“The power of infinity and eternity, the power of destruction to build a better future, the struggle of fighting against odds, the one rebel is always breathing under every human’s skin.”
Kali , comes from the Sanskrit root word KAL, which means the force of time. There is nothing that escapes the all -consuming march of time, in Tibetan Buddhism her counterpart is male with the name KALA. Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu Goddesses, most of the time people have related Kali with cult , death , sexuality , violence and paradoxically it revels the motherly nature of Devi Kali.
Kali is the most often characterized as a black/ blue , partial or completely naked, with a long lolling tongue, multiple arms, a skirt or gridle of human arms, a necklace of decapitated heads and a decapitated head in one of her hands. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband(lord Shiva). Who lies prostate beneath her. Many of those portrayals depict her sticking out tongue, which is sometimes said to indicate her surprise and embarrassment at discovering that she is trampling on her husband, yet the association of kali with an extended tongue has early roots. A precursor of Kali is the ogress long tongue , who licks up oblations in the ancient Sanskrit texts known as the Brahmanas. The Devi Mahatmya tells of Kali springing from the anger of the goddess Durga to slay the demon Raktabija (blood seed Asur), during the struggle a new demon emerges from each drop of blood of Raktabija Asur as it hits the ground, to prevent this kali laps up the blood before it can reaches the land. She is also said to have been born when Goddess Durga/Parvati shed her dark skin, the sheath became Kali- who is also called Kaushika(the Sheath ). Kali has been worshiped throughout Indian but Particularly in Kashmir , Kerala , south India , Bengal and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal. Since the late 20th century, feminist scholars and writers in the United states have been symbolizing Kali as a face of feminine empowerment, while members of new age movements have found theologically and sexually liberating inspiration in her more violent sexual manifestations. It is partially correct to say Mother Kali is the Goddess of Death , as she kills the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality.
In almost every houses of Bengali, they worship kali as a power of woman and the power against evil which can kill and heal the universe. Kali is a power of black , here black symbolizes the purity oh human life, in Diwali the whole India worship Lord Lakshmi and Ganesh, as they symbolizes the wealth and prosperity and good luck, Bengali celebrates the power of Kali, they believe in destruction through better future and Kali is a symbol of protective mother, it says if there is no darkness how you will find the lights so culturally it speaks of the dual character of same Devi with a very different spectrum, we lit the candle only when the darkness appears , and Kali being the Devi of dark power keeping the evil power aside brining all the lights to the world.
Kali and Lakshmi together to celebrate the occasion of lights. Kali in India , it also depicts the reality of colorism of society ,the desire for fairer skin tone is not new in India and for centuries, fair complexions has been considered superior. Fairness creams are still the highest selling cosmetic products in the country where the skin tone pf maximum people is Brown, to cover the shame of brown skin tone people are using fairness cream as commercial dictators says – Fair is lovely , so to get the limelight and success you need to be fair and lovely, top Bollywood actress used to appear on commercial endorsing adds later the concept of fairness and beauty has changed the path cause of social activists who stood against the colorism and also some Bollywood actor and actress , intellects who all supported the movement, hence the commercial kings had to change the concepts of colorism to -all colors are beautiful. Activist , actress and an intellect Nandita Das has recently curated a video – India’s Got Color, based on colorism in India, as the young Indian population built the clear image of colorism which is racism as a cult of culture, but there are still good number of humans who are still making the judgments based on color of one’s skin tone, targeting them ,the video has created to make the dark humor of daily progressive yet color blind life.
The movement against colorism and racism, a Chennai based photographer Mr. Sundar recreates all the Indian Goddess and God’s image by framing dark / brown skinned models in a Avtar of all the Gods and Goddesses, by saying – “DARK IS DIVINE”
The power of visual culture is one big weapon to change the concept of Kali as a cult or dark as ugly. There are many rebellious artists , actors , influencers, designers are been influenced by Indian mythological history specially Devi Kali and Lord Shiva, as these both seeds the culture of reckless power and demolishing of evil in society also the aura of trance which allures the creative mind desperately.
Trance music, been the another subject of recent popular culture where, Indian gods and goddesses has been depicted into a spectrum of sanity and purity through music and sounds of various instruments.
From the history we can say , most of the rebel movements happen through music and it spreads to every enthusiast’s ears and minds and plant the seeds deep. Rolling stone is one of the most rebel iconic band the symbol of Rolling stone is actually taken from the depiction of Devi Kali’s Lolling tongue.
Designer John Pasche, designed the “Tongue and Lips design “ of The Rolling Stones in 1971.
The Pop culture which has dark influences of Indian goddess in their art forms and curations, progressive mind will always lead towards sanity through creativity. Fuchsia pink pop-art resembling goddesses of Hindu mythology fused with a young Indian vibe along with an air of quirky and wildness, – Brooklyn based artist born and brought up in Chennai, Samyukta Madhu’s art surpasses gender, mythology and sexuality all in one. Recently she started working with Adidas as a digital creative, her recent work created huge wave in social media having mixed feedbacks she is standing her own grounds to portray the Indian goddess Kali as powerful feminine also the symbol of feminism in the colorful pop campaign of women empowerment by Adidas. It says feminism doesn’t have to demean any other gender but speaking for your own self without being feared and dominated by any gender, is what she tried to portray through this rebellious pink campaign.
Kali in sweatshirt – Adidas
Movies like Angry Indian goddess , where the story depicts the need of socio-environment of women empowerment, Indian goddess are beautiful and good only when they are being treated good but when you go wrong with them they will show you the hell at one go.
There are few globally popular musicians and bands who all have curated Indian culture through Indian gods and goddesses, the very recent example would be Coldplay the band who has launched an album based on Indian culture and colors of celebration in 2015- Hymn for the weekend , featuring Beyoncé in Goddess Avtar, where India is known for it’s unity in diversity which has been depicted in this video colorfully.
Nucleya , being the first musician , who has curated the trance music with Indian folk and mythology in a way which has created a massive wave in music industry and people has responded in positive manner, his music speaks of rebel and sanity. Most popular album – Bhankar aatma , raja Baja , Bass rani , all the posters are very much inclined towards Indian mythology and quirky eccentric pop art.
The power of people’s voice and choice –
The concept of Kali, has been created a huge debates among intellects and religious people that how kali can be portrayed and not be portrayed in public, so here the option is given to public how people wants to depict it in their mind and want to show how it should be so there is a movement which I generated for this blog purpose stated -“speak up your mind , what exactly you feel when you think of Kali, it can be anything not mandatory to the restricted idea of goddess or mythological spectrum , it can be anything of any substance.”
What KALI means to you -#Kali-
Name – Deblina Sarkar , Job – sales and marketing in Tata, Delhi
“Kali kaluthi kalmuhi.. If you are a dark or dusky Indian girl, you will know exactly what these 3 words mean. Looking down upon women of color has always been a practice. The groom’s family looks for fair toned bride and that dusky girl would hide in a corner, dejected. But these same people worship kali. A goddess who in every sense depicts a woman. Vulnerable yet powerful. Protecting her own kin. #Kali means power , kali means darkness with purity, this time no fairness cream can fade the light of darkness.”
Name- Suchetana Roy Choudhury , Occupation and passion- wedding Photographer (Pan India)
“Kali is a Hindu goddess. She is the most powerful form of Shakti and often seen as a Rebellious woman just like any one of us.
We all have a Goddess Kali within us.
I work as a Photographer fighting against all the odds of life and being in a conservative family it also a challenge to enhance the occupation like this. Being a female photographer it’s not a easy thing to survive in the market , as I mentioned female , I ‘m not mentioning the disability rather I am portraying the social situations where photographer has to be male and model be the female or getting late while coming back home, travelling alone in night being the serious issue for our parents, all thanks to people who has always been making everyday life a challenge but guess what we all are fighting gracefully, everyone should celebrate the Kali within ,which is giving the strength to fight everyday.
#kali- the ultimate power bank of strength which is recharging us every day to fight against the odds”
Name- Ashmita Sarkar , student – studying Fashion Designing (INIFD)
“The image of Kali which is used for comparison with women is the ‘mother Kali’. Such a comparison of women with Kali has the traditional concept of femininity at its center, as per which the aggressive nature of women is presented as her protective nature towards her children. The idea behind presenting women as Kali is to make them raise strong sons for Hindutva. This duty of raising a son is presented to be something which only a woman could do, as the men are believed to be ‘naturally’ incapable of doing so. Hence, the juxtaposition of women and Kali leads to the imposition of a motherliness trope, which is a means of ossifying the gender norms and of controlling the sexuality of the women.
#kali- woman with power of balance , one can kill so another can heal.”
Name – Swarnadip Mitra, occupation – creative director, cinematographer currently working as an assistant production manager of Goa Film Festival-2019.
“Kali for me means the subaltern. since the divine power is a feminine form the color associated with kali be it black or blue, represents the subaltern and the violent side of the divine. Generally kali is associated with the repressed aspect of society and crime. However I feel kali signifies empowerment and inhibition-less form of the divine.
#kali – believing in own self and having the strength to face all the odds, gender neutrality and vibrancy”
Name – kanchankuntala Das , Occupation – designer / visual artist works for Tollywood industry .
As her marriage was the first instance in India, where a female priest had performed all the rituals.
“Kali is black and black signifies the vast unknown!
Black establishes the importance of light! In my view black is purity as maa kali symbolizes purity, who stand against all evils!
#Kali- ultimate progressive power of youth, it liberates the mind and soul in various spectrum.”
Name – Neel Saha , occupation – Artist / Costume designer
“as I believe in oneness and no restriction in fashion, Kali being an inspiration in that matter, I feel kali is an ultimate power which can illuminate the darkness and keep the world safe by destroying insanity and selfishness.
#kali- I believe in rainbow as I believe in black.”
Name – Kheya Chattopadhyay , Occupation – visual artist, film director /writer /actor/ performer.
As she hails from the film-industry always wanted to be in that field only, being an enthusiast and a rebel talented artist/influencer and pretty renowned among young Kolkatans she always been cleared about her thought process and concepts.
“#Kali – Raw power and strength”
Name – Papiya Roy Das , Occupation – finance Advisor , a home maker , a mother and a wife .
“I have a lot to say regarding Kali, I don’t know the hashtag can cover the whole matter or not , jokes apart!
I believe every woman across the world , has kali inside them, she is the destruction and also the keeper of earth , when people take disadvantages of kindness she transforms into the destructive power which can demolish the world at one go.
#Kali- is the power, people who have purity inside ,breathing for love and sanity can feel the warmth of goodness whereas others will always feel fear of their own.”
As being the writer of this blog- story would always want to put a point of view of my own , so here it is –
“Kali means everything it can be fashion , it can be a noun , it can be a name of my own , it can be the ultimate power , it can be the color . specifically if I say , as we know white reflects lights and black consumes all heat and warmth .so
#Kali- consumes all the struggles , hardship and always give the ray of hopes in darkness, people depicts Kali as dark but I believe Kali as mixture of all the colors together .”
#kali-The ultimate power also a mother and a wife, don’t get afraid.
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