On a moonless night in autumn, when the rest of India celebrates Deepawali, Kali-Chamunda is worshipped in Bengal. Her image shows a beautiful, dark skinned woman but she wears clothes and jewellery made of skulls and human hands and carries a bloody Kharga scimitar and a snake. Her eyes are bloodshot and she stands on the chest of the recumbent figure of Shiva and her tongue hangs out.

Maa Kali

It is said that after drinking the blood of Raktaveeja she was so maddened by the battle that she could not stop her dance of destruction. The only way Shiva could stop her was by lying down in her path. As kali stepped on his chest she realised what she had done and stuck out her tongue in shame.
Passionate, impulsive Kali is also described as the first tongue of flame in a yajna fire and is in many ways the antithesis of a calm professional fighter like Durga or Chandika. There are temples to the Devi and even to the Matrikas and the Dasa Mahavidyas all across the country.

Among the most sacred are the Kali Ghat and Dakshineshwar temples in Kolkata and the Kamakshya temple in Kamrup where Kali is worhipped. There is the Meenakshi temple in Madurai and South. The hill top shrine of Vaishno Devi near Jammu is the most popular Devi temple in the north. One of the oldest Kali images can be seen at the Kali temple inside the Amber Fort near Jaipur. The Kali image was brought here from Jessore in Bengal by Raja Man Singh during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar.
Like her varied and highly contrasting persona that ranges from a loving provider and mother to a merciless, bloodthirsty figher, the Devi has many names. The Adya Shakti, the primal energy is the Uma-Sati-Parvati-Chandika-Chamunda-Kali-Durga of the myths. She is also praised as Ishani, wife of Shiva who is called ishan; Annapurna, the provider and Girija, the mountain born. She is Rudrani, the wife of Rudra; Haimavati, daughter of the snowy mountains and Bhairavi, the terrible. Slso Ambika, the mother; Vijaya, the victorious, Gauri and Kaushiki, the golden skinned and Sarva Mangala, auspicious. She is Shakhambari, the one who nourishes the world wiht her body; Kamakshi, the love eyed goddess; Meenakshi, with eyes shaped like fished, and Kapalini, the ascetic.