Mythos

Mythos

Friday 13 January 2017

Kali&Gauri!

According to the Bengali Folklore, to help the Devas, the Goddess once took the form of Kali and killed all the Asuras. But then she continued drinking blood, and indulged in an orgy of voilence, scaring the Devas, who turned to Shiva for help.

To stop the Goddess, Shiva threw himself on her path. Kali stepped on him. Embarrassed that she stepped on her husband, she bit her lip.


That is why Kali has her tongue outstretched. She decided to shed her dark form. She dipped in the river Yamuna and emerged as Gauri, bright and radiant.

Kali&Gauri are the untamed and domestic forms of the Goddess. Kali is naked, Gauri is fully dressed. Kali's hair is unbound and Gauri's hair is tied with a string of flowers.

Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, time, and doomsday and is often associated with sexuality and violence but is also considered a strong mother-figure and symbolic of motherly love. Kali also embodies Shakti - feminine energy, creativity and fertility - and is an incarnation of Parvati, wife of the great Hindu god Shiva. She is often represented in art as a fearful fighting figure with a necklace of heads, skirt of arms, lolling tongue, and brandishing a knife dripping with blood. Kali's name derives from the Sanskrit word which means 'she who is black' or 'she who is death'. As an embodiment of time Kali devours all things, she is irresistibly attractive to mortals and gods, and can also represent the benevolence of a mother goddess.

Kali is most often portrayed with blue or black skin, naked, and wearing a Bengali type of crown of clay which is painted or gilded. She is, like many Hindu deities, a multiple armed figure with the number of arms being four, eight, ten, twelve, or even eighteen. Each arm usually holds an object and these can include a sword, dagger, trident, cup, drum, chakra, lotus bud, whip, noose, bell and shield.  

1 comment: