Kali

Kali (kä`lē) [Hindi,=the Black One], important goddess in popular Hinduism and Tantra. Known also as Durga [the Inaccessible] and as Chandi [the Fierce], Kali is associated with disease, death, and destruction. As Parvati she is the consort of Shiva. Although often represented as a terrifying figure, garlanded with skulls and bearing a bloody sword in one of her many arms, she is worshiped lovingly by many as the Divine Mother. Her cult, popular among many lower castes in India, especially in Bengal, frequently includes animal sacrifice. Kali was patroness of the Thugs.

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Kali

Kali, sandstone relief from Bheraghat, near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh state, India, 10th century …

(credit: Pramod Chandra)

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.

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Kali

Hindu goddess to whom Thug sacrificed victims. [Hinduism: Brewer Dictionary, 600]

See : Death

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Kali - A data parallel language. ["Supporting Shared Data Structures on Distributed Memory Architectures", C. Koelbel et al in Second ACM SIGPLAN Symp on Princ and Prac of Parallel Programming, pp.177-186, Mar 1990].