The very first appearance of Kali Mata in our cosmic realm takes place during the Kurukshetra war. She took the form of a dark blue night or Kalaratri. She appeared in the dreams of the Pandavas soldiers repeatedly. She finally appeared in her Kalaratri form during the confrontation between guru Dronacharya’s son Ashwatthama and Pandavas. Ashwatthama uses the Brahmastra to kill the unborn son of Abhimanyu in the rage of Pandavas defeating Kauravas in the Mahabharata war.
Kali Mata, the dark goddess known as indeed the goddess of death and doomsday is one of the most powerful goddesses. She has an incomparable amount of rage and anger filled in her and can destroy the living with one blow. She is often misunderstood for her anger. Being a goddess, in the end, she has a lot of empathy and love for her devotees.
Kali then appeared in the story of defeating demon Raktabija. Demon Raktabija was a demon believed to be the reincarnation of Rambhasura (king of demon and father to Mahishasura). He had fought against Goddess Parvati and Goddess Kali with Shumbha and Nishumbha. The biggest strength of this demon was that he could duplicate demons with just a drop of blood. He started causing havoc in the universe by creating demons and increasing evil energies.
The battle of Ambika, the protector goddess with the Raktabija demon was one to remember. Ambika and Matrikas were finding it very difficult to fight back the demon and stop the duplications. He was wounded and drops kept falling on the ground giving birth to more demons. Finally, goddess kali had to step in and take control of the battle. She started collecting Raktabija’s blood in a bowl and killing the duplicates while supporting Ambika and Matrikas to kill Raktabija himself. She drank the blood of the demon and started to be known as Raktheshwari.
Raktabija was defeated and destroyed but by that time goddess, Kali Mata had been charged with anger and rage. She went on to kill all creatures in a fury. Lord Shiva has to intervene and lay down in front of her to calm her down. Seeing him lying down there, she was taken aback and embarrassed and took her tongue out. This episode is very popular in Hindu culture and is depicted through various paintings and sculptures.
Kali wears skeletons around her neck and is often imagined with dark, curly and long hair. She is portrayed in two forms majorly, one is a 4 armed form and the second one is a ten-armed form. She is always described to be black in colour with her eyes turned to red from the intoxication of anger. She is shown wearing a tiger skin skirt and has the look of Raudra on her face. She is the ultimate example for Raudra Rasa in classical dances.
In her ten-armed form, she is seen shining like a Neelam (Sapphire – the bluestone) and has 10 hands and 10 legs. She is decked up with ornaments on her face, hands, waist etc. Her vehicle is considered a lion and she is holding a lotus and several weapons in her hand.
Kali Maa is a pure-hearted, kind, loving and caring goddess and is a mother to the entire universe. She is the great protector of the world against evils.
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