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                                 Kali
                                   
                            An Indian deity
   often regarded as a dark, black and fierce goddess of death, and
      as the destructive "Power of Eternal Time". However, to her
     worshippers in both Hinduism and Tantra she is much more, and
    represents a multi-faceted Great Goddess responsible for all of
    life from conception to death. Her worship, therefore, consists
   of fertility festivals as well as sacrifices (animal and human);
     and her initiations expand one's consciousness by many means,
   including fear, ritual sexuality and intoxication with a variety
                               of drugs.
                                   
    A very apt and poetic description of the Great Mother Kali has
            been given by Pirsig, who wrote the following:
                                "Kali,
                          the Divine Mother,
        is the symbol for the infinite diversity of experience.
                                   
     Kali represents the entire physical plane. She is the drama,
    tragedy, humor, and sorrow of life. She is the brother, father,
     sister, mother, lover, and friend. She is the fiend, monster,
   beast, and brute. She is the sun and the ocean. She is the grass
   and the dew. She is our sense of accomplishment and our sense of
     doing worthwhile. Our thrill of discovery is a pendant on her
     bracelet. Our gratification is a spot of color on her cheek.
           Our sense of importance is the bell on her ankle.
      The full and seductive, terrible and wonderful earth mother
                    always has something to offer."

       Pirsig. Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. p. 329
   Although Kali is worshipped throughout India and Nepal, and even
   in Indonesia, she is most popular in Bengal, where one also finds
      Kalighat (S: kaligata), her most famous temple just outside
   Calcutta. (Considering that Calcutta is simply an Anglicized form
                  of kaligata, the city received its
                     very name from the goddess.)

     It has been said that Kali is "the divine Shakti representing
   both the creative and destructive aspects of nature", and as such
    she is a goddess who both gives life and brings death. Clothed
   only with the veil of space, her blue-black nakedness symbolizes
    the eternal night of non-existence, a night that is free of any
      illusion and distinction. Kali as such is pure and primary
   reality, the enfolded order, formless void yet full of potential.
    In time Kali has become such a dominating figure in the Indian
    pantheon, that many other goddesses have been assimilated into
   her, and she herself has been ascribed an ever growing number of
      aspects and manifestations. Many of these, for example the
   so-called "One Hundred Names of Kali", are names that begin with
     the letter 'K'. In their translations, these names define the
    goddess much more directly and intimately than any intellectual
                            summary can do.

     The One Hundred Names occur in the adyakali svarupa stotra, a
   hymn to Kali that is part of the Mahanirvana Tantra. What emerges
   when reading this hymn, is an exposition of Kali in a variety of
                     strikingly different aspects.

                             We discover:
   Kali as revealer, benefactress and embodiment of the Kula school
          of Tantrics, their teachings, rituals and lifestyle
   Kali as merciful helper and destructress of evil, fear, pride and
                                  sin
   Kali as young, beautiful, swan-like, sensual and attractive woman
   Kali as embodiment of desire and liberator from desire, as a free
             woman who enjoys and lets herself be enjoyed
   Kali who enjoys and partakes of drugs and aphrodisiacs (camphor,
                              musk, wine)
    Kali who enjoys and encourages the worship of young women (with
                     wine, drugs and sexual play)
    Kali as Queen of the holy city Varanasi (Benares) and as lover,
     beloved and devourer of the god Shiva (the Lord of that city)
           Kali as shape-shifter (assuming any form at will)
   Kali of terrific countenance, wearing a garland of bones, using a
                          human skull as cup
   Kali as dark night, mother and destroyer of time, as the fire of
                        the worlds dissolution
       You can read a translation of the hymn itself in Sir John
    Woodroffe's Hymns to the Goddess (1913). A revised translation
   (1927) is given in The Great Liberation (The Mahanirvana Tantra).

     Although these editions have the benefit of including the 100
        names in Sanskrit transcription, they cannot compare in
   readability and honesty of translation with the hymn as published
        by Philip Rawson in his Art of Tantra (1973, page 131).

                              References
   Rawson, Philip. The Art of Tantra. London: Thames & Hudson, 1973
   Woodroffe, Sir John (a.k.a. Arthur Avalon). Hymns to the Goddess
        and Hymns to Kali (1913). Wilmot, WI: Lotus Light, 1981
   Woodroffe, Sir John (a.k.a. Arthur Avalon). The Great Liberation
     (Mahanirvana Tantra, 1927). Madras, India: Ganesh & Co, 1985
                                 (RCC)
                                  
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