A Beginning
Kali.
“The Dark One.”
“She Who Is Death.”
The goddess of Nature. Time. Violence. Sexuality. Sometimes a mother, sometimes a warrior. The devourer and creator.
Her devotees revere her; others fear her, refusing even to hang her image in their home for fear of bad luck.
In the classic story of good versus evil, she is neither and both.
As is the case with many Hindu deities, Kali has several origin stories. Some are from the Vedic tradition (the most ancient), others from the Tantric tradition (spiritual practices and stories used alongside the Vedic tradition). The unique traditions offer an explanation for some of her differences, yet they all represent Kali as a being embodying duality. Many of these stories involve a battlefield, resulting in stories with both physical and moral conflict. In the monotheistic traditions we are familiar with in the West, tales of conflict have a defined good side and a bad side. Kali defies these categories with a decided ambivalence.
Each story presents a different moral dilemma, a different version of Kali, and a different experience for the reader.
I’ve selected three creation stories of Kali to focus on for this project. You’ll encounter the world as she does, facing the same decisions and dilemmas, working alongside or against famed Hindu deities and demons. Each title signals the aspect of Kali that will be explored in that particular story. Feel free to read them in the order given at the top of the screen, or to select the story that speaks to you from the links below:
Image information: (Kali by Raja Ravi Varma. Web Source.)