in Hindu mythology, a goddess of death and destruction. Destructive and devouring Hindu goddess. She is a terrifying aspect of Devi, who in other forms appears as peaceful and benevolent. Kali is commonly associated with death, violence, sexuality, and, paradoxically, with motherly love. Noted for killing the demon Raktavija, she is usually depicted as a hideous, black-faced hag smeared with blood. In her four hands she holds, variously, a sword, a shield, the severed head of a giant, or a noose for strangling. Nearly naked, she wears a garland of skulls and a girdle of severed hands. She is often shown standing or dancing on her husband, Shiva. Until the 19th century the thugs of India worshiped Kali and offered their victims to her. In the late 20th century she became a symbol of feminine empowerment in some circles
One of the most popular forms of the Goddess, portrayed as an ugly 10 armed hag, dripping with blood and garlanded with skulls, destroyer of hypocrisy and selfishness Sometimes she is offered blood sacrifices of goats
The Kali spirit of the age of wickedness (BV-10) Kali or wickedness can have sway only through 1) the incompetence of the ruler, 2) the loss of self-reliance among the people and 3) the decline in the earning of Grace, (BV-15), the spirit of the Age of Wickedness (BV-36)
In Hinduism, one of four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of Yugas, traditionally thought to have begun at midnight (00: 00) on 18 February, 3102 BCE under the Julian calendar (23 January under the Gregorian calendar), and last 432,000 years