Since when are we worshipping MAA KALI? As soon as we utter Kali, that ecstatic wrathful goddess dark as the monsoon cloud emerges in our mind. What’s the earliest evidence of her iconography? But wait! Is she only “she”? Renowned Bengali sakta poet Kamalakanta has said: Kali is sometimes male, sometimes female; sometimes beyond form. Kali is the manifestation of infinity; the essence of the concept of cosmic mother. Kali is the controller, creater and destroyer of the cosmos and most importantly “Kal” (time). Let’s take a short glimpse at her iconographic origin.
In all the ancient civilizations, we can see the tradition of worshipping a supreme mother goddess who was thought to be the ultimate power of the universe; a manifestation of nature and beyond that. Similarly there was also concept of a goddess, who is the queen of death and underworld. She remains hidden, she plays in dark. But at the same time, she nurtures the seeds of future in her womb. Kali is a perfect amalgamation of these two concepts. Earliest evidence of worshipping such a mother goddess in Indian subcontinent can be traced back to Mehergarh; dating even before Indus vally civilization. Archeologists have unearthed here many idols of a mother goddess with skull like facies, sometimes a triangular face with sharp beak like nose and rounded large eyes. “This strikingly confirms the view previously advanced that these figures represent a divinity of fertility, the ‘mother-goddess’ of many eastern cults; said Prof Sten. As per Pigt, these idols are “a grim embodiment of the mother-goddess who is also the guardian of the dead – an underworld deity connected like with the corpse and the seed-corn buried beneath the earth”. This is the origin of iconography of Kali as we know her. That connection with death and underworld has made her abode in crematorium. The jackals and wolves, who dwell beside deadbodies, became associated with her cult. The mystery of death and fear of inevitability of time made her complex dark and face wrathful. Yet, she is the benevolent mother, who as per early Vedic scriptures, provides soothing sleep to the world in night as Nishaa. Thus, an elegant history is still continuing keeping Kali at the centre from a period when human history was still at its dawn. Miraculous, isn’t it!
Raktim Mukherjee
