Siva Kali iconography

Siva  Kali iconography

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

When Lord SivA was preaching the meaning of VEdAs to PArvathi DEvi, Her attention was
diverted for a moment causing SivA to curse Her into a birth in a family of fishermen. He added
that He would seek Her in marriage on earth. She was born in a royal fisherman's family and was
reared by them. SivA had also punished Nandi (for having let in Murugan and GaNapathi while He
preached to PArvathi) by cursing Nandi to be born as a shark. This shark evaded the nets of the
fishermen and created havoc at the sea. The king of the fishermen offered his daughter in marriage
to one who could catch that shark in a net. Lord SivA appeared in the disguise of a fisherman,
caught the shark and won the princess' hand in marriage. .. ThiruviLaiyAdal PurANam).

chanting mantra of kali

matacha parvati devi pita devo maheshwara
bandhavah shivabhaktasya swadesho bhuvanatrayam

 

by 
k.jagadeesh 
+91-9841121780, 9543187772
email: jagadeeshkri@gmail.com