Keeping Up with Kali

Skulls adorn her neck, wearing them like a prized jewel. Chopped hands circle around her waist, the only piece of “clothing” she wears. This is the image of the Hindu goddess Kali, who captures people’s eyes. There are hundreds of Hindu gods and goddesses, but Kali seems to draw in people the most. Hinduism has journeyed thousands of miles and discovered a home in the West, where thousands of Westerners find the answers to their spiritual struggles. The term “West,” discussed throughout, primarily refers to North America.

To understand Kali, one has to know the other Hindu goddesses. In Hindu mythology, deities are often manifestations of concepts. In Hinduism, Devi is the feminine divine, who takes three primary forms. The first is Parvati, the wife of Shiva, who represents motherhood and goodness. The second form is Durga, the warrior goddess. The final form is Kali, who represents the cycle of creation and destruction.

Kali was first introduced into Hindu mythology by destroying a demon named Raktabij. This story was written in the Devi-Mahatmya during the fifth to sixth century BCE. Durga was trying to defeat Raktabij, but she was not succeeding. Durga’s defeat caused her to become enraged, thus creating Kali through her anger. Britannica states, then Kali is able to defeat Raktabij by consuming his blood. Her defeat is how she became known as the goddess of death and destruction. Kali is usually depicted with limbs around her waist and severed heads as garlands, symbolizing detachment from ego. Detachment indicates that liberation occurs when one can release attachment to one’s physical self. Moreover, she is often seen stepping over Shiva. The act of feminine energy ruling over the masculine represents the supremacy of Mother Nature over man. There is duality in the presence of Kali, representing both motherhood and destruction.

As Kali’s worship and mythology grew through time in India, she began to voyage West, finding solitude there. In the 1960s, there was a massive boom of ideas about Eastern spirituality due to a growing desire to stray away from the norm. Among these ideas was Hinduism, which was developed in an attempt to find peace and freedom. The hippie movement is often seen in conjunction with peace and freedom. During this time, people sought new ideas corresponding to love, sexual reform, feminine ideology, etc. These are values the West deemed Kali represented and aligned with the beliefs they were trying to cultivate.

Kali draws in people from the West due to her divergence from Western religious ideology. She is established as a feminist icon because of how she is presented. In India, Kali is not regarded as a feminist figure. She is seen as a more mother-like symbol. What creates this difference in thinking?

To someone who is not a devotee, this image is radical. It challenges beliefs that are practiced in Western religions. Kali is not the traditional image of a wife or mother. Yet, she is both things. This contradiction finds solace in Westerners longing to break free from dualistic thinking. The notion of mother and wife has ties to characteristics such as patience, dependence, and obedience. However, the portrayal of Kali invokes features such as power, independence, and unruliness. According to “Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West” by Rachel Fell McDermott, these characteristics provide feminine strength in a phallocentric society.

Additionally, Kali’s marketability significantly increased her popularity. McDermott wrote that her contrast of femininity provides an open market to those “seeking meaning outside of Christian and Jewish norms.” The powerful imagery discussed previously is a gateway to producing products that appeal to those longing for meaning outside of their monotheistic traditions. The hippie movement capitalized on this longing. There was an introduction of products such as tarot cards, astrology books, crystals, gurus, etc. It is what is now known as New Age spirituality. The “New Age” market has taken this dissatisfaction of Westerners and used it to iconize Kali. The patriarchal society that exists today enables the growing interest of Kali. Often, females are put down in Western society. That is not to say that Hindu societies do not do the same. Goddesses such as Kali have been in Hindu culture for thousands of years, so Hindus do not look at them in a yearning light. On the other hand, Western cultures do not have these powerful feminine beings to look up to, so they turn to Eastern cultures, such as Hinduism, to call upon that divine feminine energy.

Kali has risen in popularity in the West due to her contrasting monotheistic values, thus creating a feminist figure. The market plays an additional role in this popularity by capitalizing on that divergence in thinking. It is clear that her powerful imagery attracts those who are seeking further meaning than what society has created for a female figure. Kali’s rise in the West has explored the growing want for female empowerment, inspiring many generations to embody their inner Kali.