STATUE OF GODDESS KALI

Kli also known as Klik is the Hindugoddess associated with empowerment shakti. The name Kali comes from kla which means black, time, death, lord of death Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kla .The eternal time Kl his consort also means "Time" or "Death" (as in time has come). Hence, Kli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies as well as Shkta Tantric beliefs worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatrini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kli as a benevolent mother goddess. Kl is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kl appears as early as the Atharva Veda written 1000 BCE or older, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra . Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni the God of Fire in the Mundaka Upanishad but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata. She is called Klartri (literally "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kli as the ultimate reality.