Devalok
Legend · 2 tellings · East India, Pan-India

Kali, Chamunda and the blood of Raktabija

Kali springs from the dark brow of the angry Goddess, eats an army, beheads Chanda and Munda and is named Chamunda; then she drinks the blood of Raktabija so that no more demons can rise from it. Bengal and Odisha add the ending: her foot falls on Shiva, and she bites her tongue.

Who is in it

Texts: Devi Mahatmya, Markandeya Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. Chanda and Munda come to seize the Goddess; her face turns dark with rage and Kali springs from her forehead with sword and noose.
  2. Kali devours the army, elephants and chariots, beheads Chanda and Munda and brings the heads to Chandika, who names her Chamunda.
  3. Every drop of Raktabija's blood that touches the ground becomes another asura, and the Mothers' weapons only multiply him.
  4. Chandika tells Kali to open her mouth wide; Kali drinks the blood and eats the newborn asuras, and Raktabija falls drained.
  5. In the Bengal and Odisha telling Kali, wild after the battle, steps on Shiva, who has lain down in her path, and bites her tongue in shame.

the goddess in battle shame festival

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana 87 and 88)

Pan-India Shakta

Chanda and Munda lead Shumbha's army against the Goddess, who sits smiling on her lion on a golden peak. Her face turns the colour of ink, and from her frowning forehead Kali springs, gaunt, in tiger skin and a garland of heads, with sword, noose and skull-staff. She throws elephants, riders, horses and chariots into her mouth, grinds the weapons in her teeth, cuts off Chanda's head and strikes down Munda, and brings both heads to Chandika, laughing; Chandika names her Chamunda. When Raktabija fights the Mothers, every drop of his blood that falls becomes an asura like him, and their weapons fill the world with his copies. Chandika tells Chamunda to open her mouth wide and drink the blood as it falls; Kali drinks it and eats the asuras born of it, and Raktabija falls drained of blood. The Mothers dance.

Markandeya Purana 87 and 88 (Devi Mahatmya 7 and 8), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath § 87.4; Markandeya Purana 87 and 88 (Devi Mahatmya 7 and 8), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath § 87.26; Markandeya Purana 87 and 88 (Devi Mahatmya 7 and 8), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath § 88.52; Markandeya Purana 87 and 88 (Devi Mahatmya 7 and 8), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath § 88.60

Encyclopedia

Bengal and Odisha: the foot on Shiva

East India · Bengal and Odisha Shakta 🪔 Kali Puja

After the battle Kali, drunk on blood and rage, will not stop; the earth shakes and the gods fear she will destroy the world. Shiva lies down on the battlefield among the dead so that she must step on him. When she sees her husband under her foot she stops and bites her tongue, the gesture of lajja, shame and modesty. This is how Odia and Bengali devotees read the Dakshinakali image with its protruding tongue; the Odia Chandi Purana of the fifteenth century has Kali step on Shiva by accident. In Bengal the image is said to have come to Krishnananda Agamavagisha in a dream, as a young woman making cow-dung cakes who put her tongue between her teeth when she saw him.

What is different here:

Adds an ending the Devi Mahatmya does not have: the foot on Shiva and the bitten tongue. Explains the image rather than the battle.

Kali — Wikipedia; Diwali — Wikipedia

Sources: Markandeya Purana 87 and 88 (Devi Mahatmya 7 and 8), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath; Kali — Wikipedia; Diwali — Wikipedia

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