Kalighat is regarded as one of the 51 Shakti Peethams of India, where the various parts of Sati's body are said to have fallen, in the course of Shiva's Rudra Tandava. Legend has it that a devotee discovered a luminant ray of light coming from the Bhagirathi river bed, and upon investigating its source came upon a piece of stone carved in the form of a human toe. He also found a Svayambhu Lingam o
f Nakuleshwar Bhairav nearby, and started worshipping Kaali in the midst of a thick jungle. Kalighat is also associated with the worship offered to Kaali by a Dasanami Monk by name Chowranga Giri, and the Chowringee area of Calcutta is said to have been named after him. I have been with you since you were born, and I will stay with you until you return to Me at the final dusk. I am the passionate and seductive lover who inspires the poet to dream. I am the One who calls to you at the end of your journey. After the day is done, My children find their blessed rest in my embrace. I am the womb from which all things are born. I am the shadowy, still tomb; all things must come to Me and bare their breasts to die and be reborn to the Whole. I am the Sorceress that will not be ruled, the Weaver of Time, the Teacher of Mysteries. I snip the threads that bring my children home to me. I slit the throats of the cruel and drink the blood of the heartless. Swallow your fear and come to me, and you will discover true beauty, strength, and courage. I am the fury which rips the flesh from injustice. I am the glowing forge that transforms your inner demons into tools of power. Open yourself to my embrace and overcome. I am the glinting sword that protects you from harm. I am the crucible in which all the aspects of yourself merge together in a rainbow of union. I am the velvet depths of the night sky, the swirling mists of midnight, shrouded in mystery. I am the chrysalis in which you will face that which terrifies you and from which you will blossom forth, vibrant and renewed. Seek me at the crossroads, and you shall be transformed, for once you look upon my face, there is no return. I am the fire that kisses the shackles away. I am the cauldron in which all opposites grow to know each other in Truth. I am the web which connects all things. I am the Healer of all wounds, the Warrior who rights all wrongs in their Time. I make the weak strong. I make the arrogant humble. I raise up the oppressed and empower the disenfranchised. I am Justice tempered with Mercy. Most importantly, child, I am you. I am part of you, and I am within you. Seek me within and without, and you will be strong. Venture into the dark so that you may awaken to Balance, Illumination, and Wholeness. Take my Love with you everywhere and find the Power within to be who you wish. Why is Mother Kali so radiantly black? Because she is so powerful, that even mentioning her name destroys delusion. Because she is so beautiful,Lord Shiva, Conquerer of death, lies blissfully vanquished,beneath the red soled feet. There are subtle hues of blackness, But her bright complexion is the mystery that is utterly black,overwhelmingly black, wonderfully black. When she awakens in the lotus shrine within the heart's secret cave, her blackness becomes the mystic illumination that causes the twelve petal blossom there to glow more intensely than golden embers. Her lovely form is the incomparable Kali- black blacker than the King of Death. Whoever gazes upon this radiant blackness falls eternally in love and feels no attraction to any other, discovering everywhere only her. This poet sighs deeply,
"Where is this brilliant lady, this black light beyond luminosity? Though I have never seen her, simply hearing her name,
the mind becomes absorbed completely in her astonishing reality. MAA KALI
