Goddess Kali -

Goddess Kali was depicted as the most ferocious with a dreadful appearance in Hindu mythology.  She has dark blue complexion, blood-stained tongue stretching outside, sparkling three eyes, vicious smile, adorned in magnificent crown decorated with a crescent moon adorned in various golden gem decorated ornaments all over the body, beautiful earrings,  ornaments on the chest, arms,  hands, waist, and anklets, she holds  various fierce weapons in hands,  powerful sword in one hand, lifeless head on the other, starch naked, garlands of skull and corpse on the neck, a large volume of curly and dark blue long unbound hairs  that covers the nudity, she is standing or sitting on the chest of Lord Shiva.  The significance of the worship of Ma Kali that begins over four thousand years from the pre-Buddhist period, rituals were considered as highly important in invoking Goddess Kali.  The performance of fire sacrifice to invoke deities, such as Lord Sun, Lord Agni, Lord Indra, Lord Varuna, etc.. the Veda describes the nature of Goddess Nirriti is the representation of death as dark complexioned with disheveled hair, alarming appearance, she is compared with Dakshin Kali who is originated from the direction South/dwelling place of Yama.  Goddess Nirriti reveals the dark side of nature of life such as physical as well as mental ailments.

In Jaiminya Brahmana, there is a legend of Goddess Dhirga Jihva who has long tongue stretched out was invoked out of the fire sacrifice and she licked away all the Soma rasa from the fire ritual,  that caused much irritation to Lord Indra.  This Somarasa provided immortality,  happiness, and health to everyone including deities.  Lord Indra assigned a young man Sumitra to fight against Dhirga Jihva was refused Sumitra who is lack of manliness.  Indra blessed Sumitra with immense manliness which satisfied the Dhirga Jihva and Sumitra attained the power to kill her during their amorous sport. 

During the Buddhist era Karma and Moksha gained popularity, which recommended meditation as a tool for attaining liberation from worldly bondage, this caused the diminishing of the performance of fire sacrifices.  The post Buddhist period gave the raise the knowledge in scriptures, which highly recommended fire worships for invoking deities.  The supreme spirit which has no duality and protector of the worshiper, thus began the origin of sub-sect as Shaivism, is the worship of Lord Shiva who is a Vairagin/abandonment,  Vaishnavism, is the worship of Lord Vishnu who is a Samsarin/householder along with Goddess Mahalakshmi, Shaktham is the worship of Ma Kali who represents female energy,  each has supremacy in its own way.  Ma Kali is depicted as the conqueror of demons, and there are various manifestations of Ma Kali.  Goddess Kalaratri who has appeared in the final night of war of Kurukshetra is another powerful form of Goddess Kali who lives in battlefields, a representation of rage and violence. 

Srimad Devi Bhagavatham of Markandeya Purana describes Ma Kali who originated from the third eye of Goddess Devi to kill the demons Chanda, Munda, Mahisha,  and Rakthabeeja.  There is a famous legend of Rakthabeeja who undertook severe penance praying to Lord Bhrama, finally attained a peculiar boon that if a drop of his blood fell on Earth would transform into a seed which causes to sprout duplicate of him.  Rakthabeeja has grown haughty and caused havoc in three worlds, therefore the deities, Lord Bhrma and Lord Indra approached Lord Vishnu to put an end to his atrocities.  Lord Vishnu requested to Lord Shiva also expressed his qualms so they have to approach Goddess Devi who assumed the form of multi-armed Chandi who is mounted on a tiger with various weapons and rushed to the battlefield.  Another form of Goddess Devi is Kali who has a long stretching tongue, drank all those bloodsheds with her propelling tongue before it falls on the ground.  Thus, Goddess Kali beheaded the demon Rakthabeeja, she has worn the garlands of the head of demons.

The Tantric scriptures describes various forms of Goddess like Kali, Tara, Chamunda, Chinnamastha, Tripurasundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Dhumavathi, Bagalamukhi, Mathangi, and Kamala.   Tantric scriptures describes elaborately on the sixty-four Goddess known as Tri-Devi, Tri-Ambika, Matrikas, Mahavidhyas, and Yoginiganas, are the goddesses as benevolent, bountiful, gruesome and malicious.  The Kalika Purana describes Maha Kali as the most perfect and supreme representation of Adi shakti.  Mahakali with her unbound hair of large volume, dark complexion, blood-stained tongue stretched out of the mouth, thirst for blood, and unbridled lust dominated her male form Lord Shiva/Bhairav.   The moment she sat on the chest of Lord Shiva or stands on his chest realizes her origin as awakened by him, she is the one who supplements him with her female energy.  She is the supreme Goddess who has venerable as well as frightening form; she is the creator of living beings and ultimately devours them.

Shaktism - 

Shaktism is one of the most important sub-sects of Hinduism.  It is one of the most popular worship of the supreme Goddess Adhishakthi, in her innumerable forms in different parts of the country.  Shakthi symbolizes ‘energy’/ ‘Potency’, worship of the same for attaining the highest spiritual benefits.  Shaktism is closely related to Shaivism, Shakthi/female energy of Lord Shiva.   Therefore, Shiva and Shakthi are inseparable, and the emotional disturbance of the Shakthi leads to creation.  Without the vital energy, Lord Shiva remains inactive.  As mentioned earlier, Shakthi has innumerable appearances as Kali who has fierce form; she is the destroyer of evil.  She has the manifestation as Janani who is the mother of living beings, she has personified as Goddess Sri Mahalakshmi who symbolizes wealth and richness, Goddess Durga who is the destroyer of sorrows and miseries, Goddess Saraswathi who symbolizes wisdom and knowledge, Goddess Sri who is the epitome of beauty, Goddess Parvathi who symbolizes love and virtues, she is the consort of Lord Shiva, she represents death and destruction.  


The Shakthites worship Goddess as the mother and the worshiper believes that the mother provides all that they yearn.  Hinduism believes the supreme Goddess Kali as the destroyer of evil and fear.  All that born on this Earth has to undergo constant transformation such as aging, illness, and death.  None of the living beings is out of these above-said transformations in life; hence all have the fear of death.  The Goddess Kali is portrayed as gruesome and alarming, to reveal the realities of life such as despair, sufferings fear of death and death.  This will help us to realize the stark nature of realities of life such the nature of impermanence.  The Earth we live in has to undergo various natural calamities, destruction, famine, drought, etc.., we are always surrounded by the constant threat of nature as well as wickedness of humans.  Goddess Kali is often portrayed as dwelling in funeral grounds, makes us realize the fact that all the living beings on the Earth have to face death, pain, and suffering.  It is an undeniable warning to living beings about the harsh truth of aging; illness and death, hence pursue the knowledge of ‘Bhramam’ which is supreme bliss.   The worldly existence is a web of sufferings, pain, agony, miseries, sorrows, displeasure and grief.  The worship of the gruesome form of Goddess Kali helps us to confront all the evils such as mental and physical ailments, and ultimately death.  None of the living beings in this world is going to be free from any of the nature of life on the Earth.  Therefore, the horrifying form of Kali is not to terrorize, the worship of Goddess Kali teaches us to confront the happiness and sorrow, beauty and ugliness, pleasure and displeasure, fear of death and death in a balanced state of mind.  The ultimate truth is that she is the Mother of Universe and its living being; she not only protects her worshiper but also instills them with the knowledge of the impermanent nature of life, so that the worshiper remains free from the worldly bondage practically and rationally.  Goddess Kali symbolizes energy and process of existence, worship of Goddess Kali would benefit the worshiper to overcome the fear of death, time and death which is inevitable.  The worshiper of Ma Kali sees kindness and love in her brutal appearance; she removes the fear of death, evilness, and worldly bondage.

The role of Tantra in Shaktism is significant, it is a method of worship of  Ma Kali.  The Tantra reveals the knowledge of all the dimensions and powers of the existence of manifestation of the energy of Ma Kali.  The Tantra is the knowledge which aims to transform the worshiper and elevates spiritually, and set free from all those destructive and binding nature of life.

The supreme Goddess Kali also depicts as Mother of living beings, with a pleasing personality, compassion and full of love.  She is the protector of her passionate devotees, she protects from the fear of physical as well as mental ailments.  Goddess Kali symbolizes creation as well as destruction, in order to create something new, something has to be destroyed which is already in existence.  These two actions should go correspondingly; Ma Kali is described as gruesome with a black complexion that represents death, and the divine Mother has a pleasant appearance with a beautiful smile represents creation which consists of good and evil as well.  The worship of Shakthi brings serenity in the worshiper, it teaches to embrace the destructive force such as destruction of the evil and the pleasing nature of the divine mother who protects her children, in the same manner.  Therefore, death and destruction are inevitable in human life; the worship of Goddess Kali brings the knowledge of awareness of the impermanent nature of life and helps to overcome those fears.