Sunday 29 January 2012

Sarwat's Guide to the Gods Part One- KALI

The Black One. Goddess of death and destruction. She haunts the graveyards and dances in the ashes of the funereal pyres.
Appearance
Black-skinned and almost skeletal gaunt. She has blazing eyes, a long red tongue (all the better to lap up blood with) fangs and claws. Kali has six arms and carries weapons, a noose and the severed head of a demon. She wears a necklace of skulls and her skirt is made of severed limbs. You do not want to bump into her in an alley on a dark night.
What You Need to Know
Kali is mad, bad and oh so very dangerous to know. She is the demon killer and there are plenty of stories of all the other gods fleeing the battle-field and leaving Kali to kill absolutely everyone. Then she usually eats them. He victory dance once threatened to destroy the universe.
Her hideous appearance is all part of her charm. She is the one thing that terrifies demons so she is also the last hope for humanity. When all else has failed, you turn to Kali. But be careful, she’s as likely to destroy the world as save it.
STRENGTHS all the arts of death
WEAKNESSES completely lacking in social skills
WEAPONS all of them
ATTITUDE totally bad
RELATIONSHIPS Married to Shiva. Often depicted dancing on his corpse. Nice.
If you like Kali you’ll also like: Wearing black, jewellery made from bones, goth music.
Other Goddesses like Kali : Baba Yaga (Russian), Hecate (Greek), Morrigan (Celtic), Hel (Norse)

5 comments:

storyqueen said...

Uh-oh...my 13 year old daughter's nickname is Cali--should I be worried?

Shelley

ps can't wait for Ash here in the US!

SisterSpooky said...

I can tell I'm going to be enjoying all these posts.

Is it wrong to think that Kali is kinda a cool badass? Not everyone can get away with her look!

SarwatC said...

Shelley,
Hmm, there are clues you need to watch out for. Does she have a passion for weaponry? Dancing on corpses? Eating demons whole? If so, be ready to move house.
Spooky,
Not wrong at all! True, her look is bold, extreme and not for everyone but, face it, who would dare criticise?

Sandy said...

Woah frightening, as she should be, not like these tortured weepy gods we get in romance novels these days.

Matt D said...

She's definitely not to be messed with ... there's a lot of symbolism here to play with as well. We die a lot of small spiritual deaths everyday ... Kali is not one who will tolerate ego.

I guess.