Kali

Indian mythology · deity · time, destruction, fierce protection

The black goddess of time and dissolution, garlanded with severed heads, who springs from Durga's brow in battle. Terrifying to demons but a mother to her devotees, in Shakta and Tantric traditions, the ultimate reality itself.

Stories

Kali and the Blood-Seed Demon

Every drop of Raktabija's spilled blood springs up as another of him, until the battlefield drowns in duplicates. From Durga's brow leaps black Kali, who spreads her tongue across the earth and drinks each drop before it lands; the demon's army ends inside her.