Mother and Molester

Of all the Hindu deities, the one to whom I have a special love and admiration is Kali, whose festival we celebrated yesterday. Perhaps it is only in West Bengal that Kali is revered and worshiped as a Mother, following the example of Sri Ramkrishna Paramahamsa and Ramprasad Sen, both of whom had popularized devotion to her. They had “domesticated” the ferocious goddess into a Mother, and the songs of Ramprasad, known as Prasadika, depict the tender love that a devotee has for her, and at times the relationship goes to such an extent that the poet-singer even teases the Mother, asking her to get dressed!

Some years ago I had come across some feminist movements who had found in Kali an embodiment of freedom of the feminine; she dared to do something that our women can never think of; to oppose the evil-minded demon Raktabija, she did not hesitate to drink every drop of blood that came out of the demon, so that the drops did not clone into demons, to fight against the angry face of goddess Durga, which rose as Kali. The sacred text of Devi Mahatmyam has the myths associated with Kali, who can be considered a champion of injustice, and evil forces in society. We celebrate the power of the feminine, which gives life to the world even today.

But let me share an insight from Ramprasad’s songs on Shyama, another name for Kali. He had found in her the embodiment of all his desires and wishes, and therefore he takes liberty to pour out his heart to her. Many of his songs also deal with the plight of the powerless, voiceless and exploited masses, who could take shelter only in the protective arms of the mother. He also presents the kind of world these people live, groping in darkness. She is their only source of consolation, their advocate, their spokesperson. It is time that we wake up the Mothers in our society, who would stand up to speak for the voiceless.

During the last week, I had come across a wide range of feminine figures, who represented different categories of people. I dare not name them, but some of them, and their actions have disturbed me. Sometimes the feminine power and privilege is misused in order to carve a niche for themselves, while stamping on the persons they love. Kali stands on the body of her husband Shiva, who had thrown himself under her feet, in order to stop her rampage, killing all the people she found after winning over Raktabija, and garlanding their skulls. I think of several men, some of them at least innocent, who are mere victims of the ferociousness of women, which may go overboard.

Women have immense potentiality, and no wonder then Kali is often referred to as Shakti, and tantrism is often a means of entering into the limitless power of divine. But this power and potentiality can also be used to subdue the innocent and guileless, and thus create chaos and disorder in life, which is what Kali is often associated with, along with her consort Shiva. Her disheveled hair, reddish tongue dripping blood, almost naked body, are symbolic of the chaos she could cause. The world is in need of the limitless feminine potentiality to charge the world, and overthrow the evil forces, but the same power is also required to give safe haven to the innocent, the last, the least and the lost!