What is Kali?
{{complex|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox deity<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Hindu mythology-->|type=Hindu|name=Kali|deity_of=Goddess of Time, Death and Destruction|abode=[[Shmashana Adhipati|Cremation ground]]s, [[Battlefield]]s (varies by interpretation), [[Manidvipa]]|consort=[[Shiva]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-044-0|page=629}}</ref>|mantra=*''oṁ jayanti maṅgala kālī<br>bhadrakālī kapālinī<br>durgā kṣamā śivā dhātrī<br>svāhā svadhā namostute'' *''oṁ krīṃ kālīkāyai namaḥ''|weapon=[[Scimitar]], [[Trishula]] ([[Trident]])|image=Kali by Raja Ravi Varma.jpg|festivals={{hlist|[[Kali Puja]]|[[Navaratri]]}}|caption=''Kali'' by [[Raja Ravi Varma]]|affiliation={{hlist|[[Shakti]]|[[Mahadevi]]|[[Durga]]|[[Parvati]]|[[Mahakali]]|[[Mahavidyas]]}}|gender=Female|member_of=The Ten [[Mahavidyas]]|day=Tuesday and Friday|texts=[[Devi-Bhagavata Purana]], [[Devi Mahatmya]], [[Kalika Purana]], [[Shakta Upanishads]], [[Tantra]]s|mount=Lion}} '''Kali''' is one of the [[deity|goddesses]] in [[Hinduism]] and aspect of [[Parvati]]. She is the goddess of creation, destruction and time, and commonly presented as dark and violent. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shakta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. Kali is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like Durga, Bhadrakali, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati and Chamunda. She is the foremost among the Dasa Mahavidyas, ten fierce [[Tantra|Tantric]] goddesses. Kali is most often characterized as black or blue, completely naked, with a long red lolling tongue, multiple arms, a skirt or girdle of human arms, a necklace of decapitated heads, and a decapitated head in one of her hands. == Origins == Although the word ''Kālī'' appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it a