Vedika's Re-Entry into the HOUSE! - Page 3

Durga

Durga is the most widely worshipped aspect of Sakti. Durga represents the total personification powerof gods. Durga literally means one who is difficult to approach or difficult to know. Being the mother of the Universe she is the personification of tender love and possesses different forms and aspects.

Durga is the mysterious power, with the combination of both pleasant and terrible nature. She is the personification of knowledge, wisdom and memory. She is pleasant, beautiful and horrifying. This combination of opposite qualities is possible only for Durga.

According to the prayer of devotees this Devi assumes diverse forms. She is worshipped in 64 forms. Durga can have four, eight, ten, eighteen or even twenty hands. She has three eyes and her hair is dressed up as a crown (called karandamukuta). She is gorgeously dressed with red cloth and several ornaments. Among, the objects held in hands the more common ones are conch, discus, trident, bow, arrow, sword, dagger, shield, rosary, wine cup and bell. She may be shown as standing on a lotus or on a buffalos head or as riding a lion.

Kali

Kali is the most enigmatic form of the Hindu pantheon. The word Kali comes form the well known work Kala means time. Kali is the power of time. Kali is completely naked, except for an apron of human hands. She wears a garland of fifty human heads or skulls. Her luxuriant hair is completely disheveled. She has three eyes and four hands. In her upper hands she holds a freshly severed and bleeding human head and also the sword (or chopper) used in the carnage. The two lower hands are in the Abhaya and Varada Mudras. Her face is red and the tongue protruding.

Kali represents the state where time space and causation have disappeared without any trace as it were. Hence she is black.