6. KaLI (the black woman), or, as she is more commonly called, Kali Ma, the black mother, with the aid of Chandi, slew Raktavija, the principal leader of the giant's army. Seeing his men fall, he attacked the goddess in person; when from every drop of blood that fell from his body a thousand giants equal in power to himself arose. At this crisis another form of the goddess, named Chandi, came to the rescue. As Kali drank the giant's blood and prevented the formation of new giants, Chandi slew the monster herself.

Kali is represented as a black woman with four arms; in one hand she has a sword, in another the head of the giant she has slain, with the other two she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two dead bodies; wears a necklace of skulls; her only clothing is a girdle made of dead men's hands, and her tongue protrudes from her mouth. Her eyes are red as those of a drunkard, and her face and breasts are besmeared with blood. She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the breast of her husband. This position of Kali is accounted for by the fact that, when her victory over the giants was won, she danced for joy so furiously that the earth trembled beneath her weight. At the request of the gods Siva asked her to desist, but as, owing to her excitement, she did not notice him, he lay down amongst the slain. She continued dancing until she caught sight of her husband under her feet; immediately she thrust out her tongue with shame at the disrespect she had shown him.

In the "Adhyatma [**] Ramayana," [*+] is a legend giving quite a different origin of Kali; the object of the writer evidently being to enhance the glory of Sita, by showing that Kali was but a form that she had assumed. On Rama's return from the destruction of Ravana, he was boasting of his prowess, when Sita smiled and said, "You rejoice because you have slain Havana with ten

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KALI.

heads, but what would you say to a Ravana with a thousand?" "Destroy him too," said Rama. Sita advised him to remain at home; but he collected his army of monkeys, and with his wife and brothers set off for Satadwipa to meet this new Ravana. Hanuman

was despatched to discover the residence of the monster, and to gather all the information he could about him, and on his return Rama went to the attack. The giant regarded the army of his assailant as so many children.

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KALI DANCING ON SIVA.

He shot three arrows. One of these sent all the monkeys to their home at Kiskindha; a second drove the giants and demons to Lanka; whilst the third despatched the soldiers to Ayodha, Rama's capital. Rama was thunderstruck as he found himself alone, and, imagining that