‘Kali Luxuriates’

This piece by Venantius J Pinto is of Kali, the Hindu deity of dissolution, a form of the goddess Parvati. Kali is famous for having saved the gods from the demon Raktabija by spreading her tongue on the ground so that when his blood dropped, it could not transform into another demon. Kali is known for destroying ignorance, and aids those who seek sublime knowledge. Kali's name is commonly known for meaning 'black', or 'black female'. However, the Sanskrit word kaala also means time – in this case, meaning a synonym for death, or 'devourer of time'.   Kali, for all her fearsome self, stands for destruction of ignorance, which is always the start of the end of war. And she is the devourer of time, wanting all to know how little of it we have to pull our societies together.