Mahakali · The mother beyond time
Kali
Kali, the dark mother beyond time, cuts away fear and the ego with her sword and sets free all who come to her. Chant her mantra, keep her new-moon nights, and see when Kali Puja falls in your city.
- Her day
- Tuesday
- Next: Tue 27 Oct
- Next Kali day
- Kali Puja
- In 13 days · Sun 8 Nov
1 of 10 · The dark one, who is Time
Kali
The first of the wisdom goddesses: dark as the night before creation, hair unbound, standing on Shiva. She is Time, which ends all things, and so she is worshipped to cut away fear and the ego and to give liberation.
2 of 10 · She who carries across
Tara
Close to Kali in form but deep blue, she is the saviour who carries her devotees across the ocean of birth and death. In one story she nursed Shiva after he drank the poison of the churning ocean. Her great seat is Tarapith in Bengal.
3 of 10 · The beauty of the three worlds
Tripura Sundari
Also called Shodashi, the ever-young, and Lalita, she is worshipped through the Sri Yantra in the Sri Vidya tradition. She holds a noose, a goad, a sugarcane bow and arrows of flowers: the mind and its wishes, ruled with grace.
4 of 10 · Queen of the worlds
Bhuvaneshvari
She is space itself, in which all the worlds are held, and the queen who rules them. Bright as the rising sun and smiling, she raises her hands to say “do not fear” and to give her blessing.
5 of 10 · The fierce one
Bhairavi
The goddess of tapas, the inner fire of discipline that burns away whatever holds us back. Shining like a thousand rising suns, she holds a rosary and a book, and gives fearlessness and blessing.
6 of 10 · She who gives her own head
Chhinnamasta
The most startling of the ten: she offers her own head, and three streams of life flow out to feed her two companions and herself. It is read as the highest giving, life shared freely, and the ego cut off so that the true self is fed.
7 of 10 · The smoky one
Dhumavati
An old widow in white, riding a chariot with no horses and a crow on its banner. She is loss, disappointment and the emptiness that is left, and she teaches the calm that sees through them. Her winnowing basket sorts the grain from the chaff.
8 of 10 · She who stills and silences
Bagalamukhi
Dressed in yellow, she raises her club and holds the demon Madan by the tongue, stopping his lies before they are spoken. She gives the power to still an enemy, a quarrel, or one’s own restless mind.
9 of 10 · Daughter of the sage Matanga
Matangi
A form of Saraswati at the edge of society, green as an emerald and playing the veena, often with a parrot beside her. She rules speech, music and learning, and accepts the leftovers others would not offer: nothing is outside the Goddess.
10 of 10 · She of the lotus
Kamala
Lakshmi as a wisdom goddess: golden, seated on a lotus, with elephants pouring water over her. The last of the ten, she gives good fortune and plenty, and the beauty of a life lived well.
Tap an emblem, or its number, to meet each goddess. They go clockwise round Kali’s yantra, from Kali at the top.
Her days, in your city
Dates and puja times for the city you pick
For New Delhi
Her great night in Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura: the new moon of Diwali, with her puja at midnight. In a few years it is kept a night before Diwali.
- Every Tuesday
- Tue 27 OctHer day of the week
- Amavasya
- Mon 9 Nov
Sing her aarti
Ambe tu hai Jagdambe Kali, Jai Durge Khappar wali,
Tere hi gun gaayen Bharti, O Maiya, hum sab utaarein teri aarti.
Mother, you are the mother of the world, you are Kali; glory to Durga who holds the bowl. All of India sings your praise; O Mother, we all wave the lamp before you.
The aarti of Kali sung across North India, at her temples, through Navratri and on Kali Puja night.
Her prayers
- Kali ChalisaForty verses in HindiSoon
A simple Amavasya puja
Kali is worshipped on new-moon nights, above all on Kali Puja, and on Tuesdays in many homes. At home, a short, calm puja before her image is enough. Follow your family’s way where it differs.
- Clean the place of worship and set her image there, on a red cloth if you have one.
- Light a lamp of mustard oil or ghee, and incense.
- Offer red hibiscus flowers, red sandal paste and a sweet.
- Chant Om Krim Kalikayai Namah 108 times, or as your guru has taught you.
- Sing Ambe Tu Hai Jagdambe Kali while waving the lamp.
- Share the prasad.
What you need
- Her image or picture
- Red hibiscus flowers and a red cloth
- Red sandal paste or kumkum
- A lamp of mustard oil or ghee, and incense
- A sweet, or khichuri as bhog
- Fruit as prasad
Who is Kali
Kali is the Goddess as Time, the power that brings every form to its end and makes room for the new. Her name comes from kala, time, and also means the dark one: she is dark as the night sky, in which every colour dissolves.
In the Devi Mahatmya she springs from Durga’s brow to defeat the demons Chanda and Munda, and she is the same Goddess as Parvati and Durga. She is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, the wisdom goddesses, and the Mother of the poet-saints of Bengal and of Sri Ramakrishna.
Her form looks frightening because it is meant to: she frightens the ego and evil, never her children. Her raised hands say “do not fear” and offer her blessing.
- Mahakali the great Kali, beyond time
- Bhadrakali the gentle, auspicious Kali
- Dakshina Kali the kindly form worshipped in Bengal
- Shyama the dark one
- Chamunda who defeated Chanda and Munda
- Bhavatarini who carries us across the world, at Dakshineswar
ॐ क्रीं कालिकायै नमः
Om Krim Kalikayai Namah
I bow to Kali: “Krim” is her seed sound. Many families learn her mantras from a guru.
काली को मेरा नमन: “क्रीं” उनका बीज मंत्र है। कई परिवार उनके मंत्र गुरु से सीखते हैं।
ॐ जयन्ती मङ्गला काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी।
दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु ते॥
Om Jayanti Mangala Kali, Bhadrakali Kapalini,
Durga Kshama Shiva Dhatri, Svaha Svadha namostute.
Victorious one, auspicious one, Kali, gentle Kali, who carries the ascetic’s bowl; Durga, patient one, gracious one, who holds up the world, to whom the offerings are made: I bow to you.
विजयी, मंगलमयी काली, कोमल भद्रकाली, जो तपस्वी का पात्र लिए रहती हैं; दुर्गा, क्षमा करने वाली, कल्याणी, संसार को थामने वाली, जिन्हें आहुतियाँ दी जाती हैं: आपको नमन।
A verse to Mahakali
Chanted at the start of her puja
Kali Kali Mahakali, Kalike Parameshvari,
Sarvananda kare Devi, Narayani namostute.
Kali, Kali, great Kali, supreme Goddess: you who give every joy, Goddess Narayani, I bow to you.
Most lists count them in this order. Some texts give Chhinnamasta before Bhairavi, or other names, such as Shodashi for Tripura Sundari.
What her symbols mean
Her dark colour
Black as the night sky, in which every colour disappears: she is beyond every name and form.
The sword
Knowledge that cuts through ignorance and the ego, and frees the soul.
The garland
Read as the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, the sounds from which all words come, and as the egos of devotees she has set free.
Her tongue
Often read as a moment of surprise and restraint as she stops her dance, or as passion held by the teeth of calm.
Standing on Shiva
Shakti, power, moves on Shiva, pure awareness: neither works without the other.
Her raised hands
One says “do not fear”, one gives blessings: she is fierce only to set her children free.
Her stories
Across India
Bengal
Kali Puja on Diwali’s new-moon night: pandals with tall images of the Goddess, worship through the night, lamps and fireworks, and crowds at Kalighat and Dakshineswar.
Assam
At Kamakhya on Nilachal hill, each of the ten Mahavidyas has a temple of her own round the main shrine.
Odisha and Tripura
Kali Puja is kept on Diwali night as in Bengal; Tripura Sundari, the third Mahavidya, has her great temple at Udaipur in Tripura.
Kerala
Bhadrakali is worshipped in temples across the state, and Mudiyettu, a ritual dance drama, tells of her victory over the demon Darika.
Gujarat
Mahakali sits on top of Pavagadh hill, and pilgrims climb to her through the nights of Navratri.
Delhi
Kalkaji Mandir, one of the city’s oldest temples, is crowded through Navratri.
Her temples
- Kalighat Kali TempleKolkata, West Bengal
- Dakshineswar Kali TempleKolkata, West Bengal
- Kamakhya TempleGuwahati, Assam
- Tarapith TempleBirbhum, West Bengal
- Kalkaji MandirNew Delhi
- Kalika Mata TemplePavagadh, Gujarat
Questions
When is Kali Puja in 2026?
Kali Puja is on Sunday 8 November 2026 in New Delhi. Pick your city at the top of this page for its own date and muhurat.
Which day is Kali’s?
Tuesday in many homes, and Saturday or Friday in some; above all the new-moon night, Amavasya, and most of all Kali Puja on the new moon of Diwali.
What is Kali’s mantra?
Om Krim Kalikayai Namah, with her seed sound “Krim”. Many families learn her mantras from a guru, and chant them with care.
Why does Kali look so fierce?
Her fierce form is aimed at evil and the ego, not at her devotees. Her sword is knowledge, her dark colour is the night beyond all forms, and her raised hands say “do not fear”.
Why is Kali standing on Shiva?
Shakti, the power that moves, stands on Shiva, pure awareness, which is still. One story says she stopped her wild dance as her foot touched him.
Who are the ten Mahavidyas?
Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshvari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala: ten wisdom goddesses, ten faces of the one Goddess.
Is Kali Puja on the same day as Diwali?
In most years, yes: both fall on the same new moon, in October or November. Kali Puja is kept on the night the new moon lasts through midnight, so in a few years it is a night earlier than Lakshmi Puja.