A Feminine Force In Indian Art - By: Victor Epand

Kali's nudity has a similar meaning and in many instances, she is described as garbed in space or sky clad. In her absolute, primordial nakedness, she is free from all covering of illusion.

She is nature, which has been stripped of clothes. It symbolizes that she is completely beyond name and form, as well as the illusory effects of maya, which means false consciousness. Her nudity is said to represent totally illumined consciousness, which unaffected by maya. Kali is the bright fire of truth, which can not be hidden by the clothes of ignorance and such truth simply burns them away.

She is full breasted as her motherhood is a ceaseless creation. Her disheveled hair forms a curtain of illusion as the fabric of space or time, which organizes matter out of the chaotic sea of quantum foam. Her garland of fifty human heads, which represents one of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the repository of knowledge and wisdom. She wears a girdle of severed human hands, which are the principal instruments of work, that signifies the action of karma. As the result, the binding effects of this karma have been overcome and severed by devotion to Kali.

She has blessed the devotee by cutting him free from the cycle of karma. Her white teeth are symbolic of purity, and her lolling tongue, which is red as blood, dramatically depicts the fact that she consumes all things. She denotes the act of tasting or enjoying what society regards her as forbidden, which is her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world's flavors.

Kali's four arms represent the complete circle of creation and destruction, which is contained within her. She represents the inherent creative and destructive rhythms of the cosmos. Her right hands, making the mudras of fear not and conferring boons, represent the creative aspect of Kali, while the left hands, holding a bloodied sword and a severed head represent her destructive aspect. The bloody sword and the severed head symbolize the destruction of ignorance and the dawning of knowledge.

The sword is the sword of knowledge, that cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false consciousness, which is symbolized by the severed head. Kali opens the gates of freedom with this sword, having cut the eight bonds that bind human beings. Finally her three eyes represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which she is able to observe the three modes of time, which are the past, present, and future. This attribute is also the origin of the name Kali, which is the feminine form of 'Kala', the Sanskrit term for Time.

Another symbolic, but controversial aspect of Kali is her proximity to the cremation ground is explained by Ramprasad, "O Kali, Thou art fond of cremation grounds, so I have turned my heart into one that thou, a resident of cremation grounds, may dance there unceasingly. O Mother! I have no other fond desire in my heart, fire of a funeral pyre is burning there. O Mother! I have preserved the ashes of dead bodies all around that Thou may come. O Mother! Keeping Shiva, conqueror of Death, under Thy feet, come, dancing to the tune of music, Prasada waits with his eyes closed.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for Krishna art, religious gifts from India, and Hare Krishna books. Please visit these sites for femine force, religious gifts from India, and Hare Krishna books.

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