Chapter 5

Kali, from Kaushiki

Parvati, Kaushiki and Kalika

The reign of Shumbha and Nishumbha

Long after Mahisha, two asura brothers rose — Shumbha and Nishumbha.

They defeated Indra and the other gods, seized their ritual shares, and took control of the powers of the sun, the moon and the wind. Once again, the gods were driven out of heaven.

But this time they had something they had not had in Mahisha's day — a promise. The Goddess had said: if you remember me, I will come.

The gods' song

The gods went to the Himalayas and began to sing:

"Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu — to the Goddess who dwells in every being as power, as intelligence, as sleep, as hunger, as shadow, as mercy, as forgiveness, to her we bow again and again."

This is not the Devi Sukta from Chapter 1 — that one was Vedic. This is the Devi Mahatmya's own hymn, and it is still sung at Durga Puja.

Kaushiki from the sheath

Just then Parvati arrived to bathe in the Ganga.

"Whom are you praising?" she asked.

As Parvati spoke, a radiant goddess emerged from the sheath of her body — luminous, beautiful and complete in herself. Because she had emerged from Parvati's *kosha*, or bodily sheath, she became known as Kaushiki. She was also called Ambika.

The gods said: "It was her we were praising. She has come."

Parvati became Kalika

Once the radiant goddess emerged, Parvati herself changed.

It was as though the radiance of Parvati's body had passed into Kaushiki. Parvati's complexion darkened, and from that day she was also known as Kalika.

Here, "Kalika" refers to Parvati after she turns dark. Later in the war a fierce Kali will also emerge from Kaushiki's brow. The Devi Mahatmya tells the two episodes separately; later Shakta traditions link both forms to a single Mahadevi.

"Defeat me first"

Shumbha's two servants, Chanda and Munda, saw Kaushiki in the Himalayas and returned to tell him about her.

"You hold every jewel of the three worlds," they said. "This woman is the most beautiful of all — she too should be yours."

Shumbha sent a messenger with a proposal of marriage.

Kaushiki said: "I have a vow. I will marry only the one who defeats me in battle and proves himself my equal in strength. Go and tell your master — defeat me first."

Shumbha sends Dhumralochana

Shumbha flew into a rage.

He sent a general named Dhumralochana with an army of sixty thousand asuras — "Drag her here by the hair. Kill anyone who gets in the way."

Dhumralochana marched into the Himalayas with his army. High above them, Kaushiki sat calmly, as though nothing had happened.

Note: The emergence of Kaushiki from Parvati, and Parvati being called Kalika, is in the fifth chapter of the Devi Mahatmya's last carita. The name "Kaushiki" is formed from *kosha*, sheath. The hymn "Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu" comes in this context — it is the Devi Mahatmya's own hymn, not the Vedic one. Chanda and Munda here are observers who carry the report; the formal envoy comes separately. The relationship between Kali and Parvati is not the same in every text.

Source: from several texts, Kali, from Kaushiki

Now — how much stayed with you?

What happened?

What happened when Parvati asked her question, hearing the gods' hymn?

  • Parvati decided to fight Shumbha and Nishumbha herself
  • Shiva appeared and reassured the gods
  • A shining goddess
  • The gods gave up and went home
Read the whole story — Two goddesses from one body

This is the subtlest birth in the Devi Mahatmya: no fire, no mountain — only a question, "whom are you praising?", and at that instant another goddess separates out of Parvati.

The name "Kaushiki" comes from kosha — the inner layer, the sheath. She came from inside Parvati.

And the one left behind — Parvati — turned black. As though the light had gone one way and the dark the other.

Fact

How is the Devi Sukta the gods sing in chapter 5 ("ya devi sarvabhuteshu…") different from the one in chapter 1?

  • The one in chapter 1 is the Rig Veda's, the oldest; this is the Devi Mahatmya's own Tantrokta Devi Sukta, and later
  • They are the same thing under two names
  • This one is the Rig Veda's and the chapter 1 one is later
  • This is in no text at all, only a folk song
Read the whole story — Two Devi Suktas, one tradition

The Shakta tradition has two "Devi Suktas": the Vedic one (Rig Veda 10.125, Vak Ambhrini's) and the Tantrokta one (the Devi Mahatmya's, "ya devi…").

At Durga Puja both are often recited — the first before the Saptashati, the second inside it.

Their claim is the same: the Goddess is present everywhere, in every living thing, as power. Only their age and their words differ.

Who said it?

"I will marry only the one who beats me in battle." — who said this, and through whom?

  • Parvati, to Shiva
  • Kali, directly to Shumbha
  • The gods, to Shumbha
  • Kaushiki, through Shumbha's messenger
Read the whole story — A vow that worked as a trap

Kaushiki's vow sounds modest — "whoever beats me". But what it really means is: nobody can beat me, so nobody can marry me.

To Shumbha it was an insult — he held every jewel of the three worlds, and this woman was saying: win first.

That vow is the engine of the whole last charita: Shumbha sends general after general, each one loses, and in the end he has to come himself.

Who am I?

I came out of the inner layer of Parvati's body. I am bright, I am alone, I am nobody's wife. The moment I came out, Parvati herself turned black. Who am I?

  • Durga, made from the gods' fire
  • Kaushiki (Ambika)
  • Lakshmi
  • Sati, in her next birth
Read the whole story — The goddess from the sheath

"Kaushiki" simply means born of the kosha. In the Devi Mahatmya it is her birth-name; "Ambika", mother, is her other.

Worth noticing: she comes out of Parvati, but she is never called Parvati's daughter — she is Parvati's own bright form, separated off.

In this chapter the Goddess becomes two, and further on she divides further still — Kali, Chamunda, the Seven Mothers — and in chapter 8, "I am alone", all of them come back into one.

Why is that?

Why did Parvati turn black the moment Kaushiki came out of her sheath?

  • Because she grew angry with Shumbha
  • Because Shiva cursed her
  • Because the bright form separated out of her body and became Kaushiki
  • Because she drank the Ganga's black water
Read the whole story — The light one way, the dark the other

In the Devi Mahatmya, Parvati is once called Krishna — black — because her fair portion had gone into Kaushiki.

Later tradition sometimes reverses it: in some stories Parvati performs austerities and sheds her dark colour to become Gauri, and the shed darkness becomes Kaushiki.

Both versions mean the same thing: one goddess holds both light and dark, gentle and fierce — and the two can separate and take two bodies.

Riddle

Once I was one — Shiva's wife, the mountain's daughter. The instant I asked a question I became two: one bright and independent, who went out to fight; and one black and fierce, who stayed behind. And the text says both are me. Who am I?

  • Lakshmi
  • Saraswati
  • Durga, of the Mahisha story
  • Parvati
Read the whole story — One into two, and still one

This riddle binds the central question of Devi-Charit into a single story: is the Goddess one, or many?

Here the answer is both: Parvati really does take two bodies — Kaushiki and Kali — and the Devi Mahatmya still says they are layers of one.

It opens fully in chapter 8, when Shumbha taunts that the Goddess fights with others' help, and she draws every form back into herself and says: look, I am alone.

Who said it?

"Every jewel of the three worlds is yours. This woman is the most beautiful of all — she should be yours too." — who said this, and to whom?

  • Dhumralochana, to Shumbha
  • Nishumbha, to Shumbha
  • Shumbha, to his messenger
  • Chanda and Munda, to Shumbha
Read the whole story — Two servants who gave a name

Chanda and Munda are Shumbha's servants, and it is they who turn his attention to Kaushiki — as though adding one more entry to a list of jewels.

Later Shumbha will send these same two to seize her, and Kali will bring back both their heads — and that is where the name "Chamunda" comes from, Chanda plus Munda.

So the two who began by calling Kaushiki a jewel are the two whose names mark the Goddess's fiercest form.

The texts disagree

Where does this birth — Kaushiki and Kali separating from Parvati — come from, and what is its Shaiva-Shakta angle?

  • It is in the Rig Veda
  • It is the Devi Mahatmya's; in it the fierce, independent Goddess is brought out of Parvati
  • All texts say Kaushiki is a greater and separate goddess than Parvati
  • The story is only Bengali, not Sanskrit
Read the whole story — Who she came out of is itself a claim

The Devi Mahatmya brings Kaushiki out of Parvati — which ties her to the Shaiva tradition, and still places the Goddess above everything.

Firmly Shakta texts like the Devi Bhagavata turn it round: there Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati are all forms of the Adi Shakti, and the Adi Shakti comes out of nobody.

Devi-Charit records both, because the answer to "whom did the Goddess come out of" is what tells you which tradition is speaking.

Put it in order

Which is the correct order of events?

  • The gods' song → Shumbha and Nishumbha's victory → Kaushiki appears → Dhumralochana → Kaushiki's vow
  • Shumbha and Nishumbha beat the gods → the gods go to the Himalaya and sing "ya devi…" → Parvati arrives and asks her question → Kaushiki comes from the sheath and Parvati turns black → Chanda and Munda tell Shumbha, and the messenger brings his offer → Kaushiki's "beat me first" vow → Shumbha sends Dhumralochana
  • Kaushiki appears → the gods' song → Shumbha's victory → Dhumralochana
  • Dhumralochana is sent → Kaushiki's vow → Chanda and Munda → Parvati arrives
Read the whole story — Defeat, song, division, challenge

This chapter opens the way the Mahisha chapter did — the gods lose — but the turn is different: this time the Goddess is not made, she is called, and she becomes two.

The turn in the middle is Parvati's question — "whom are you praising?" — in answer to which she divides.

The chapter ends with Dhumralochana setting out, not with a battle — the battle is the next chapter, Chamunda.

Later tradition

"Ya devi sarvabhuteshu… namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namah" — where is this line most heard today?

  • At Durga Puja and Navaratri
  • Only in wedding mantras
  • Only at funerals
  • Only in South Indian temples
Read the whole story — The hymn that is sung most

Every line of this hymn has one shape: "to the Goddess who dwells in every living thing as [power / intelligence / sleep / hunger / shadow / mercy / delusion], our salutation, again and again."

So it does not make her the goddess of any one thing — she is everything inside every living being, the good and the bad alike (delusion and error are her forms too).

It is the other face of the Rig Veda's "I am the one" from chapter 1 — only now, instead of "I", it is "to the Goddess who… our salutation."