Kali Background: Indian Myths & Stories

Kali shows up most often as a ferocious emanation of a goddess (e.g., Durga or Parvati, or even, in the Bengali Ramayana, as an emanation of Sita), called upon to defeat equally ferocious demons that threaten the cosmic order. In one story, she gets intoxicated with battle lust and threatens to destroy the whole world, resulting in her consort Shiva "subduing" her by various methods. In the later Tantric traditions, Kali emerges as the most powerful of deities, controlling creation, destruction, and time itself.