The Book of Kali Read online

  One of the most unconventional yet immensely popular deities in the Hindu pantheon, goddess Kali essentially represents the dark and contrary aspects of the cosmos. Her naked form and association with violence, blood and gore challenge the very concept of divinity. Yet, over the centuries, she has come to represent a whole gamut of conflicting images—from bloodthirsty ogress to benign goddess. So today while she is venerated as Chamunda, who verges on the macabre and grotesque, she is also adored in household shrines in one of her milder forms, Dakshina-Kali.

  It is this evolution of Kali—from her origin as a tantric goddess to her metamorphosis into a divinity in mainstream religion—that Seema Mohanty captures brilliantly in this book. Drawing upon a variety of sources—tales from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Tantras and Agamas, folklore and films—she has succeeded in portraying in engrossing detail the myriad manifestations of the enigmatic deity that is Kali.

  Seema Mohanty is a freelance writer based in Mumbai. She has written this book based on the lectures and writings of her brother Dr Devdutt Pattanaik, the well-known mythologist.

  ‘Hrim, destroyer of time!

  Srim, embodiment of terror!

  Krim, giver of boons!

  Mother of Time…

  Destroyer offear, of sin, of pride…

  Allayer of sufferings.’

  ∼

  Adya Kali Stotra

  (Sixteenth century)

  The Book of Kali

  Book in this series

  The Book of Buddha

  The Book of Devi

  The Book of Durga

  The Book of Ganesha

  The Book of Hanuman

  The Book of Kali

  The Book of Krishna

  The Book of Muhammad

  The Book of Muinuddin Chishti

  The Book of Nanak

  The Book of Ram

  The Book of Shiva

  The Book of Vishnu

  The Book of

  Kali

  SEEMA MOHANTY

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published in Viking by Penguin Books India 2004

  Published in Penguin Books 2009

  Text copyright © Seema Mohanty 2004

  Illustrations copyright © Devdutt Pattanaik 2004

  Illustrations by Devdutt Pattanaik

  All rights reserved

  ISBN: 978-01-4306-764-1

  This digital edition published in 2011.

  e-ISBN: 978-81-8475-150-5

  This e-book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above-mentioned publisher of this e-book.

  To my family

  who have always been there

  Contents

  Copyright

  Introduction

  The Form

  The Manifestations

  The Tales

  The Worship

  The Origin

  The Metamorphosis

  The Wisdom

  Conclusion

  Hymns

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  Her outstretched tongue distinguishes her from all other goddesses in the Hindu pantheon. Her nakedness, unbound hair, association with blood and gore, and unbridled sexuality challenge conventional ideas of divinity. So much so that to the uninformed eye Kali appears less as a manifestation of the divine, and more as a bloodthirsty ogress—a patron of thugs and sorcerers.

  In the quest to understand Kali it is essential to appreciate the Hindu concept of the divine. Hindus visualize the divine in various forms—human, animal, plant and mineral. Each form, with its respective narrative and rituals, serves as a gateway to realizing the ultimate unmanifest godhead. Worshippers of Shiva and Vishnu, the two most popular male manifestations of the divine, believe that the male form of the divine represents spiritual reality, while the female form symbolizes material reality. Goddess worshippers, however, associate both material and spiritual realities with the female form. To them, Kali is both Goddess or Devi (the female divinity, the supreme manifestation of the divine) and goddess (one of the several incarnations of Devi). As ‘Goddess’, Kali embodies both spiritual and material realities, the totality of nature, as she creates, sustains and destroys the world. As ‘goddess’, she represents only that aspect of material reality which is wild and untamed, and complements Gauri, the radiant and gentle goddess who represents the domesticated and tamed manifestation of nature.

  Worship of the Goddess in India is as ancient as civilization itself, and has its roots in the belief that the earth is a living being that nourishes all animate objects. The most widely accepted theory states that when the nomadic cattle-herding Aryans were assimilated into the settled agricultural communities of the Indian subcontinent almost 4000 years ago, the male-dominated, sky-gazing Vedic deities mingled and merged with the local female-dominated, earthbound, Dravidian (some may say pre-Aryan tantrik) divinities. From this fusion rose the goddesses of India who populate not just the Hindu pantheon but also Jain and Buddhist mythologies.

  It is difficult to trace the history of Kali worship in India. Even before the name Kali was first documented in scriptures, there were references to goddesses (and demonesses) that allude to Kali. For example, in the Rig Samhita there is Nirriti, a dark goddess associated with death, who was feared and needed to be appeased. In the Jaiminya Brahmana, there is a verse celebrating the triumph of Indra over Dirgha-jihvi, a long-tongued and lascivious ogress, who thirsted for the divine drink Soma.

  It is also difficult to trace the extent of Kali worship in India. In villages across India, goddesses are classified as ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. Hot goddesses are wild and angry, threatening communities with drought and epidemic unless appeased by blood sacrifice. Cold goddesses are gentle and domestic, who nurture communities with love and tenderness. Hot goddesses like Bhagavati of Kerala and Yellamma of Karnataka are sometimes referred to as Kali but do not have the characteristic outstretched tongue. At the same time there are goddesses such as Korravai, the naked Tamil goddess of war, and Chamunda, the emaciated goddess of crematoriums, who share Kali’s association with blood sacrifices, death and exorcism but do not share her name.

 
; Narratives, symbols and rituals associated with Kali invariably overlap with those of other goddesses. Also, what applies to Kali in one part of India need not apply elsewhere. Further, what was true about Kali in yesteryears may not be true today. All this makes it difficult to define boundaries in the study of Kali.

  Kali is but one of the many goddesses of India, though undoubtedly the most popular. Her fame owes a great deal to European Imperialism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as to Radical Feminism of the twentieth century. While for the former, this exotic and ‘ghoulish’ deity validated the urgent need to convert and civilize the natives, for the latter, this defiant goddess was a manifestation of the female collective unconscious that sought liberation from male-dominated regimes.

  Despite her popularity, Kali remains an enigma to most people, including Hindus. Her macabre persona defies explanation and forces one to be defensive or apologetic. This book makes a conscious effort to unconditionally accept the stories, images and rituals through which the idea of Kali has been communicated over the ages. By doing so, it hopes to decode the meaning behind the macabre, and help the reader gain an insight into the Hindu approach to the divine.

  The Form

  Hindus project the idea of God in a variety of forms. Each form brings together a set of symbols that communicate the Hindu understanding of life and divinity. Ideally, since God is believed to be an absolute entity and the container of all things, there must be only one form of God that projects every conceivable universal idea simultaneously. But this is impossible to achieve. Hence, Hindus have many gods and goddesses, each evoking one aspect of divinity. The ascetic Shiva, for example, evokes world-renouncing ideas while the regal Vishnu evokes world-affirming ideas. Durga, who dresses as a bride but functions as a killer, communicates the principles of sex and violence that make the cycle of life go round. The form of Kali and its constituent symbols are meant to evoke bhaya and vibhitsa—fear and revulsion—forcing the observer to acknowledge the dark and unpleasant aspects of the cosmos—and hence of the divine—that one often tries to deny, repress or suppress.

  All descriptions of Kali, after giving allowances to regional and temporal variations, have certain commonalities. She is invariably dark, naked and with unbound and dishevelled hair. She stands on Shiva’s chest, holds in her hands a bloodstained scythe and a human head, has a garland of male heads around her neck and a girdle of hands around her waist. Her tongue is outstretched and smeared with blood. Surrounded by corpses, dogs and jackals, her stance looks threatening. There is no denying the fact that Kali makes an impact on the observer.

  Outstretched tongue

  There are many goddesses who like Kali are naked and associated with blood and death. These include Chandi, Chamunda, Bhairavi and Bhagavati. But what distinguishes Kali from other goddesses is her outstretched tongue. In some narratives, Kali spreads her tongue to drink the blood of the demon Rakta-bija before it touches the ground and sprouts Rakta-bija clones. In other narratives, Kali sticks out her tongue in embarrassment on realizing that she has stepped on her own husband in her bloodlust. In Kali temples, the tongue is smeared with the blood of sacrificed animals. With the outstretched tongue, Kali teases and mocks her devotees—she sees through their social façade and knows the dark desires they try so hard to deny or suppress. She provokes them to delve into their subconscious and confront all those memories and thoughts that they shy away from.

  In many parts of India, the image of Kali does not have the characteristic outstretched tongue, though she may have fangs protruding from the corners of her mouth. This form is called Bhadra-Kali, or the ‘decent Kali’ who does not reject feminine grace totally. She resides in household shrines and serves as the guardian of the family.

  Dark complexion

  The word kali means ‘black’. Kali is associated with all things black—her skin is dark, her hair black, her priests wear black, she is worshipped on new moon ‘black’ nights, and she is often portrayed in the company of black cats. She defies all that a fair complexion stands for—domestication, gentleness and beauty. The Goddess, or Devi, sheds her dark Kali form and becomes Gauri, who is gaur or fair, only when asked to marry Shiva.

  Artists often paint Kali not black but purple or blue. Generally, the black Kali is called Smashana-Kali and enshrined in crematoria, while the blue or purple Kali is called Bhadra-Kali or Dakshina-Kali and worshipped in household and community shrines. Purple, blue or black, Kali refuses to endorse traditional concepts of beauty and auspiciousness.

  Unbound hair

  In traditional Hindu families, the unmarried virgin plaits her hair, the married woman oils, combs, parts and knots her hair, while the widow is made to shave her hair. Hair is thus a metaphor for sexuality—poised for fulfilment in the virgin, domesticated and controlled in the married woman, and stripped away in the widow. Kali’s hair is dishevelled and unbound, indicating that her sexuality is unfettered by social norms. She represents the wild, untamed aspects of the forest—a site where sex and violence are unbridled, governed primarily by the quest for survival.

  In narratives, Devi always unbinds her hair when angry or upset, or when she is called to battle. In the Tantrik Mahabharata, the untying of Draupadi’s hair by the Kauravas marks the collapse of civilized conduct. Things are restored when Draupadi ties her hair after washing it with Kaurava blood following the carnage on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

  Garland of heads, girdle of arms

  Kali wears around her neck a garland of human heads. These are invariably those of men, moustached and virile-looking. According to one Telegu folk tradition, the heads around Kali’s neck belong to a demon who had received the boon that no sooner did any of his heads touch the ground than the world would burst into flames. By placing the heads of this demon on her body Kali protects the world from destruction. The heads also represent men who have been sacrificed to her or who have sacrificed themselves to her. According to metaphysicians, the heads are symbols of the ego that must be offered to Kali by those seeking liberation from worldly ties. In the nationalistic discourse that saw Kali as Bharat Mata, these are the heads of martyrs. In the Tantrik tradition, each head represents a letter of the Sanskrit alphabet. Kali decapitates words so that the seeker of truth is liberated from the limitations imposed by language.

  Kali also has a girdle of arms around her waist, probably a later-day addition by artists who found the nakedness of Kali too discomfiting. Metaphysicians view this as the bonds of karma that Kali cuts down, liberating her devotees from the cycle of rebirth. Nationalists saw them as the arms of those who laid down their lives fighting for the liberation of the motherland.

  The corpses of newborns serve as Kali’s earrings. Kali thus becomes the explanation for the inexplicable deaths of newborns.

  Nakedness

  Kali is naked. Her nakedness represents Nature, unfettered by the norms of culture. Over the centuries, as Kali moved from the periphery of spiritual practices to the centre stage, from occult rituals to household ceremonies, artists have expressed their alarm at her immodesty in various ways. Most make sure that her hair and the garland of human heads and hands cover her sexual organs. Some have even bedecked her with ornaments of pearl and gold. In temples, one often finds her naked body adorned with a silk sari. The traditional offering in Devi shrines is a piece of cloth so that she can cover her nakedness and appear as a loving bride or a nourishing mother. Through this ritual the devotee expresses his desire to see the world not as a wild and untamed place but as a place where all emotions and actions are controlled by the law of civilization. The devotee seeks not the untamed forest but the domesticated field, he wants Devi not as the bloodthirsty Kali but as the milk-giving Gauri. The disrobing of Draupadi by the Kauravas in the Mahabharata is seen in the Tantrik tradition as an attempt to unravel the codes of civilization and the return of Devi into her wild, bloodthirsty state.

  Body

  In the earliest descriptions in the Puranas, Kali
is described as gaunt with shrivelled breasts and sunken stomach or a potbelly. Later, especially in the Tantras, and with the rise of devotional movements, Kali came to be described as an extremely beautiful girl with full breasts and a narrow waist. In the former, no attempt is made to appeal to aesthetics of the observer. In the latter, the observer is expected to reconcile the gentleness of Kali’s body with the brutality of her deeds.

  Although Kali is considered the consort of Shiva and in many images is shown copulating with him, she is also, like most other goddesses, called the virgin. The idea of being a virgin indicates that the Devi, the ultimate Goddess, is subservient to no man. Nature is the supreme power, shedding and reclaiming its fertility at its own volition.

  Four hands

  In keeping with the Hindu tradition of depicting gods and goddesses with more heads and hands than ordinary human beings, Kali is shown in most works of art with four hands. Depending on the scripture and the form of Kali being worshipped, the hands bear a variety of weapons, including scimitar, sickle, scythe, sword, axe, trident or whip. The goddess also holds in one of her hands a freshly cut male head. The blood dripping from the severed neck is collected in a cup (usually the cranium of a skull). Some scriptures say that the cup contains wine, others say it contains the nectar of immortality. In household shrines, especially where Kali is called Dakshina-Kali or Bhadra-Kali, her hands take up the postures associated with protection and blessing known as abhaya mudra and varada mudra. Kali never holds in her hands symbols associated with fertility and fructification, such as sugarcane, parrot, flowers, conch shell and pot. These are associated with the benign and motherly aspect of Devi.