Kali Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Mahakali=== {{Main|Mahakali}} [[File:Goddess Mahakali - National Museum, Delhi.jpg|thumb|Mahakali, goddess of time and death, depicted with a black complexion with ten heads, arms and legs.]] Mahakali ([[Sanskrit]]: Mahākālī, [[Devanagari]]: महाकाली, [[Bengali language|Bengali]]: মহাকালী, [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]: મહાકાળી), literally translated as "Great Kali," is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of [[Brahman]]. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali,<ref name="McDaniel"/>{{rp|257}} signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of [[Mahakala]] or ''Great Time'' (which is interpreted also as ''Death''), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the ''[[Devi Mahatmya]]''. Here, she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as [[Shakti]]. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored. Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which varies in different accounts, but each of these represents the power of one of the [[Deva (Hinduism)|Devas]] or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through her [[Divine grace|grace]]. The name ''Mahakali'', when ''kali'' is rendered to mean "black", translates to Japanese as [[Daikokuten#Goddess Daikokutennyo|''Daikoku'' (大黒)]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page