Kali (
Sanskrit: काली,
Bengali: কালী, both Kālī), also known as
Kalika (
Bengali: কালিকা, Kālikā), is the
Hindu goddess associated with eternal energy. The name Kali comes from Kāla which means black, time, death, lord of death,
Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "the Time" or "Death" (as in time has come). Hence, Kali is considered the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. Various
Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shakta
Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or
Brahman. She is also revered as
Bhavatarini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent
mother goddess.
Kali is represented as the consort of Lord
Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like
Durga,
Bhadrakali,
Sati,
Rudrani,
Parvati and
Chamunda. She is the foremost among the
Dasa Mahavidyas, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.
[1]
Kālī is the feminine of
kāla ("black, dark coloured").
[2] Kāla primarily means "black," but also means "time." Kālī means "the black one" and also "time" or "beyond time." Kali is strongly associated with
Shiva, and
Shaivas derive her feminine name from the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva). The early Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः । तस्य पत्नीति - काली । kālaḥ śivaḥ । tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kala, thus his wife is Kali."
Other names include
Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and
Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.
[3]
Kali's association with blackness stands in contrast to her consort,
Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit:
śmaśāna) in which he meditates, and with which Kali is also associated, as
śmaśāna-kālī.
Kālī is frequently confused with the word
kali, as in
Kali Yuga or the demon
Kali. However, the words
Kālī ("black, time") and
kali ("weak, crude, inarticulate") are etymologically unrelated, and the goddess
Kālī is not associated with Kali Yuga in Hinduism.
Origins