Mahakali

About Mahakali

Mahakali rose from Durga's furrowed brow to drink the blood of Raktabija — a demon whose every spilled drop became a new clone. The Devi Mahatmyam tells how she lapped up his blood mid-air before it could touch the ground. Bengali icons show her dark-skinned and four-armed, holding a bloody scimitar and a severed head, wearing a garland of skulls and a skirt of arms, standing on Shiva with her red tongue out. Her seed-syllable is Krim. Her great night is Kali Puja, the Amavasya during Diwali, when devotees in Kolkata throng Kalighat — the Shakti Pitha where Sati's toes are said to have fallen.