Ma Kaalratri is the goddess who is worshiped on the seventh day of Navratri. Kaal refers to time as well as death in Hindi whereas ratri refers to night or darkness/ignorance. Hence, Ma Kaalratri is the one which brings the death of darkness or the one who ends ignorance. She is also commonly referred as Kali.
Ma Kaalratri is the most terrorizing forms of Durga. Her complexion is dark as night and has untied bountiful hair. She has four hands and carries a scimitar and a thunder bolt in two of her hands. The other two hands are held in the form of ‘giving’ and ‘protecting’. She has three eyes and flames come out of her nostrils when she breathes. Her necklace shines like the Moon shines in the night. Her mount is a donkey. She is also referred as Shubhankari as she always brings auspicious results to her devotees.
There are some interesting stories behind this terrorizing form of Durga. Once two demons named Shumbha and Nishumbha invaded devaloka and defeated Indra and his army. After losing his kingdom, Swarga, Indra along with all the other gods went towards the Himalayas to seek help. They prayed to goddess Parvati and sought her assistance in getting their kingdom back.
Parvati created Chandi and sent her to kill the demons. In the battlefield, Shumbha and Nishumbha sent two demons Chanda and Munda. Chandi created another goddess, Kali, to fight Chanda-Munda. Kali killed both of them and thus came to be known as Chamunda.
Another demon, Raktabeej, was sent to kill Kali. In Hindi, Rakta means blood and beej means seed. Raktabeej had a boon, which he had received from Brahma, that as soon as a drop of his blood would fall on the ground, a look-alike of Raktabeej would get created. This meant that every drop of his blood that would fall on the ground would act as a seed from which another demon, similar to Raktabeej, would appear.
When Ma Kaalratri saw this, she realized that is impossible to kill Raktabeej as long as his blood falls on the ground. A furious Ma Kaalratri started drinking the blood of each clone of Raktabeej that she attacked to prevent the blood from dropping on the ground. This way she killed Raktabeej.
Chandi also killed Shumbha – Nishumbha and thus help Indra and other gods win back their kingdom from the demons.
Ma Kaalratri is the form of Adi Shakti that destroys evil-doers and thus end cruelty. She is extremely benevolent towards her devotees and rewards them by removing the sorrow (darkness) from their lives.
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