The Goddess Kali, is the fierce and all-compassionate black Mother who is blacker than any evil and therefore absorbs all evil. She destroys ego with her sharp knife which slices through the world’s illusions. Kali removes the pain of her children, becoming darker and uglier in the process with all that she removes from them. In her total desire to rid her children of ego, Mother Kali is wild, wearing 52 skulls around her neck, representing the Sanskrit alphabet. She wears hands around her waist which have been cut off so that they will commit no karmic action against humanity.Kali is said to have been created from the third of eye of Mother Durga while she was battling the demons Canda and Munda. Her consort is the great Lord Shiva who is often shown lying prostrate at Kali’s feet – completely still to counteract her constant movement.
The Jungle Kali statue (show above left) is located on the Kali Path on Kashi Ashram.