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An early version of the Calinda was danced only by men, stripped to the waist and
brandishing sticks in a mock fight while at the same time balancing upon their heads
bottles of water. As soon as a dancer spilled a drop of his water he was banished
from the field. Later the Calinda degenerated into a thoroughly lascivious
performance.
One of E.w. Kemble's 1885 conceptual drawings of what an earlier Congo Square Dance,
"The Love Song" may have looked liked.
Bou-doum Bou-doum was a sound meaning to fall down, when a Creole child took a
tumble his mammy would say, 'He make bou-doum bou-doum on the floor.' They
would amuse a child when bathing him by jumping him up and down in the water,
saying, 'Ooh, the water is fine! You make bou-doum in the tub.' The child would shout
with glee and Mammy would clap her hands and keep time with her feet, singing,
'Dansé Calinda! Bou-doum Bou-doum!'
The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a nation in the southern Caribbean Sea,
situated 11 km (7 miles) off the coast of Venezuela. It is an archipelagic state[1] consisting
of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and 21 smaller islands. The larger and more
populated island is Trinidad, while Tobago is smaller (303 square kilometres; about 6%
of the total area) and less populous (50,000 people; 4% of the total population). Citizens
are officially called Trinidadians or Tobagonians or Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, but
are informally referred to as Trinis or Trinbagonians.
The capital city Port of Spain is currently a leading candidate to serve as the headquarters
of the Permanent Secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA-ALCA).
Both Trinidad and Tobago were originally settled by Amerindians of South American
origin. Trinidad was first settled by pre-agricultural Archaic people at least 7000 years
ago, making it the earliest-settled part of the Caribbean. Ceramic-using agriculturalists
settled Trinidad around 250 BCE and then moved up the Lesser Antillean chain. At the
time of European contact Trinidad was occupied by various Arawakan- and Cariban-
speaking tribes including the Nepoya, Suppoya and Yao, while Tobago was occupied by
the Island Caribs and Galibi. The Amerindian name for Trinidad was Kairi or Iere which
is usually translated as The Land of the Hummingbird, although others have reported that
it simply meant island. Christopher Columbus encountered the island of Trinidad on July
31, 1498 and named it after the Holy Trinity. Columbus reported seeing Tobago, which
he named Bella Forma, but did not land on the island. The name Tobago is probably
derived from tobacco.
The Spanish established a presence on Trinidad, but due to a lack of settlers, eventually
allowed any Roman Catholic European to settle on the island, leading to substantial
immigration from France and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Tobago changed hands between
British, French, Dutch and Courlanders. Britain consolidated its hold on both islands
during the Napoleonic Wars, and they were combined into the colony of Trinidad and
Tobago in 1889. As a result of these colonial struggles Amerindian, Spanish, French and
English place names are all common in the country. African slaves and Indian, Chinese,
Portuguese and free African indentured labourers arrived to supply labour in the
nineteenth and early twentieth century. Emigration from Barbados and the Lesser
Antilles, Venezuela and Syria and Lebanon also impacted on the ethnic make-up of the
country.
Although originally a sugar colony, cacao dominated the economy in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth century. After the collapse of the cacao crop (due to disease and the
Great Depression) petroleum increasingly came to dominate the economy. The
Depression and the rise of the oil economy led to changes in the social structure.
The presence of American military bases in Chaguaramas and Cumuto in Trinidad during
World War II profoundly changed the character of society. In the post-war period, the
wave of decolonisation that swept the British Empire led to the formation of the West
Indies Federation in 1958 as a vehicle for independence. Chaguaramas was the proposed
site for the federal capital. The Federation dissolved after the withdrawal of Jamaica, and
Trinidad and Tobago elected for independence in 1962.
In 1976 the country severed its links with the British monarchy and became a republic
within the Commonwealth.
In 1990, 114 men of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, led by Yasin Abu Bakr, stormed the
Trinidadian Parliament at the Red House, and the only TV Station in the country at the
time, and held the country's government hostage for six days. The matter was sorted out,
and the country has been largely at peace since.
Petroleum, petrochemicals and natural gas continue to be the backbone of the economy.
Tourism is the mainstay of the economy of Tobago, and the island remains a favorite
destination for many European tourists. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the most
prosperous nations in the Caribbean, although less so than it was during the "oil boom"
between 1973 and 1983.
Trinidad and Tobago is famous for its pre-Lenten Carnival. It is also the birthplace of
calypso music and the steelpan, which is widely claimed to be the only acoustic musical
instrument invented during the 20th century. The diverse cultural and religious
background allows for many festivities and ceremonies throughout the year. Other
indigenous art forms include soca (a derivate of calypso), Parang (Venezuelan-influenced
Christmas music), chutney, and pichakaree (musical forms which blend the music of the
Caribbean and India) and the famous Limbo dance.
The artistic scene is vibrant. Trinidad and Tobago claims two Nobel Prize-winning
authors, V. S. Naipaul and St. Lucian-born Derek Walcott. Mas' designer Peter Minshall
is renowned not only for his carnival costumes, but also for his role in opening
ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics, the 1994 Football World Cup, the 1996 Summer
Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics, for which he won an Emmy Award.
Vodoun is the heritage of the ancient africans nations that were exiled
in the new world. Its ways have been born throughout the darkest times
by our forefathers in order to teach us how to live today and tomorrow.
VZNH1C89F5CA
YAMUNA 1
(YAMUNĀṢṬAKAM)
Footnotes
190:1 The river sacred in particular for its memories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who on its banks
sported with the cowherd women (Gopīs).
190:2 Yamunā.
190:5 Kunjapunja.
191:1 The cowherd who brought up Śrīkṛṣṇa, when his life was threatened by Kamsa.
191:3 Literally, "who are slaves to Her by reason of their inhabitancy of Her banks"
191:4 After the rāsalīlā Śrīkṛṣṇa and the Gopīs are tired by their dance and play, and are
refreshed by repose upon Her banks where gentle breezes blow.
192:1 Rivers are either male (nada) or female (nadī). Of the former class are the Sone,
Sindu, etc., and of the latter Gangā, Narmadā, Gandakī, etc.
192:5 Malam (manomalam). Impurity is a thing which is dark. The river by the white
splendour of its white banks and blossoms is therewith contrasted.
193:1 Śrīkṛṣṇa; for He too bathes in her stream, which possesses also His dark colour.
193:2 Alluding to the destruction of the Asuras, called Kālakeya. These excluded the
Devas from svarga. On their chiefs bring slain by Indra, they betook themselves to the
depths of the ocean, whence they issued at night to destroy the Ṛṣis. The latter asked the
aid of Viṣṇu, who told them to go to Agastya. He at one sip swallowed all the oceans,
which thus disappeared (therefore "sleeping oceans" of text) until the River Ganges was
brought down by Bhagīratha when they were again filled with Her waters. This incident
is attributed to the Yamunā, both rivers being manifestations of the same Devī.
193:3 Literally, Ali, which, according to the Amarakośa = Sakhi; female friend, referring
to the Gopīs who loved Krishna.
193:4 Lampata; Whose senses were roused by the scent of the pastes which had fallen
from the scented body of Kṛṣṇa.
194:1 Vilola. Her hair is dishevelled and moving in the movements of breeze and play.
194:2 Literally, "In the case of those who come down to bathe in Her waters She ever
destroys all righteousness of master and servant"--that is, all are equal in Her waters
which purify all without distinction.
194:3 The text has Nandinandana, but this has no meaning. Nandanandi is He who
pleases Nanda or Kṛṣṇa, whose foster-father Nanda the cowherd was.
194:5 A beautiful flowering tree with yellow blooms under, and on which (as when he
stole the garments of the bathing Gopīs) Kṛṣṇa played (See p. 169, note 2).
FESTIVALS
AND RITUALS Hosein - Shi-ite Muslim festival in Trinidad & Jamaica 1977, 1986 and
2000 (January).
Phagwa - Hindu spring festival in Trinidad & Guyana 1978 & 1988.
Interviews, re-enactment of the legend of Holika, celebration of Holika,
Chowtal singing and performance.
Johnkunnoo - masquerade in Jamaica and Bahamas, Belize and Guyana.
Divali - Hindu festival of lights in honour of Mother Lakshmi traditional
village celebrations in Dow Village, California - Trinidad.
La Marguerite and La Rose - Rival Flower festivals of St. Lucia 1986 &
1988.
Ramleela - The story of the Holy Ramayana as 10 day community re-
enactment by the villagers of Dow Village, California, Trinidad. This
drama has been enacted annually for 112 years.
Bèlé - folk tradition, St. Lucia 1991. Trinidad & Tobago (1979),
Martinique
Orisha - Traditional African religion in Trinidad: various feasts and
festivals including the ceremony of the Bull, feast of Oshun (1988), feast
of Elephon (1989)and a pilgrimage (1986). Also Pilgrimage to Gasparee
Caves (2000) and much more.
St. Peter's day festivities in Matelot, isolated fishing village on North
Coast of Trinidad.
Fire Walking ceremony in Kali worship, Trinidad 1987. Kali healing
(1988) and sacrifice and healing (1999 - 2000)
Limbo, history and practice Trinidad 1983
CULTURAL
PRACTICES Kite making. Top carving, making and playing.
presumed and disputed interlinkages between the Saktiite, Saivite, and Tibetan Buddhist goddesses
Durga, Kali, Parvati, Umar, Sati, Tara, Kurukulla, Candi, Ambika, et al, so it must suffice to begin
by saying that Durga is a very fierce multi-armed warrior-mother-protector goddess who rides
on a tiger or a lion;
Each of these goddess is seen by some of her devotees as the supreme god-head, by others as a mere
battle-born "aspect" of another female supreme god-head (e.g. Durga), and by a third group as
the "true form" (or, contrariwise, a "mere aspect") of Parvati or Durga in her/their role as the Saki
KALI
Although records of Kali's worship date back less than 2,000 years, it is widely assumed by
scholars that she represents a survival of a Dravidian (pre-Aryan) goddess. Kali is typically shown as
a deranged or wrathful half naked woman, and is often depicted dancing upon the corpse of her consort,
the god Siva. She is multi-armed; her tongue protrudes; she wears a garland of skulls, holds a severed
head in one hand, and brandishes a hooked blade called a kartri, along with other weapons.
Yet to most of her devotees, she is a loving Mother, despite her ferocity.
As i understand Sanskrit, strictly via secondary sources, Kali means "black" and kala (a different word)
means "time" (hence, calendar). One can make a pun between Kali and kala, but they are not the
same word. The Kali-kala pun gave rise to the idea that black Kali, the fierce cremation-ground
PARVATI
Parvati is an ancient mountain goddess, assocated with the Himalayas. She is similar to, but not
identical with, the mountain goddess Uma. In terms of her personality and relationship to the
god Siva, she also shares some aspects with the fathful-wife goddess Sati. She is the mother
of Siva's childen.
According to some synctretically-minded Parvati-centered puranas, Kali was not an "original" goddess
but came into being when Siva teased his mate Parvati about her dark skin and called her
"blackie" (Kali). In response, she shed the black skin and became effulgently light -- and was given
the epithet Gauri ("shining"). Her black skin then took on life and became the goddess Kali.
Obviously this is a Parvati-centered story and not acceptable to those for whom wrathful or fierce
DURGA
Durga is an ancient grain-and-battle goddess who, in latter times (post 400 C.E.), was identified as a
member of the Kali- Sati- Parvati- Durga- Gauri- Ambika- Uma- Candi class of goddess, all of whom
are formerly regional "great" goddesses later syncretized as aspects of "the bride of Siva." In recognition
of her origin as a grain goddess, in many Indian villages her effigies are placed on mounds of clay
into which five types of grain have been pressed and embedded. She is said to only visit the villages
once a year, during her annual festival, when she takes a vacation from her husband Siva. She is also
a patroness of soldiers, and in some places a special feast day is set aside during which her
As with all the other Hindu goddesses, there are many contradictory popular accounts of Durga's origin
and exploits. One of the most common modrn tales of Durga's origin centers around her most famed
feat, the killing of the man-monster Mahisha, who took the form of a bull and attacked the gods. It is
said that for this battle, she was armed with the weapons of all the gods, non of whom could defeat the
demon because he was immune to death at the hands of a male.
The medal above is from Thailand and depicts her as a multi-armed warrior-protector, riding her lion
(alternatively, her tiger) -- here reduced to house-cat size -- and carrying the weapons of all the
gods (the discus, noose, arrows, goad, and so forth) eventually cut the head off the demon with her
kartri and then stabbed him to death with a spear, sometimes, as here, shown to be identical with the
trident or trisula of the god Siva, her husband and consort. This medal is about 1 1/2 inches high, cast
In some male-centered tales, Durga herself did not exist until the threat posed by Mahisha caused all the
male gods to donate portions of their life-force in order to create her. In these stories, Durga is said
to have been formed from "the emanations of all the gods." Thus, she is seen as a lesser or junior
In another variant, a Parvati-centered purana, Parvati's black skin did not take on life of its own as Kali
but instead became filled with "the emanations of all the gods" and took on a life of its own as
Katyayani, a kindly version of Kali, who rides upon a tiger or a lion, just like Durga, who arose from
"the emanations of all the gods." Thus it appears that Katyayani -- like the Mahavidyas (the ten aspects
of Parvati) -- was someone's theological attempt to synthesize Kali, Parvati, and Durga into one entity,
Finally, in regard to Durga there is also an odd little magic number triangle that is her characteristic
icon. It appears on dozens of Hindu devotionary prints and posters, usually below Durga's feet when
she is shown riding her tiger (or lion) in her "beatific" pose. This little Durga-sigil often contains
the word "Sri" inside, which links its origins to the worship of an ancient goddess named Sri, who
now primarily identified with the goddess Laksmi as Sri-Laksmi, the goddess of good fortune and
monetary luck.
Despite these cosmological inconsistencies, most of the wrathful Indian and Himalayan goddesses have
in common an identification with blood sacrifices. In addition, many of their devotees attest to a deeply
held belief that these goddesses are motherly and protective to any worshipers who can humbly
surrender to them despite their fearful visages. In Nepal, Kurukulla/Kali masks are hung at doors
and windows to protect family members. They are also a featured decoration in the households of
devotees who wish to worship Durga, Kali, Parvati, Kurukulla, et al in a wrathful or fierce form.
Kali ("the black one") is the Hindu mother goddess, symbol of dissolution and destruction. She destroys
ignorance, maintains the world order, and blesses and frees those who strive for the knowledge of God.
In the Vedas the name is associated with Agni, the god of fire, who had seven flickering tongues of flame,
of which Kali was the black, horrible tongue. This meaning of the word has meanwhile been replaced by
Her appearance is fearsome: baleful eyes, a protruding tongue, and four arms. In her upper left hand she
wields a bloody sword and in her lower left hand she holds the severed head of a demon. With her upper
right hand she makes the gesture of fearlessness, while the lower right hand confers benefits. Draped
around her is a chain of severed human heads and she wears a belt made of dismembered arms. As the
Divine Mother she is often represented dancing or in sexual union with Shiva. As Bhavatarini, the
redeemer of the universe, she stands upon the supine form of her spouse. Kali is worshipped particularly
specks of ash from burning funeral pyres fall on white, sun-dried bones scattered about and on fragments
of flesh, gnawed and pecked at by carrion beasts and large black birds. It is a frightening place for most,
but a favorite one for the "heroic" Mother worshipper who has burnt away all wordly desires and seeks
nothing but union with her. This kind devotee fears nothing and knows no aversion.
However, the majority of people are terrified by the Divine Mother's awe-inspiring grandeur, back
lit by
the fires in the cremation ground. Most people would rather worship her in a less threatening place, where
reality is a symbol rather than the truth. Instead, they go to temples, worship at roadside shrines, or worship
own homes. They pray to the Divine Mother to grant them the boon of a child, money to feed the mouths
of a hungry family, to grant them devotion and liveration from existence in misery.
The beauty of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple is far removed from the dreary sight of an active cremation
ground. And, although the Goddess in this temple is the same Ma Kali as the feared one in the cremation
While someone unfamiliar with the Shakti worship may perceive Kali's images as equally terrible without
making the slightest distinction between them, the Hindu distinguishes a benign Kali (dakshina) from a
fearful Kali (smashan) by the position of her feet. If Kali steps out with her right foot and holds the sword
in her left hand, she is a Dakshina Kali. If she steps out with her left foot and holds the sword in her right
hand, she is the terrible of the Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground.
Why would anyone want to worship the terrible Mother of the cremation ground? According to Tantrics,
one's spiritual disciplines practiced in a cremation ground bring success quickly. Sitting next to corpses
and other images of death, one is able to transcend the "pair of opposites" (good-bad, love-hate, etc) much
faster than another person who blocks out the unpleasant aspects of life. The cremation ground's ghastly
images arouse instant renunciation in the mind and help the Tantric to get rid of the attachment for the
body.
Kali is one of the most misunderstood forms of God. The ordinary Western mind perceives Kali as
Hideous and absurd, forgetting that some of the symbols of Western faiths have the same effect on the
Hindu. While Christians believe in a God that is all good and a devil that is all bad, Hindus believe
in only one
Kali is the full picture of the Universal Power. She is Mother, the Benign, and Mother, the Terrible. She
creates and nourishes and she kills and destroys. By Her magic we see good and bad, but in reality there
is neither. The whole world and all we see is the play of Maya, the veiling power of the Divine Mother.
God is neither good nor bad, nor both. God is beyond the pair of opposites which constitute this relative
existence.
The Tantras mention over thirty forms of Kali. Sri Ramakrishna often spoke about the different forms
of Kali:
The Divine Mother is known as Kali-Ma, the Black Goddess, Maha Kali, Nitya Kali, Smashana Kali,
Raksha Kali, Shyama Kali, Kalikamata, and Kalaratri. Among the Tamils she is known as Kottavei.
Maha Kali and Nitya Kali are mentioned in the Tantra philosophy. When there were niether the creation,
nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, when the darkness was enveloped in darkness, then the
Mother, the Formless One, Maha Kali, the Great Power, was one with the Maha Kala, the Absolute.
Shyama Kali has a somewhat tender aspect and is worshipped in Hindu households. She is the dispenser
of boons and the dispeller of fear. People worship Raksha Kali, the Protectress, in times of epidemic,
famine, earthquake, drought, and flood. Shamshan Kali is the embodiment of th epower of destruction.
She resides in the cremation ground, surrounded by corpses, jackals and terrible female spirits. From her
mouth flows a stream of blood, from her neck hangs a garland of human heads, and around her waist is
a girdle made of human arms.
Tantrics worship Siddha Kali to attain pefection. Phalaharini Kali to destroy the results of their actions;
Nitya Kali, the eternal Kali, to take away their disease, grief, and suffering and to give them perfection
and illumination. There are many forms of Kali. Each district, town, and village in Bengal seems to have
Robbers and thieves have their own Kali. Not so many years ago, robbers lived in Indian woods and had
the habit of worshipping Dakait Kali before they went to rob people on highways and in villages. Some
of these old Kali images have survived time and are still being wroshipped, though for other reason
originally intended.
Kali's Symbols:
The name Kali comes from the word "kala," or time. She is the power of time which devours all.
She has a power that destroys and should be depicted in awe-inspiring terror. Kali is found in the
cremation ground amid dead bodies. She is standing in a challenging posture on the prostrate
body of her husband Shiva. Kali cannot exist without him, and Shiva can't reveal himself
without her.
She is the manifestation of Shiva's power, energy.
While Shiva's complexion is pure white, Kali is the color of the darkest night-a deep bluish black.
As the limitless Void, Kali has swallowed up everything without a trace. Hence, she is black.
Kali's luxuriant hair is dishevelled and, thereby, symbolizes Kali's boundless freedom. Another
interpretation says that each hair is a jiva (individual soul), and all souls have their roots in Kali.
Kali has three eyes; the third one stands for wisdom.
Kali's tongue is protruding, a gesture of coyness-because she unwittingly stepped on the body of
her husband Shiva. A more philosophical interpretation: Kali's tongue, symbolizing rajas
(the color red, activity), is held by her teeth, symbolizing sattva (the color white, spirituality).
Kali has four arms. The posture of her right arms promises fearlessness and boons while her
left arms hold a bloody sword and a freshly severed human head. Looking at Kali's right, we see
good, and looking at her left, we see bad.
Kali is portrayed as naked (clad in space) except for a girdle of human arms cut off at the elbow
and a garland of fifty skulls. The arms represent the capacity for work, and Kali wears all work
(action), potential work, and the results thereof around her waist. The fifty skulls represent the
fifty letters of the alphabet, the manifest state of sound from which all creation evolved.
One shouldn't jump to the conclusion that Kali represents only the destructive aspect of God's power.
What exists when time is transcended, the eternal night of limitless peace and joy, is also called Kali
(Maharatri). And it is she who prods Shiva Mahadeva into the next cycle of creation. In short, she is the
Sri Sarada Devi...She was very quiet and dignified. People didn't think of the quiet consort of Sri
Ramakrishna as mad, God intoxicated saint. Outwardly, Sri Sarada Devi, or the Holy Mother as her
devotees her call her, rarely showed any signs of the mad passionate love Sri Ramkrishna and other Kali
saints exhibited in their lives. On the contrary, Holy Mother liked to hide herself and her sweet divinity.
When spoke of, in her presence, as a divine being, she would stop the flattering words and say that she
was what she was only because the Master had given her shelter at his feet. The veil with which she
always hid her face in public seemed to be symbolic of the profound veil of modesty with which she
loved to hide her own towering greatness. It was for this reason that Sri Ramakrishna, in fun, likened
her to a cat that loved to hide its real color with ashes.
The Holy Mother lived her early life simply and joyously in the small village of Jayrambati. Being a
Child bride, she quietly prepared herself for the time when she was going to leave her parents' house
and move in with her husband. When nasty gossip about Sri Ramakrishna's madness reached
Jayrambati, the Holy Mother often overheard women at the well discussing her husband's state of mind.
The Holy Mother, on her way to meet Sri Ramakrishna, was unused to walking such a great distance
and fell ill after a couple of days and had to take shelter in a rest house.
A divine vision came to her in her hour of dejection and cheered her up. As the Holy Mother lay on the
bed, she saw a dark woman of peerless beauty sitting by her caressing the Mother's head and body with
her soft, cool hands. It seemed to remove all her pain. The Mother asked the vision where she was from
and the stranger replied from Dakshineswar. The Holy Mother told the vision that she was going to meet
her future husband but was afraid she wouldn't make it. The vision told her not to worry, that she would
recover soon and that she had been keeping him there for her.
The Holy Mother had visions of Kali throughout her life and it is safe to say that she was aware of her
own divinity at all times. She lived like every other Indian woman-cooking, cleaning, and taking care of
family of affairs-yet when anyone came in contact with her they felt something special. A few fortunate
Researcher:
Akasha
Source of information:
Kali: the Black Goddess of Dakshineswar...Elizabeth U. Harding
In Hinduism Kali's three functions are assigned to the gods: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver;
and Shiva, the destroyer. It is noted that Vishnu, who is thought to have brought the world out of the
primal abyss, wrote the following about Kali: "Maternal cause of all change, manifestation, and d
estruction…the whole Universe rests upon Her, rises out of Her and melts into Her. From Her crystallized
the original elements and qualities which construct the apparent world. She is both mother and grave…
The gods themselves are merely constructs out of Her maternal substance, which is both consciousness
As a Mother, Kali was called Treasure-House of Compassion (karuna), Giver of Life to the World, the
Life of all lives. Despite the popular western belief that she is just a Goddess of destruction, she is the
fount of every kind of love, which flows into the world through women, her agents on earth. Thus, it is
said of a male worshipper of Kali, "bows down at the feet of women," regarding them as his rightful
teachers.
Some say the name Eve perhaps originated from Kali's leva or Jiva, the primordial female principle of
manifestation; she gave birth to her "first manifested form" and called him Idam (Adam). She also bore
the same title given to Eve in the Old Testament: Mother of All Living (Jaganmata).
Although referred to as "the One," Kali was always a trinity Goddess: Virgin, Mother, and Crone.
This triad formed perhaps nine or ten millennia ago has been manifested in many cultures: the Celts with
their triple Morrigan, the Greeks with their triple Moerae, the Norsemen with their Norms, the Romans
with their Fates and triadic Uni (Juno), the Egyptians with their triple Mut, and the Arabian Moon-goddess.
Kali can be identified everywhere. Her trinity is recognized in the Christian triple Godhead; some
conclude this Godhead is all male, not nothing that in the Hebrew Old Testament the word for Spirit,
ruwach, was of feminine gender. Blood sacrifice was important in the worship of Kali as they were in the
worship of the early Biblical God, the commanded that the blood must be poured on his alters
(Exodus 29:16) for the remission of sins (Numbers 18:9), but there were differences. Jewish priests ate
the sacrificial meat themselves whereas the devotees of Kali were permitted to eat their own offerings as
in Calcutta. Kali demanded only male animals be sacrificed; a custom dating back to the primitive belief
that the male had no part in the cycle of generation. The god Shiva, Kali's sacrificial spouse, commanded
Kali was the Ocean of Blood at the beginning of the world; she might be said to be the primordial mass
from which all life arouse; and her ultimate destruction of the universe is prefigured by the destruction of
each individual, though her karmic wheel always brought reincarnation. After death came nothing-at-all,
which Tantric sages called the third of three states of being; to experience it was like the experience of
Dreamless Sleep. This state was also called "the Generative Womb of All, the Beginning and End of
Beings." Kali devoured Time, she resumed her "dark formlessness," which appeared in all myths of
The Tantric worshippers of Kali readily acknowledged and accepted her Curse; they willing accepted
her terror of death as well as they accepted her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. They knew the coin
of life has two sides, life and death; one cannot exist without the other. Kali's sages communed with her
in the grisly atmosphere of the cremation ground, to become familiar with the images of death. Her
devotee would say, "His Goddess, his loving Mother, in time who gives him birth and loves him in the
flesh, she also destroys him in the flesh. His image of Her is incomplete if he does not know her as his
tearer and devourer." The name Kali Ma comes from Kalma, a hunter of tombs and eater of the dead,
as she was called in Finland, also called the Black Goddess. European "witches" worshipped her in funeral
places, for the same reasons, that the Tantric yogis and dakinis worshipped her in cremation grounds, as
Smashana-Kali, Lady of the Dead. Former pagans adored her in cemeteries as the Black Mother Earth,
where the Roman tombstones invoked her with the phrase Mater genuit, Mother receipt-the Mother bore
me, the Mother took me back. Sometimes Kali, the Destroyer, wore red symbolizing the blood of the life
that that she gave and took back: "as She devours all existence, as She chews all things existing with Her
fierce teeth, therefore a mass of blood is imagined to be the apparel of the Queen of the Gods at the final
dissolution." The gypsies in their worship of Kali, the Goddess of disease, clothed her in red, the proper