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

 

1. Dark One

Kali means “dark one,” so she is usually portrayed in blue or black tones.  According to a Tantric text (the Karpuradi-Stotra), “Kali’s body is imagined to be blue of color because, like the blue sky, she pervades the world… She is imagined black because she is colorless and above the color gunas” [Gupta 22]. 

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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