Kali

“ It is the beatific vision, says the West: it is realisation of the Self, here and now, declares the East.
Of such a moment is the Kali image symbol—the soul opening its eyes upon the world and seeing God.
We have seen that anthropomorphic representation of the Divine is absolutely necessary to human nature. But to learn the manner and method of that expression, we must know the whole heart and feeling of a people. To us, ideal manhood includes the king, the master, and the father. He must be supreme. ”

“ Ho, Kali! Ho, Devi! Ho, Doorga! Help us cross the Vaitarami, the dread stream of death! Help us over the horrors of the outer darkness Tamisra, across the sword-leafed forest of Usipatra Vana!”
Then the high-priest raised his hands to command silence; and he broke into a chant, between speaking and singing:
“Hail, Mother! Hail, six-armed goddess of horrid form, around whose neck hangs a string of human skulls, a precious pendant! Hail, malign and blessed image of destructiveness! Listen Thou to my Mantra!”
“Ho, Kali! Ho, Smashana Kali!”—the worshipers prayed and chanted and groaned. ”

“ Thus endowed, the noble Nala—he, O Kali, that would curse,
On himself recoil his curses—only fatal to himself.
Nala, gifted with such virtues—he, O Kali, who would curse—
[19] Be he plunged in hell's dark torments—in the deep and vasty lake."
Thus the gods to Kali speaking—to their native heavens arose.
Soon as they had parted, Kali—thus to Dwapara began:
"I my wrath can curb no longer—I henceforth in Nala dwell;
From his kingdom will I cast him—from his bliss with his sweet bride.
Thou within the dice embodied—Dwapara my cause assist." ”

“ Yach!” repeated all the voices, their heads wagging right to left in a monotonous manner, the whites of their eyes shining, and the points of their spears gleaming in the morning sun.
Kali stood up, turned to Stasch, and said:
“The Great Man will bring Bibi to the boma and live in Fumba’s hut. Kali will be king of the Wa-himas and the Great Man king over Kali.” ”

“ But at this Kali, having ridden within a spear's throw of them, stood up in the stirrups and began to shout:
"People! people! Listen to the voice of Kali, the son of Fumba, the mighty king of the Wahimas on the shores of Bassa-Narok. Oh listen, listen, and if you understand his speech, pay heed to each word that he utters."
"We understand," rang the answer of three hundred mouths.
"Let your king stand forth; let him tell his name and let him open his ears and lips that he may hear better."
"M'Rua! M'Rua!" numerous voices began to cry. ”

“ An elder lady said, "Why an object of sport to us? Go to her who has the right to jest with you." And taking his hand, stumbling as she went, she pulled him into the room.
Kali Kanta's wife, Kama Sundari, was standing there. Kali Kanta, taking her to be the wife of his master, prostrated himself before her. At this, Kama Sundari's lovely face broke into smiles. "What game is this?" she asked. "What new jest have you learned?"
Troubled by these words, Kali Kanta said, "Oh! why will you speak to me thus? I am your servant, you are my lord."
"You are servant, I am master? ”

“ Though he did not dare to vent his disappointments on Stasch and Nell, poor Kali’s back was daily covered with blood from being beaten with the scourge. The slave always approached his cruel master in fear and trembling. ”

“ Stasch frowned, and gazing severely into Kali’s eyes, replied:
“I forbid it.”
“Sir,” said the young negro in a trembling voice, “the Wa-himas always behead their prisoners. When the old king dies they behead people; if a young king follows they behead people. If Kali does not command them to be killed the Wa-himas will not believe that Kali is king!” ”

“ It was broken only by the moans of Kali, who threw himself on his knees and, stretching out his hands, exclaimed in the broken Kiswahili tongue:
"Bwana kubwa! (Great master!) Kill the lion! Kill bad people, but do not kill Kali!"
Stas, however, paid no heed to his cries. For some time he stood as if dazed; after which, observing Nell's pallid face and half-conscious eyes, opened widely from terror, he ran towards her. ”

“ When king Nala saw, and gazed on—to the sorrowful he spake.
"Gaming that I lost my kingdom—'twas not mine own guilty deed,
It was Kali wrought within me—hence it was I fled from thee;
Therefore he, in th' hour of trial—smitten by thy scathing curse,
In the wild wood as thou wanderest—grieving night and day for me,
Kali dwelt within my body—burning with thy powerful curse,
Ever burning, fiercer, hotter—as when fire is heaped on fire. ”

“ The Vedic description of Agni as an ugra (ogre) , with ‘tongue of flame,’ may better interpret Kali’s tongue. It is said Kali is pleased for a hundred years by the blood of a tiger; for a thousand by that of a man; for a hundred thousand by the blood of three men.
Fig. 18.—Kali.
How are we to understand this dance of Death, and the further legend of her tossing dead bodies into the air for amusement? Such a figure found among a people who shudder at taking life even from the lowest animals is [277] hardly to be explained by the destructiveness of nature personified in her spouse Siva. ”

“ Nothing at Benares was more repulsive and disgusting than what one sees here. The deity most worshipped in Calcutta is the goddess Kali, who indeed gives name to the city, which is Anglicized from Kali-ghat. She delights in blood, and is propitiated only by constant sacrifices. As one takes his morning drive along the streets leading to her shrine, he sees them filled with young goats, who are driven to the sacred enclosure, which is like a butcher's shambles, so constantly are the heads dropping on the pavement, which is kept wet with blood. ”

“ Kali is also the guardian deity of thieves, robbers, thugs and such like desperate characters. Before starting on their diabolical work, they invoke her aid to protect them from detection and punishment. The supposed aid of the goddess arms them with courage and leads them to commit the most atrocious crimes. When successful they come and [141] offer sacrifices of goats, spirituous liquors and other things, under an impression that the superintending power of the goddess has shielded them from all harm. ”

“ And truly, the Temple of Kali opens many doors to reflection. Evil, we notice, is conquered by Time in the end. Of Love, which conquered Time, there is no Gospel in Hinduism. Inherent strength is the last vanquisher, the Great Gods themselves helping in the conquest, even parting with their own strength to the fighter. And that which God inspires may be as God. Yet, in spite of the Hindu doctrine of works, there would seem to be a caution against too great activity. Kali drunk with activity was shamed by Gods and men. ”

“ But at the same time they were full of faith that if these extraordinary beings would help them then the victories of the Samburus would soon end. Stas rode along the file on the elephant, just like a commander who is reviewing his army, after which he ordered Kali to repeat his promise that he would liberate Fumba, and issued an order that they should start for Luela.
Kali rode with a few warriors in advance to announce to the women of both tribes that they would have the inexpressible and unheard-of pleasure of seeing the "Good Mzimu," who would arrive on an elephant. ”

“ Soon, also, when Kali came running with news of a definite victory, he issued an order for the cessation of the battle, which raged yet in the underwood and rocky recesses and which was prolonged by the implacable hatred of old Fumba.
However, before Kali succeeded in quelling it, it was daylight. The sun, as is usual under the equator, rolled quickly from beyond the mountains, and flooded with a bright light the battle-field on which lay over two hundred Samburu corpses pierced by spears or crushed by maces. ”

“ Nor has one to go so very far from the heart of Calcutta to be reminded that the "premier city" of modern India derives its name from Kali, the most sinister of Indian goddesses. She was the tutelary deity of Kali-Kata, one of the three villages to which Job Charnock removed the first British settlement in Bengal when he abandoned Hugli in 1690, and her shrine has grown in wealth and fame with the growth of Calcutta. Kali-Kata is to-day only a suburb of the modern city, but in entering it one passes into another world—the world of popular Hinduism. ”

“ Stas placed the palm of his hand on Kali's woolly head.
"I know, Kali, that you are an honest and good boy. But what will become of your kingdom and who will govern the Wahimas in your place?"
"M'Tana, brother of Kali's mother."
Stas knew that strife for rulership raged among the negroes and power lured them the same as the white people; so he pondered for a while and said:
"No, Kali. I cannot take you with me. You must remain with the Wahimas in order to make good people of them." ”

“ In the house of Kali the doors are ever open. ... But, for us women, the lesson to hide in the heart is this—Kali, the Great Destroyer, the Nurse of the World, the Dread-Inspirer, is vanquished only by—her husband.” ***** Here, then, meet ancient story and modern history, the history of every Hindu woman throughout the Land. The last stage of perfection is wifely submission. ”

“ And Nell at once embraced him and a smile shone out of her tear-stained little eyes. Her only care now was to give the elephant some food as soon as possible. Kali and Mea were very much surprised on hearing that “Bwana Kubwa” was not only not going to shoot the elephant, but that they must straightway pick the fruit of the bread-tree, the pods of the acacia, and various herbs, leaves and grass, as much as they could collect. Gebhr’s double-bladed Sudanese sword greatly aided Kali in accomplishing this task, for without it the work would have been by no means easy. ”

“ Kali, the grim goddess, dark and naked, bearing a garland of human heads around her neck,— heads from which blood is dripping,— and dancing on the prostrate form of Shiva, the God — this, says Bankim Chandra, is the mother as she is, dark, because ignorant of herself; the heads with dripping blood are those of her own children, destroyed by famine and pestilence ”

“ The trunk was Pelo Head, and was broken about halfway down by Pelo Break. The area between the drooping trunk and the neck was the Grimnal Sea. It was into this that the Kali fleet was charging like a peanut sailing for the mouth.
Tahn tapped a pencil-like finger at the rearmost reach of Anda Bay.
"There," he said, in the Kali-Confederation mixture they found to be the shortest distance between two cultures. "Anchored there like marks on a sail. Feeling so safe in their home. Thinking we do not dare come after them. Grimnal rafts just waiting to go to the bottom." ”

“ Owing to the intervention of the British, the human sacrifices, which were principally offered to Kali, the goddess of death, have now entirely ceased. The goddess Kali is represented erect, with one foot upon the dead body of a man, whose head she holds in one of her innumerable hands, while with the other hand she brandishes a bloody dagger. ”

“ At last, after much clanging of bells and fierce altercations between the Brahman priests and the faithful as to payment of necessary fees, the bronze doors roll back, and in the dim religious twilight one catches a glint of gold and precious stones, the head-dress of Kali, whose terrific image barely emerges from the depth of the inner sanctuary in which it stands, accessible only to its serving Brahmans. They alone, though strangely enough temple Brahmans as a class enjoy little credit with their fellow-castemen, can approach the idol and wash and dress and feed it with offerings. ”

“ When Kali had entered his body, king Nala abandoned righteous practices and acted as he pleased. The king played dice, he loved female slaves, he spoke untruths, he slept in the day, he kept awake at night, he became angry without cause, he took wealth unjustly, he despised the good, and he honoured the bad. ”

“ For he is the loveliest youth in all the land of the Aryas." With these words Indra and the three gods with him went on, leaving Kali and Dwapara silent. But the fury of Kali burnt fiercely within him and a few moments later he said, "O Dwapara, I cannot suffer that Nala enjoy the beauty of Damayanti. I shall enter into him and possess him. And I shall drive him forth from his kingdom, and from the arms of his bride. Thus all men shall know that it is evil to slight the Immortals."
Then Kali turned from Vidarbha and went to the country of the Nishadas. ”

“ Kali comes from the Wahima tribe."
Here Stas began to narrate to Linde the manner in which he inherited Kali after Gebhr's death and that Kali had told him that he was the son of the ruler of all the Wahimas.
But Linde received this information more indifferently than Stas expected.
"So much the better," he said, "as he may be helpful to you. Among the blacks there are honest souls, though as a rule you cannot depend upon their gratitude; they are children who forget what happened the day before." ”

“ With terror enthroned in his soul, what more human than that he should turn to Siva in that deity's non-Aryan form, as the awe inspiring God of the mass of the people, or his wife the bloody fury, the serpent crowned Kali. ”

“ Ward straightened and faced him. The Kali around froze in their tracks. Polasti was the foulest word in their language.
"Kali have died in this water just now," Tahn was barely able to manage his voice. "They are down there right now. We will not run and disgrace them! We will stand here. We will put a wall of sails and guns around this spot, and if we die it will be in honor. We will run no more. We will run no more!" ”

“ She has four arms: in one she holds a weapon, and in another the dripping head of a giant; two empty hands are raised to bless her worshippers. Like the Egyptian Hathor or Sekhet, the “Eye of Ra”, she goes forth to slay the enemies of the gods, rejoicing in slaughter. Like Hathor, too, she is asked to desist, but heeds not. Then Shiva approaches her and lies down among her victims. Kali dances over the battlefield and leaps on her husband's body. When she observes, however, what she has done, she ejects her tongue with shame. ”