KALI, a goddess of the Hindus, whom their mythology recognises as a form of Parvati, and called also Maha-Kali, Durga, Bhawani, and Devi. Kali is the consort of Siva, in his destroying character of Time. As such, she is painted of a black or dark-blue complexion. In pictures, she is shown (as the personification of Eternity) trampling on the body of Siva (Time). In one hand she holds the exterminating sword, in another a human head ; a third points downward, indicating, according to some, the destruction which surrounds her, and the other is raised upwards, in allusion to the figure of regeneration of nature by a new creation. Whatever her gestures may import, the image of this goddess is truly horrid, as are the devotional rites performed in her honour. Her wild, dishevelled hair reach ing to her feet, her necklace of human heads, the wildness of her countenance, the tongue protruded from her distorted mouth, her cincture of blood stained hands, and her position on the body of Siva, altogether convey in blended colours so powerful a personification of the dark character which she is pretended to portray, that, what ever may be thought of their tastes, we cannot deny to the Hindus full credit for the possession of most extraordinary and fertile powers of imagination. Kali is the goddess of cemeteries, under which form she is described dancing with the infant Siva in her arms, surrounded by ghosts ...and goblins (likewise dancing) in a cemetery amongst the dead ; her images, under this form, are worshipped by the Hindus as a propitiation against the destructive ravages of the cholera. To this ferocious goddess sanguinary sacrifices are made.. The July (1859) No. of the Calcutta Review (p. 423) remarks that in Bengal, in the worship of the bloody Kali, all castes mingle together, and, after a libation of ardent spirits to the goddess, drink spirits and eat flesh, as their fathers did in the Vedic times, said to be practised to this day in the foul and secret rites of the Tantra, too abominable for Christian ears.' A festival held in honour of Kali is called also Kali puja, as the Dascra in honour of the same deity, under the name of Durga, is called also Durga puja and Durgotsava. Human sacrifices were chiefly offered to Bhawani in her character of Kali, and no religious rite can be more minutely ordered and detailed than this is in the Kalika Purana, the sanguinary chapter of which has been translated by Mr. Blaquiere, and given in the fifth volume of the Asiatic Researches, Art. xxiii., and the ceremonies, the implements, prayers, etc., used on these horrid occasions are minutely described and recited. In this article, premising that Siva is supposed to address his sons the Bhairava, initiating them in these terrible mysteries, occurs the passage, The flesh of the antelope and the rhinoceros give my beloved (i.e. the goddess Kali) delight for 500 years. By a human sacri fice, attended by the forms laid down, Devi is pleased 1000 years ; and by a sacrifice of three men, 100,000 years. By human flesh, Camachya, Chandica, and Bhairava, who assume my shape, are pleased 1000 years. An oblation of blood which has been rendered pure by holy tests, is equal to ambrosia ; the head and flesh also afford much delight to the goddess Chandica. Blood drawn from the offerer's own body is looked upon as a proper oblation to the goddess Chandica. Let the sacrificer repeat the word Kali twice, then the words Devi - Bajreswari, then Lauha Dandayai, Namah ! which words may be rendered —Hail, Kali 1 Kali ! Hail, Devi 1 goddess of thunder Hail, iron-sceptred goddess ! Let him then take the axe in his hand and again make the same by the Calratriya text.' Different
mantra are used, in reference to the description of the victim to be immolated ; females are not to be immolated, except on very particular occasions; the human female never. Human sacrifices are nevertheless most pointedly prohibited in very ancient books. In the Brahma Purana, however, Nera Medha, or man-sacrifice, is expressly for bidden ; and in the fifth book of the Bhagavat Sir William Jones pointed out the following emphatical words : Whatever men in this world sacrifice human victims, and whatever women eat the flesh of male cattle, those men and those women shall the animals here slain torment in the mansions of Yama ; and, like slaughtering giants, having cleaved their limbs with axes, shall quaff their blood.' Parvati, in the Mahratta countries pronounced Parbat or Parvat, is used as a name for a hill ; one is near Poona, commonly called Parvati, on which is a temple of the god dess. In Durga we trace the origin of the names of hill forts in Mysore and other countries of the Dekhan, such as Chittuldroog, Rai Droog, Duri Droog, etc. The bright half of the month Aswini, the first of the Hindu lunar year, seems peculiarly devoted to Durga. The first nine nights, called Navaratri, are, with appropriate names, allotted to her decoration ; the fifth is for the preparation of her dress ; on the sixth she is awakened ; on the seventh she is invited to a bower formed of the leaves of nine plants, of which the Bilwa is the chief. The seventh to the ninth are the great days ; on the last of which the victims immolated to her honour must be slain, as particularly directed in the Kalika Purana. The sacrificed beasts must be killed by one blow, with a broadsword or sharp axe. The next day the goddess is reverently dismissed, and her imago is cast into the river, which finishes the festival called Durgotsava and Dasera. On the fifteenth day, at the full moon, her devotees pass the night in sports and merriment, and games of various sorts ; it is unlucky to sleep, for on this night the fiend Nicumbha led his army against Durga, and Lakshini descended, promising wealth to those who were awake. On this night Kuvera and Indra are also worshipped. The goddess Bhawani is supposed to have in spired Sivaji to murder Afzal Khan, the general of the king of Bijapur. At a conference, Sivaji caught Afzal Khan with a wag-nak, and finally despatched him with the beautiful Genoese blade called Bhawani, which he always wore. That sword, down to the time of the British supremacy, had a little temple for itself in the palace of Sivaji's descendants, and it was annually wor shipped by them and their household, not as a mere act of veneration for their ancestor's trusty sword, but becituse it was tho chosen instrument of a great sacrifice; and the attendant who watched it used to say that no doubt some of the spirit of Ilhawani must still remain in it. Many towns and rivers are named after Bhawani. Kali Keil, temples of Kali, are scattered over the Carnatic, and by tradition a human sacrifice was made at the foundation of each of them.— Taylor; Cole. Myth. Iliad. ;