THE MYTHS OF KALI
The Birth of a Goddess: When Chaos Meets Creation
In the great cosmic battle, when Durga, the warrior goddess, faced the demon Raktabīja, she struck him down with her weapons—but every drop of his blood that touched the earth gave birth to another demon, multiplying the chaos.
Durga’s fury darkened. From her rage, Kāli sprang forth—wild, untethered, relentless. She spread her tongue wide, catching every drop of blood before it could give rise to another enemy. She swallowed the battlefield whole, turning chaos into silence, destruction into stillness.
But Kāli did not stop. The battle had awakened something ancient in her—a force beyond war, beyond form. She danced, wild and free, shaking the heavens with each step. The earth trembled, the gods looked on in awe and fear.
It was only when Shiva, the eternal witness, laid himself beneath her feet that she paused. The dance ceased. The cycle of destruction gave way to stillness. Balance was restored.
Kāli was not born. She emerged.
Faces of KAli
A Thousand Names of the Uncontainable
Kāli is never just one thing. She is shifting, evolving, adapting—a force shaped by the land and its people.
Dakshina Kāli
The gentle protector, worshipped in the temples of Bengal.
In one legend, Kāli is the shadow shed by Parvati—a form so intense that even the goddess of love and devotion must step away from it. In another, she is Sita’s hidden power, a force that only awakens when all else has failed. In some stories, she is the last refuge of the oppressed, the final, unbreakable strength in the face of destruction.
No matter the name, the form, the story—Kāli remains.
Echoes of Power
The Goddess Across Civilisations
Across civilisations, the untamed feminine has taken many forms—feared, worshipped, misunderstood, yet always enduring. Kali is not alone. Her spirit echoes across cultures, from the battlefields of ancient Europe to the temples of Mesoamerica. Scholars have drawn comparisons across centuries, recognising a shared reverence for destruction as a force of renewal.
The French Indologist Alain Daniélou compared her to Sekhmet, the Egyptian lion-headed goddess of war, whose rage could destroy cities yet whose touch could heal. Mircea Eliade, the great historian of religion, saw echoes of her cosmic destruction in the Aztec mother-goddess Coatlicue, draped in a skirt of serpents, embodying both life and death. Joseph Campbell, in his study of mythology, aligned Kali with the Celtic Morrigan, a crow-winged war goddess, whose laughter rang over fields of the fallen.
Through every age, every empire, she remains.
Tara – The Many Faces of Wisdom and Wrath
In Vajrayana Buddhism, Tara is both the nurturer and the destroyer, much like Kali. She appears in five colours, each revealing a different truth—some soft, some merciless. David Kinsley, in his study of Hindu and Buddhist goddesses, recognised Tara as Kali’s reflection, particularly in her darkest form.
Tara and Kali are two sides of the same force—one guiding, one obliterating; one offering refuge, the other stripping away the self.
White Tara
The goddess of healing and longevity, whose wisdom is sharp, like the sword Kali wields in the battle against illusion.
Green Tara
The compassionate saviour, stepping forward to rescue those in peril, like a mother who destroys fear itself.
Golden Tara
The illuminated one, a destroyer of ignorance, glowing like the molten fire of the forge.
Red Tara
The goddess of fierce passion and magnetism, much like Kali’s blood-soaked tongue, a force that consumes and transforms.
Black Tara
The wrathful one, closest to Kali, standing upon corpses, adorned in skulls, guiding souls through death and rebirth.
Sekhmet – The Lioness of War and Healing
In ancient Egypt, Sekhmet was both the fury of the gods and the bringer of medicine. Her uncontrolled rage could burn entire armies to the ground, much like Kali’s wild dance of destruction. Alain Daniélou was one of the first to compare the two, noting how both could only be pacified through sacred rites—Kali with offerings of blood, Sekhmet with beer dyed red to resemble it.
The Morrigan – The Phantom Queen of Fate
In Celtic mythology, The Morrigan appears as a crow circling over battlefields, whispering the names of the doomed. She is fate, war, and prophecy—a destroyer who chooses who will rise again. Joseph Campbell drew comparisons between Kali’s dance upon the dead and The Morrigan’s role in deciding the fate of warriors. Both goddesses hold the same truth: to fall beneath their gaze is to be remade.
Coatlicue – The Devouring Mother of the Aztecs
In Mesoamerican civilisation, Coatlicue was the primordial mother, yet her image was fearsome—adorned in a serpent skirt, her hands clutching severed heads. Miguel León-Portilla, in his study of Aztec mythology, noted that like Kali, she represents the duality of life and death, consuming the past to create the future.
Hecate – Guardian of the Crossroads
In ancient Greece, Hecate ruled the night, the underworld, and the liminal spaces between worlds. Like Kali, she stood at the edge of existence, carrying torches to light the unknown. Wendy Doniger and other scholars of comparative mythology have drawn links between the two, noting their shared association with death, spirits, and hidden wisdom.
Pele – The Goddess of Fire and Rebirth
To the Hawaiian people, Pele is both destruction and creation—lava consuming the land, only to cool into fertile earth. Like Kali, she is unpredictable, primal, untamed. Both goddesses hold the same truth: to destroy is to make space for something new.
Across time and empires, she has never been forgotten. She appears at the threshold of destruction, where the past is stripped away and something raw and eternal takes its place. Kali, Tara, Sekhmet, The Morrigan, Coatlicue, Hecate, Pele—each one a reflection of the same force, the same truth, the same unyielding power.No matter the name, the form, the story—Kāli remains.