Name Susan Barton Young
School Deering High School
Project Title Kali: Cross-Cultural (Mis)Understandings

 

5. Skull garland and garland of hands

Kali is most often shown adorned with a garland of 50 severed heads.  Some interpret the heads as symbols of the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, or the “sound from which creation evolved.” 

She also wears a girdle of severed limbs, which is thought to symbolize her ability to sever humans from the bonds of karma—to free people from their accumulated deeds if they are able to confront her image and rightly understand it.

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This site was created by (Susan Barton Young) at the NEH Summer Institute "Cultures and Religions of the Himalayan Region," held at the College of the Holy Cross, Summer 2006