[PARVATI]

A consort of Shiva and a symbol of female beauty.

"Her body, like a wide-open lotus flower, is as beautiful as if it were painted by brush. She walks as elegantly as a swan. Her flawless waist is slender and constricted like an altar. Her breasts are bulging. Her two arms are softer than a flower." (5th century, poet, Kalidasa)

Her husband Shiva's strong power comes from Parvati, so she is worshiped as the symbol of Sakti (sexual energy). This female power is strengthened when Parvati incarnates as Durga or Kali.

In Buddhism, Parvati is painted as "Uma".



[DURGA]

An incarnation of Parvati in anger.

She was born from the flames of God's anger. Each of her ten arms have various weapons presented by the Gods. Even though she has a gentle smile on her face, inside her heart the flames of fury are burning hot. She rides on a lion and conquers the Demon family, Asuras.


[KALI]

An incarnation of Durga in anger.

Kali is the bloody queen of extermination. The elegance of the Goddess totally disappears; her body turns black, her eyes are bloodshot and her instinct is exposed. With a necklace of freshly severed heads and a skirt of hands, she opens her mouth wide, searching for blood with her tongue, shouting, and waving a meat knife about. She loses her sanity with great delight.

Shiva was very worried that Kali's action was so destructive that it would uproot creation, so he blocked her way to make her come to her senses but was trampled down by Kali.

Kali is overwhelmingly supported in Bengal. The capital of Bengal, Calcutta, means "the town where Kali lives". And nowadays in the temples they still offer black goats as a sacrifice to her.