Kali's Secret 2.1
- Kali is the most dramatic form of Hindu deities
- To understand Kali, we have to look at the rise in goddess worship and change of Hinduism over the centuries
- Kali's tongue transformed from a weapon to a symbol of wisdom and shame
- ~2500 BCE, Indus Valley civilization had figurines of women and bulls
- Bulls represent "untamed male virility" and the women represent "nature that has been domesticated"
- Represent the control humans sought over nature
- Conflict between wild and tame
- Vedas invoke sky-bound gods more often that earth-bound goddesses
- Nirriti was mentioned - she was asked to stay away in order to maintain health and prosperity because her name means 'one who disrupts the regular rhythms of nature'
- Nirriti is dark and disheveled and is linked with death
- She is the prototype for Kali
- Dirgha Jihvi has a long tongue and sexual prowess, so she is another prototype for Kali
- Kali appears after rise of Buddhism
- Post-Buddhism literature spoke of one divine entity - many devotees believed it to be Devi
- Kali was a manifestation of Devi
- A Kali-like goddess appeared in the final battle in the Mahabharata
- "Kali [initially] appears as a discrete goddess"
- Kali can be found in many collectives of goddesses
- Goddesses embody folk deities associated with wild and domestic spaces
- ~1000 BCE, Kali is seen independent from the collective - she is a perfect primal representation of the goddess
- Her nakedness distinguished Kali from other goddesses, and that she dominated Shiva
- Shiva is her husband, and she is the goddess who awakens him and makes him God - that is why she is seen standing over Shiva
- Devi is identified with nature while Kali is identified with the most primal form of nature before culture and humanity
Kali's Secret 2.2
- As a pair, Kali and Shiva invoke violence, sexuality, and indifference to social disapproval
- Kali beheads herself to nourish her head with her own blood, mirroring the cycle of nature where prey nourishes predator
- Violence becomes nourishment and is associated with survival
- Sex is more procreative than about pleasure because it contributes to survival in nature
- Tara (similar to Kali) evokes compassion in the Buddha, allowing him to become Bodhisattva, and compassion in Shiva
- Tara is more approachable form of Kali
- Another form of Kali is associates with decay and evokes suffering
- Ascetic Shiva is connected to wild forms of Kali
- Different literature and imagery portray Kali and Shiva differently
- One version portrays Kali as shy while the other portrays Kali as confident, sticking out her tongue as a way to mock limitations and assumptions of the human gaze
- "She refuses to be invisible"
- "Sex and violence ensure survival of the fittest"
- Smasham-Kali (left foot on Shiva, sickle in right hand) is more fearsome and wild while Bhadra-Kali (right foot, left hand) is more considerate of cultural norms and is more modest
- An encounter with Kali transformed someone into a hero or someone who is wise
- By 15th c. wronged heroines in epics became associated with Kali
Kali's Secret 2.3
- Only those familiar with Tantrik mysteries understood Kali's association with Tantra was outside cultural norms
- "She became a forbidden force"
- Europeans did not appreciate Kali's image, and it solidified Europeans' views of Indians as savages
- Justified colonizations and the White Man's Burden
- Colonial gaze influenced modern media and portrayals of Indians, which embarrassed natives of India
- To combat colonial gaze, Kali became object of devotion in 18th c.
- Kali was now seem less in terms of power and more in terms of love
- "Was addressed as affectionate mother who grants supreme wisdom to her helpless children" by exposing them to fear
- Those educated in Europeans ways viewed Kali as inappropriate for cultured women
- In response, nationalists visualized Kali as Mother India, someone who has been reduced to poverty at the hands of white oppressors
- Post-colonial times, Kali was an image of revolution and subversion and women's freedom
Comments
Post a Comment