ShivKali Oracles – Bhadra Kali

Bhadra Kali is a fierce form of Ma Kali. She is also known as Pathrakali Amman in Tamil Nadu and Darikajit in Kerala.

As per Markandeya, Skanda, Brahma and Shiv Puran, Bhadra Kali’s origin is from Shiv. When Sati’s soul left her mortal form as Daksha insulted Shiv, Shiv became furious. He plucked two hairs from his head and gave birth to Veerbhadra (will be discussed later) and Bhadrakali. Both these forms are fierce and destructive. Shiv ordered them to destroy Daksha’s yagna to avenge Sati’s death.

‘Bhadra’ usually means gentle. But in Sanskrit, ‘Bhadra’ means the great illusion, which refers to goddess Mahamaya. Bhadrakali is more famous in South Indian states. She is called Darikajit as she defeated an infamous demon named Darika. The lore goes like this- Darika performed austerity and got a boon from Brahma that no man or animal or god can kill him. Darika’s wife, who was a pious woman, received a chant, which she chanted continuously to ensure her husband’s immortality. This gave Darika feel entitled to torture humans and deities. Seeing this grave situation, Shiv became very angry and to defeat the demon, he invoked Bhadrakali (as per the boon no man could harm Darika). Bhadrakali turned herself into two entities- one entity took a fierce form and attacked Darika; the other form turned into a mourning wife of a dead soldier and visited Darika’s wife. As soon as Darika’s wife paused chanting to console the disguised goddesss, the other form slayed Darika’s head in the battlefield. But even after that, her wrath did not calm down. She took the severed head of Darika and started to perform destructive dance. All devatas were afraid that the creations will be destroyed, so Shiv took a form of an infant and lied in front of dancing Kali Ma. Seeing the infant, Kali’s motherly nature suppressed the destructive form.

From a spiritual perspective, this lore can teach us about spiritual awareness. Humans are busy with self-fulfillment. We are often entitled and proud of our materialistic achievements. However, Sanatan dharma has always talked about avoiding the illusion of ‘atma’ and seek ‘paramatma’. Kali’s action of severing head symbolizes cutting the pride in ‘atma’ so that one can start seeking ‘paramatma’.