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                            Tantra Goddess
                                   
Subject: KALI: THE PRIMORDIAL GODDESS
  
   "O Dark Primordial Mother! Thou givest birth to and protectest
   the universe, and at the time of dissolution does withdraw to
   Thyself this world and all beings."
   
                                   
                                   
                          (Karpuradi Stotra)
                                   
   "Dark Mother! Always gliding near with soft feet, Have none
   chanted for Thee a chant of fullest welcome?"
   
                            (Walt Whitman)
                                   
   Kali, the Primordial Mother Goddess of Hindu tantric tradition,
   has her origins in India's archaic matriarchal culture. Her
   radiant blackness protected the dark-skinned tribes who
   worshipped her and inspired fear and dread in their enemies. She
   was, originally, a warrior goddess, worshipped with blood
   sacrifice and offerings of flesh and liquor. She was always
   viewed as all-powerful, awesome, as mysterious as night, fierce,
   passionately sensual and demanding. Yet to her worshippers she
   was always the all-merciful Protectress, filled with sublime love
   and compassion, a Granter-of-boons. Above all, Dark Kali was and
   still is Kali Ma, "Kali the Mother", the Cosmic Female Power,
   always available for Her devotees, ready to remove their
   suffering, their negative Karma, their fear of time (Kala) and
   death, always ready to bestow bliss and liberation.
     ____________________________________________________________
   
   Variations on the name Kali for female divinity can be found in
   many ancient cultures outside India, which suggests that in the
   distant past a common or related matriarchal religion pervaded
   much of the world. For example, in pre-historic Ireland people
   worshipped a powerful goddess known as Kele (her priestesses were
   known as Kelles), in ancient Finland there was the all-powerful
   goddess Kal-ma, in the Sinai region of the Middle East there was
   the goddess Kalu, and in ancient Greece an aspect of the goddess
   was known as Kalli. It is likely that these very similar names
   for the Great Goddess in different cultures was the result of the
   export of spiritual ideas and practices "out of India" prior to
   the early invasions by light-skinned Aryans (probably around 1500
   BC.).
   
   The use of Mantras, repeated power phrases and "spells", using
   language whose exact meaning is now largely forgotten or kept
   secret, is a common feature of most archaic cultures and was
   likely transmitted from matriarchal India.
   
   During the early Vedic period, society having become patriarchal,
   subordinated the female deities. However they did not disappear
   but continued to be worshipped by tribals. More than a hundred
   matriarchal tribes survive to this day in remote areas of Eastern
   India, in Assam, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in Madras,
   Mysore and Kerala in the South. Among the Khasi tribe, goddesses
   predominate over gods, and priestesses over priests. The Kadir
   tribe of Kerala, a matriarchal people, still worship a dark
   goddess known by them as Kali. The "wild" Shabara tribes of
   Orissa still worship their form of the dark goddess with meat and
   wine -aspects of worship generally associated with Hindu Tantra.
   
   The earliest literary mention of the name Kali in India is found
   in some Vedic hymns, but the context does not suggest much
   familiarity with or commitment to the Dark Goddess. Not
   surprising, since these hymns were composed largely by
   light-skinned Aryan invaders, who lived in a patriarchal culture.
   Some scholars see a connection between the Vedic goddess Ushas,
   the goddess of the dawn, with the goddess Kali. Though Ushas is
   generally conceived of as white and bright, she has another dark
   or grey-black form. According to Dr Pushpendra Kumar: "These are
   the points to be noted in the physical representation of Ushas:
   her youth and beauty, her forwardness and her virginity. Ushas is
   a warlike goddess and there are many references to her martial
   spirit. She is invoked to destroy enemies." There may be some
   connection between the dark form of Ushas and the Great Goddess
   Kali, who is also "forward", "warlike" and is indeed invoked "to
   destroy enemies". But it is not a compelling connection,
   especially since we hear little, if anything, of the
   transcendental, bliss-bestowing or liberating functions of this
   goddess, which are essential features of Kali Ma, the Dark Cosmic
   Mother.
                   ________________________________
                                   
             KALI'S SACRED SITES: HER TONGUE AND HER YONI
                                   
   Throughout India one finds sacred sites associated with Kali.
   Known as "Pitths" or "seats", these are places where, according
   to popular myth, parts of the Great Goddess' body fell to earth.
   A story tells how, in the distant past, the Great God Shiva
   ("Maha Deva") became crazed over the death of his Beloved Goddess
   ("Devi") and carried her body on his back as he roamed about the
   heavens, causing havoc. Eventually the Goddess' body was cut into
   pieces, which fell to earth in some 50 or so places- places which
   are now great pilgrimage destinations for followers of Hindu
   Tantra. Each Pitth is associated with a particular part of the
   Goddess' body. Though traditions vary as to which part fell
   where, the sacred sites of the Goddess are always extraordinary
   places charged with spiritual energy and one will invariably
   encounter Kali-devotees encamped at them.
   
   The name Kali occurs in one of the Upanishads, the sacred texts
   which follow the Vedas. Here, Kali is the name given to one of
   the seven tongues of Agni, the all-consuming sacrificial fire
   deity. Another of the tongues is called Kalika, also a name of
   Kali. This reference to Kali as the sacrificial tongues of flame
   may be linked to the Jvalamukhi sacred site and temple at
   Nagarakota in the Kangra district of the Punjab Himalaya, where
   different forms of the Dark Goddess are still worshipped and
   where the main power- spot is a cave with a natural gas-fueled
   blueish flame burning spontaneously above a pool of water.
   Jvalamukhi is said to be the place where the goddess' head once
   fell to earth, and the natural flame is believed to be her
   all-consuming tongue. This "seat" of the Great Goddess is one of
   the important pilgrimage places of Northern India and is
   particularly sacred to all followers of Shakti, the Goddess
   Power.
   
   Stone sculpture of a squatting goddess,on the outer wall of the
   Kamakhya Yoni temple, Assam.
   
   Another great pilgrimage place associated with Kali is in the
   ancient Indian country known as Kamarupa ("In the Form of
   Desire", one of the many K-beginning names of Kali), present-day
   Assam, in the North East. There, on the sacred hill near Gauhati,
   is the Temple of Kamakhya, where the goddess' Yoni once fell to
   earth. Within the tribal-hut-shaped building is a cave with a
   block of stone resembling a Yoni. This "seat" of the goddess is
   always moist from a sacred spring, and once every year (at
   Navratri, at the time of the Autumn Equinox), when the spring
   waters naturally turn reddish, it is said that the goddess' Yoni
   menstruates. The outer walls of the present sixteenth century
   temple are decorated with several stone carvings of goddess
   forms, including a squatting woman exposing her Yoni, a mother
   suckling her child, and a warrioress or "Amazon" holding a drawn
   bow. Together these three goddess forms illustrate three of the
   most compelling and easy-to-understand aspects of Kali - her
   uncompromising sexuality, her motherly compassion and her
   protective ferocity. The Kamakhya Yoni temple is one of the main
   pilgrimage places for followers of the Great Goddess and one will
   always find Kali being worshipped there.
   
                                   
                   ________________________________
                                   
                      FORMS AND MEANINGS OF KALI
                                   
   Kali is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, described as
   "red-eyed, red-faced, garlanded with red, terrible to look at,
   and holding a noose." Here the color red indicates her sensual
   sexual nature and her close connection with the life-force, blood
   - the sacrificial blood of offerings and the potency of menstrual
   blood- and Kali's transcendent power over death.
   
   Over the centuries many different iconographic forms and names
   for the Dark Goddess became known in India and surrounding
   countries. These icons were revealed in visions coming from
   spiritual practice, dreams, drugs, trances, or austerities and
   all are but aspects, variations, of the one Great Dark Original
   Mother, Kali. Some early Buddhists identified Her with their
   Prajnaparamita, the "Perfection of Wisdom", conceived of as a
   multi-armed goddess/female wisdom energy. Buddhist tantrics
   viewed Prajnaparamita as the original Buddha-consort, and over
   time, developed this vision further. They viewed Her as the
   saviouress Tara, "the Compassionate One", "She who helps the
   devotee overcome suffering". As the dark four-armed Ugra Tara,
   with the dark blue Dhyani-Buddha Aksobhya on her crown, she
   became "the Wrathful Saviouress", externally fierce to ward-off
   enemies and unbelievers, but internally compassionate, the
   "Embodiment of Compassion". Buddhists also knew the Dark Goddess
   as Shyam (the "Dark One") and Kali. According to the noted
   Bengali authority on Indian Buddhist Tantra, Dr Benoytosh
   Bhattacharyya, "Kali, according to Buddhist tradition, is Kadi or
   Kakaradi, or, in other words, all the consonants of the
   alphabet....all the consonants of the (Sanskrit) alphabet are
   deified in her."
   
   The mystery of Kali's name, which begins with the first consonant
   of the Sanskrit alphabet, attached to the first vowel, is deep
   indeed. From tantric tradition we learn that the whole material
   universe is but an expression of certain primordial sounds or
   vibrations. These are expressed by the consonants and vowels of
   the Sanskrit alphabet, combined together in different ways.
   "Seed-syllables" (Bija Mantras), short combinations and "Spells"
   (Dharanis), long combinations of differing measures, are the very
   "fabric" from which this universe is formed. From tantric
   tradition we learn that the garland of heads about Kali's neck
   symbolize the letters or vibrations of the Sanskrit alphabet. We
   learn Kali's seed-syllables, names and potent Mantras, the tools
   by which we can transform ourselves and become one with Her.
   
   [LINK]Stone sculpture of a dancing Chamunda from central India.
   
   In the Devi-Mahatmya and several Purana texts of the medieval
   period, Kali is generally described as dark, witch-like, fanged,
   emaciated and terrible to look at. A myth tells how the body of
   Devi or Parvati (daughter of the Himalayas and consort of Shiva
   the Supreme Yogi) was transformed and turned black, becoming
   known as Kali or Kalika. In this form she terrorised the
   patriarchal demons who had begun to take over the universe. In
   her emaciated "hag-like" form, she was the only divine power able
   to defeat two particularly egoistic demons named Chanda and
   Munda. After she defeated them she made their spirits serve her
   and she became known as Chamunda, a type of Kali, became
   affiliated with a group of seven or eight Hindu Mother Goddesses,
   known as Matrikas.
   
  EOF