Kali goddess：Kali

Kali, in Hinduism[1], goddess of time, doomsday, and death[2], or the black goddess (the feminine form of Sanskrit[3] kala, “time-doomsday-death” or “black”). Kali’s origins can be traced to the deities of the village, tribal, and mountain cultures[4] of South Asia[5] who were gradually appropriated and transformed, if never quite tamed, by the Sanskritic traditions. She makes her first major appearance in Sanskrit culture[6] in the Devi Mahatmya (“The Glorifications of the Goddess,” c. 6th century ce). Kali’s iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her not only with death but also with sexuality[7], violence[8], and, paradoxically, in some later traditions, with motherly love.

Although depicted in many forms throughout South Asia (and now much of the world), Kali is most often characterized as black or blue, partially or completely naked, with a long lolling tongue, multiple arms, a skirt or girdle of human arms, a ...