexual gratification and (2) consumption of the forbidden or polluted.
Kali’s lolling tongue as denoting sexual gratification or the desire for sexual indulgence seems plausible. In Daksina-kali images, Siva sometimes has an erection, and in some *dhydna *mantras and iconographic representations of Kali she is having sex with him. In both cases her tongue lolls out. This interpretation is substantiated by a story recorded in Orissa. Durga became angry when she found out that she could defeat the buffalo demon only if she showed her genitals to him. She did so, but then went on a terrible rampage.
Her anger grew so terrible that she transformed herself, grew smaller and black and left her lion mount and started walking on foot. Her name then became Kali. With tongue lolling out and dripping with blood, she then went on a blind, destructive rampage, killing everything and everyone in sight, regardless of who they were. The gods and the people became extremely worried and appealed to Siva for help. Mahadev agreed and lay himself down, sleeping on the path on which the furious, black and naked Kali was coming. In her blinded anger she did not see him and stepped on his chest. At that moment Siva’s penis became erect and entered Kali. At that instant Kali recognized her husband and pulled out her tongue in ecstasy and her anger disappeared.39
Kali’s tongue also hangs out in contexts that are not even remotely sexual, however, where neither gratification nor embarrassment seems a likely interpretation. She is often pictured in cremation grounds without a male consort, for example, and invariably her tongue is lolling. How might her tongue in these instances be interpreted within a tantric framework? On the basis of his careful examination of a group of passages describing the tantric *sadhana *of Ramakrishna, Kripal argues that Kali’s tongue denotes the act of tasting or enjoying what society regards as forbidden, foul, or polluted, her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world’s “flavors.”
The passages in question concern Ramakrishna’s habit while undertaking tantric *sadhana *of eating feces, sometimes his own, and drinking wine and urine. During his tantric *sadhana, *Ramakrishna sought to realize the state of consciousness in which all things are perceived to be essentially one, or essentially unified and related. He is said to have held his own feces in one hand and sandal paste (a particularly fragrant and pure substance) in the other and contemplated their essential sameness.40 Ramakrishna’s use of his own feces in his *sadhana *worried and even revolted some of his friends, who began to think him mad. An acquaintance, probably trying to dissuade Ramakrishna from his ways, rebuked him by saying that anyone can handle their own feces, but to handle the feces of another is what really marks one as a knower of *brahman. *As was his habit, Ramakrishna took this rebuke as a challenge. He summoned Kali, and she entered his body. “At that moment, possessed by the goddess and her lolling tongue, the saint went down to the river where people defecate and urinate. There he took clay laced with feces and touched it to his tongue, ‘and he felt no disgust.’ “41
Kali’s gaping mouth and lolling tongue, her appearance and habits generally, are unquestionably repulsive to our ordinary sensibilities. In Tantra, this is probably precisely the point. What we experience as disgusting, polluted, forbidden, and gruesome is grounded in limited human (or cultural) consciousness, which has ordered, regimented, and divided reality into categories that serve limited, ego-centered, selfish conceptions of how the world should be. Kali, in her rude way, deconstructs these categories, inviting those who would learn from her to be open to the whole world in all of its aspects. She invites her devotees, like Ramakrishna, to dare to taste the world in its most disgusting and forbidding manifestations in order to detect its underlying unity and sacrality, which is the Great Goddess herself.
Kali’s Hair: Pollution and Dissolution
Another striking feature of Kali is her loose, disheveled hair. I have never seen a depiction of Kali with bound or braided hair. Some of the other Mahavidyas, such as Chinnamasta, Bagalamukhi, and Dhumavatl, are also typically shown with wild hair. In some cases, as in the Durga Saptasatl temple in Nagawa, near Varanasi, all the Mahavidyas are depicted with disheveled hair. Unkempt hair contrasts strikingly with the way adult Hindu women wear their hair and the way the hair of most goddesses is depicted. What might be the significance of Kali’s unbound hair? Two general interpretations seem likely.
Women’s braided or bound hair suggests conformity to social convention and probably also acceptance of social control. Married women part their hair in the middle and pull it back tightly in a braid. The part is often marked with red, which symbolizes the woman’s married state. Girls who have reached puberty also usually wear their hair bound in some fashion. Loose hair is very uncommon. Along with Kali’s other unconventional features—her nudity, her standing atop her husband or consort, her dwelling in cremation grounds, and her rude, lolling tongue— her messy, loose, tangled hair emphasizes her socially marginal character, her disdain for convention.42 Kali is free from convention, wild and uncontrolled in nature, and not bound to or limited by a male consort.
Kali’s unbound hair may also have a broader, indeed cosmic, significance, suggesting dissolution itself. Considering Kali’s identification with the cremation ground and death, her loose hair may suggest the end of the world. Her hair has come apart and flies about every which way; order has come to an end; all has returned to chaos. The “braidedness” of social and cosmic order comes to an end in Kali’s wild, unbound, flowing hair.
A second interpretation of Kali’s disheveled hair seems plausible. In certain circumstances, almost all associated with impurity and pollution of some kind, Hindu women do unbind their hair. In particular, they unbind it during menstruation.4’ Perhaps the best-known example of this in Sanskrit literature is the case of Draupadi in the *Mahabharata. *Her husband, Yudhisthira, wagers her and loses her. Draupadi, at the command of Duryodhana, an opponent of Yudhisthira, is dragged into the assembly hall and made to undress. The text notes that she is menstruating and that her hair is disheveled. Commenting on this scene, Alf Hiltebeitel says, “These two facts are not unrelated. Draupadi’s hair is dishevelled *because *she is menstruating. The *Mahabharata *draws here on a well known prohibition on wearing the hair braided during menstruation, and not binding it up until the ritual bath that ends the period of impurity.“44 In addition to wearing their hair unbound during menstruation, women in the Punjab also unbind their hair following childbirth, intercourse, and the death of their husbands. That is, women wear their hair unbound when they are in a state of pollution.45
I have been unable to find textual verification for the suggestion that Kali’s disheveled hair indicates that she is menstruating. But since she symbolizes the subversion of social order and decorum and represents a confrontation with, or at least the acknowledgment of, the forbidden (represented by the polluted), it seems likely that we are meant to understand her as menstruating.
Kali as an Expression of Ultimate Reality
Kali is also considered the exemplary Mahavidya because she most completely reveals the ultimate truth. She is the adi Mahavidya, the primordial Mahavidya. In one of her *sahasranama **stotras *(there are several of these addressed to Kali), she is called She Who Is Knowledge of the Self, She Who Is Knowledge of *Brahman, *She Whose Form Is the Highest *Brahman,46 *and Mistress of the Mahavidyas.47 Kali’s preeminent position in such epithets as these implies that in some way she reveals the ultimate truth. In Tantrism, which is ritually oriented and spiritually pragmatic, ultimate truth is perhaps confirmed and realized only by means of *sadhana, *is revealed only to adepts who have worshiped Kali. It is tempting, nevertheless, to speculate on just how Kali reveals ultimate truth.
One approach is to interpret Kali’s most important form, Daksina-kali, symbolically, allegorically, or mystically, as some contemporary Hindu writers and practitioners have done. They find that esoteric truths can be gleaned from Kali’s image, truths that are not obvious, that are not immediately suggested by her appearance. Based on the information I have been able to gather, this esoteric or mystical interpretation of Kali as exemplifying ultimate truth runs as follows.48
The overall image of Daksina-kali, first of all, teaches philosophical or cosmological truths. Kali’s standing on Siva, for example, is often interpreted as symbolizing the interaction of Siva and Sakti and the ultimate superiority of the latter. The image, that is, is taken as an icon suggesting the essential nature of reality as Siva and Sakti and the priority of Sakti. Another interpretation also finds cosmological significance in the image.
Siva was born from the goddess Kali. She is the only uncreated being. Siva was needed for creation, so she created him by her own action. She created sperm in her womb and made love to herself. She made a mistake in creating the world and started to destroy it. Brahma told Siva to stop the destruction—so he stretched himself down before her. To avoid killing him, she stopped destroying the world. Siva insisted that she re-create the destroyed part, so she vomited it out. She had swallowed the whole world. That is why her tongue is sticking out when she stands on Siva.49
The name Daksina-kali, according to a contemporary author, implies Kali’s preeminent position. The name comes from the story that when Yama, king of the dead, who lives in the south *(daksina), *heard Kali’s name, he ran away in fear and ever since has been unable to take her devotees to his kingdom. That is, worship of Kali overcomes death, and so she is the one who overwhelms the ruler of the south (Yama) and is called Daksina-kali. The name is also derived, according to some informants, from *daksina, *the name for the gift given to a priest after a ritual without which the ritual is not effective. Kali is that reality without which nothing would be effective. She is the underlying *sakti. *
Several informants have also suggested to me that the name Daksinakali refers to the fact that Kali places her right *(daksina) *foot on Siva’s chest in this particular iconographic depiction. Lending credibility to this is the fact that several informants have mentioned a form of Kali known as Vama-kali (leftward-tending Kali), in which Kali is shown with her left foot on Siva’s chest. Vama-kali is said to be extremely dangerous and rarely worshiped except by people of heroic nature. Depictions or descriptions of Vama-kali are rare. Finally, she is called Daksina-kali because she is worshiped by Daksina-bhairava, that is, Siva, who is often said to be the highest reality.50
Kali’s four arms represent the complete circle of creation and destruction, which is contained within or encompassed by her. She represents the inherent creative and destructive rhythms of the cosmos. Her right hands, making the *madras *of “fear not” and conferring boons, represent the creative aspect of Kali, while the left hands, holding a bloodied sword and a severed head, represent her destructive aspect.51 Her three eyes represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which she is able to observe the three modes of time: past, present, and future.52
The bloodied sword and severed head also symbolize the destruction of ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is the sword of knowledge, or desireless *sadhand, *that cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false consciousness (the severed head).53 Kali opens the gates of freedom with this sword, having cut the eight bonds *(pasu) *that bind human beings.54 In addition to signifying false consciousness, the bleeding severed head is said to signify the outflow of *rajas **guna *(passionate proclivities), which completely purifies the adept, who becomes totally composed *oisattvic *(spiritual) qualities in his or her awakening to truth.55 The severed head is also interpreted as that of a child and thus as symbolizing the nature of the accomplished devotee or practitioner, who, like Ramakrishna, has achieved the innocence of a child.56
Kali’s lolling tongue and sharp fangs are interpreted as symbolizing the conquest *oirajasic *power (the red tongue) by *sattvic *power (the white teeth). That is, Kali is totally *sattvic, *totally spiritual in nature, having transcended any impurities inherent in the other two *gunas.57 *
Kali’s blackness also symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature, because black is the color in which all other colors merge; black absorbs and dissolves them. Or black is said to represent the total absence of color, again signifying the *nirguna *(beyond qualities) nature of Kali as ultimate reality.58 Either way, Kali’s black color symbolizes her transcendence of all form.59
Kali’s nudity has a similar meaning. It symbolizes that she is completely beyond name and form, completely beyond the illusory effects *of **mdyd *(false consciousness), completely transcendent. Her nudity is said to represent totally illuminated consciousness, unaffected by *mdyd.60 *Kali is the bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the clothes of ignorance, represented by *mdyd. *Such truth simply burns them away.61
Kali’s dwelling place, the cremation ground, has a similar meaning. The cremation ground denotes a place where the five elements *(panca **mahdbhuta) *are dissolved. Kali dwells where dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion, worship, and *sadhand, *this denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust, and other binding emotions, feelings, and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this burning away takes place, and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. The devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner cremation fire in the heart is the fire of knowledge, *jiidndgni, *which Kali bestows.62
Kali’s *dsana *(seat), which is none other than the supine body of Siva (sometimes said to be a corpse or corpselike), symbolizes that her devotees have given up their entire lives for her, having offered her their very breath. Having sacrificed themselves (their egos) to her, devotees die and become corpselike. It is only then that Kali enters their hearts, freeing them from all worldly cares. Kali’s standing on Siva signifies her blessing of her devotees.63
Another interpretation says that Siva represents the passive potential of creation. In the philosophy of yoga he represents *purusa *(literally, “male”), the unchanging, unqualified aspect of reality, while Kali represents the active *prakrti *(nature or the physical world). In this interpretation, Kali and Siva together symbolize ultimate reality.64
Another interpretation of Kali’s standing on Siva, or engaging in reverse sexual intercourse with him *(viparita **rati),65 *is that it symbolizes meditative involution, by means of which one “de-creates” the universe in order to experience the blissful union of Siva and Sakti. The theme of yogic meditation “going against the stream,” reversing the creative processes, is ancient. The inversion of traditional male and female roles in the Daksina-kali image might suggest this inverse process.66
The garland of severed heads represents the sounds of the alphabet and symbolizes Kali as *sabda **brahman, *the underlying essence of reality as manifest in sound, particularly the primordial sound, *Om. *Some texts specify the garland of heads or skulls to be fifty and to represent the fifty Sanskrit letters.67 From the various sound seeds *(bijas), all creation proceeds, and Kali is identified with this underlying power.68 Her girdle of severed arms represents the destruction of devotees’ karma. The arms symbolize deeds, actions—karma—and the binding effects of this karma have been overcome, severed, as it were, by Kalisadhana *or devotion. She has blessed the devotee by cutting him free from karma.69
Other images or forms of Kali reinforce these associations with ultimate reality or ultimate spiritual realization. Guhya-kali, who is described as having sunken eyes, fearful teeth, a constantly moving tongue, matted hair, and a large belly, is replete with serpent ornaments and companions. Her sacred thread is a serpent; she is seated on a bed of serpents; the thousand-headed cosmic serpent Ananta is above her head; and she is surrounded by serpents.70 The symbolism of serpents is complex, but in this case it indicates Kali’s cosmic supremacy. Like Visnu, for example, she is protected by Ananta, which indicates that she is a primordial, creative force. Serpents are also held to possess mystic wisdom and great wealth, both of which they obtain from their association with the interior of the earth. They are symbols of transformation, being able to shed their skins and become new beings. Serpents are liminal figures in that they pierce different cosmic zones, the earth and the underworld. As beings who live both on the earth and in the earth, they move between cosmic planes and also between states of being, between the realms of the living and the dead. Kali is “at home” with these mysterious, powerful, liminal beings, which suggests her transformative nature and power.
Many of the *dhyana *mantras of the different forms of Kali also mention her drinking wine or blood, holding cups or empty skulls filled with wine or blood,“1 or being intoxicated. Siddha-kali drinks blood from a skull held in her left hand. Guhya-kali and Raksa-kali (sometimes called Mahakali) sip wine. Smasana-kali carries a skull full of wine in her right hand and is said to be intoxicated all the time. Although there are several possible interpretations of this characteristic feature of Kali, her intoxication suggests altered consciousness, perhaps the dawning of liberated consciousness, in which the restrictions and limitations of convention are overcome.
The overwhelming presence of death imagery in all depictions of Kali also might be interpreted as symbolizing the transformative nature of the goddess, and hence her association with ultimate knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment. What is a more dramatic image of radical change than death, the greatest transformation a human being experiences? In association with the chopped heads and skulls that adorn almost all of her forms, the death imagery (corpses, cremation grounds, severed body parts) suggests that Kali stands at the threshold of change, that she is the guide who takes the aspirant from one state of being, one state of consciousness, to another—that she is the mistress of change and transformation.
The way in which Kali is worshiped in the tantric tradition may also suggest her association with ultimate reality. According to Swami Annapurnananda, tantric *sadhana **to *Kali is applied or practical Advaita Vedanta (monism), in which one seeks to discern the underlying identity between oneself and ultimate reality, *Brahman, *represented by Daksina-kali. In the process of undertaking *sadhana *to Kall, one produces her image out of oneself, worships it by identifying with it, and then dismisses it back into oneself. In this process (described in Part I), one ritually and mentally undertakes one’s own death and destruction, after which one re-creates the cosmos with Kali at the center. Such rituals as *nydsa, *in which one suffuses one’s body with the seed syllables of the deities, thus identifying with the different aspects of the cosmos, and *bhiita **suddhi, *in which the adept imagines the dissolution and re-creation of the cosmos, are ritual devices whereby one’s limited, ego-centered identity is subverted. The process aims at expanding the adept’s identity so widely and universally that there is no sense of “I” or “me” remaining. The goal is to identify completely with Kall, who is the symbol of the absolute, beyond name and form, beyond individuality and specificity.
In certain aspects of Kashmir Saivism, which might be described as dynamic idealism, the stages and rhythms of consciousness are affirmed to be the ground of reality and are identified with twelve Kalis. That is, Kall, in her differing forms, is symbolic of consciousness itself and of the processes whereby cognition and knowledge take place. As identical with these processes, then, Kali is taken to be the innermost essence of reality and the most appropriate symbol of that essence.72
Conclusion
Kali might be thought of as the goddess who sets the tone for the rest of the Mahavidyas in two ways. First, she suggests a being who is liminal in nature, who dwells on the boundary of society and threatens, subverts, or challenges the status quo. For Tantrism, she is an appropriate symbol of rituals and meditative techniques that seek to confront, appropriate, and overcome forbidden, feared, “polluting” realities. As the embodiment of the polluted, feared, and loathed, she can, if confronted boldly by the aspirant, grant liberation, freedom from subservience to conventionality.
Second, Kali might be thought of as a symbol of ultimate reality, an embodiment of the highest truths. By interpreting her features and habits allegorically and imaginatively, which is a widely accepted and practiced approach to understanding her, the adept can glimpse secrets that point to certain central truths of the Hindu tradition. In this latter approach, Kali’s dramatic, often offensive, always shocking appearance is not necessarily to be taken literally. Her real meaning is not obvious to the uninitiated; it reveals itself only to imaginative and spiritually sensitive interpretation.
It is interesting to note that most insiders, that is, the native Hindus, prefer to interpret Kali allegorically, while most outsiders, that is, Westerners, prefer to focus on her surface attributes, appearance, and habits. I do not think the two approaches contradict each other. In many cases they are complementary. It is clear, however, that many Hindus, even tantric Hindus, who are supposedly intent on subverting the mentality of the status quo, are uncomfortable with interpretations of Kali that too strongly emphasize her outrageous, shocking features and habits as central to her significance.