Though she is one of the fiercest Goddesses as per the Hindu ethos but still when it comes to the relationship between her and the worshipper she is endowed as the mother who is the saviour of her children, and the relationship that the follower of Goddess Kali shares is that of a loving mother and child. In fact this is what makes the bond between us humans and the holy mother special, and we know that till the time she is there as our saviour, there is no such thing called problem that would ever exist in our lives. Kali also known as Kalika has been since ages associated with Shakti which means empowerment, and she is one of the fierce facets of Goddess Parvati the better half of Lord Shiva. Her names is donned to her due to the complexion that she carries and which is black, or let us just say absolute black. Kali is derived from the word ‘Kala’ which means the colour black, or is also associated with time and death, and since Lord Shiva’s one of the names is Kala and he is the representative of the eternal fact of human life death, hence his consort is also known as Kali and she too is the representation of death and time both. Generally when you will look at the idol of Kali in any temple you will find her wearing a garland made up of men’s heads and is standing on Lord Shiva, and since she is referred as black which is the colour of darkness, hence her existence is taken to be one of the earliest, even before light was created. Her other names as mentioned earlier also are Kalika which is “relating to time”, and there is another name as well with which she is known and that is Kalaratri which means “black night”. As per the historians the name of Kali was first used in Kathaka Grhya Sutra, but there are facts which also depicts that the word kali itself appears even in Atharva Veda. She is also the destroyer of one of the fierce Rakhshasas which means demon with the name of Raktabija which means ‘blood seed’. It is Goddess Kali who is worshipped by the people who practice Tantra Yoga. Tantra or the Yoga of Tantra as per traditional belief relates to principals of reality and also of the sacred mantras, and also because it provides the worshipper with the sense of liberation it is called Tantra. She is the Goddess who is believed to be the dominant one when it comes to the worship and the study of Tantra, and has a mention of in the texts and also the rituals related to Tantra Sadhna which means the in search of the resourcefulness of Tantra. One of the most prominent deities of the Bengalis, Kali is considered as one of the central figures around which the medieval Bengali devotional literature revolved. It was very rare to have perceived Kali as a motherly figure, until and unless she was associated with Parvati who is Shiva’s consort, but it was via the Bengali devotions which began in the early eighteenth century that Kali was pictured as a motherly figure. It is the Tantric figure of Kali which denotes the spirit of courage, and the devotee through her worship understand the true meaning of liberation, and because she is associated with death, and when the devotee grooves to her as a mother he or she starts realising the ultimate truth of life and comes to term with it and accepts it as well. She is also seen in many other forms as well, like the Slayer of Raktabija, Dakshina Kali, Shamsan Kali, and Maternal Kali, and also as Maha Kali.
