Of the many legends told to us, in their varied forms and voices, there is one of a time long gone. Lost in the mists of myth and yet radiantly alive as belief, there was a time when the asuras declared war against the devas. The demons led by Mahisha were victorious against the gods, who lay vanquished. Trailing Indra, the despondent celestials went to Vishnu and spoke of their defeat. They lamented how their offices had been usurped, how demons now lorded over the heavens and of how all good people and sages were tormented and tortured. As their anguish and anger built, their brows knitted and tejas, pure energy, poured forth. This radiant energy swirled and illuminated the three worlds in a blaze of light. Then slowly this magnificence concentrated on a single spot and a huge flame burst forth. When the clouds of smoke dispersed, the gods saw that where the flames had just been, a young girl had come into being.She was the first ‘shakti’ — Adi Shakti. In sight of the assembled gods, she was the primordial embodiment of female strength and power.She was their creation; she was of them and yet not. The gods paid homage to this great force. They gave her attributes and gifts. From Shambhu came her mouth, from Yama’s energy came her hair and from Vishnu, her arms. From the Moon were born her breasts, from Indra, her waist. From Varuna’s power came her legs and from pure energy, her loins. Her feet came from Brahma, her toes from the Sun and her fingers and hands were given by the Vasus. Kuber gave her fine nostrils, Prajapati her teeth and from Agni came her three eyes.From dawn and twilight came her eyebrows. Himavata gave her a white tiger to ride on, Kuber gave her a crown and other great wealth and Varuna gave her clothes and water. Vishvakarma gave the axe and impenetrable armour and the others gave her a garland of lotus flowers, a conch, and a host of other powerful symbols — like the discus and trident.Attributed and armed, this force of good was sighted by the asuras, who attacked her in fury. Mahisha took on the guise of a fearsome buffalo and ravaged everything in sight. Other mighty asuras like Chiksus, the ferocious Udagra, and sword-hair Asiloma came with their armies. Great and terrible battles were fought till the demons were finally vanquished. Mahisha was felled when the Devi destroyed him by crushing him under her foot, piercing him with a spear and then finally beheading him.She is worshipped in many forms. As ‘Mahishasura Mardini’, she is the slayer of the demon Mahisha. She is Durga. She is Mahamaya. She is Ambika.One of her many forms is Kali, where she is the first of the 10 Mahavidyas — the goddesses that give knowledge that may liberate us. In art, in depiction, in anthropomorphic forms, Kali may appear as a terrifying image that has a raw intensity and is ruthlessly fierce. The goddess, in her negative aspect, may appear as a collection of elements that lie past common comprehension. Her images or statues are often filled with symbols that refuse to be understood at first glance and serve as an example of the equivocal depiction of deities.She is the symbol of the powerful cosmic power of eternal and unbreakable time, Kala. If she signifies annihilation through death or destruction, then, and only then, can creation — the seed of life — emerge. Simplistically, it is only with the destruction of the seed that a tree can take birth.Within herself, Kali becomes the repository of creation, preservation and annihilation. Her complexion is the black of night that absorbs all colour, light and life; her hair, wild and uncombed, elokeshi, signifies the curtain of death that surrounds life with mystery that the living world cannot rip or tear. She wears a garland of human heads denoting the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet and this marks Kali as a repository of knowledge and learning and therefore, of might — and of the power of liberation.Hands are the instruments of work and are what largely determine an individual’s karma — what we achieve now in this life is what will carry us to the next and this is symbolised by the girdle of human hands worn by her.In her four hands, Kali holds the attributes of both destruction and creation. A severed head dangles by the hair from one hand and indicates destruction, while the other holds the bloodied sword of physical extermination that slices through the bondage equated with human life and the body — and the search for freedom that can only come from spiritual enlightenment. She also holds symbols of creation that dispel fear and summon spiritual strength. Her tongue, red and overwhelming, protrudes with the symbolism of absorbing negativity and the power of evil.Choose what adjective you will: formidable, loving, tenacious and forgiving (or not). Choose what name you will. Choose what attribute she has in her formidable array of weaponry. She holds them all. To those who believe: She is All.— The writer is an author based in Shimla