Points:

Under the shadow of Kali
Kali the woman, Kali the poor woman
Kali the dark black woman

Kali an image, a motif
The feminist dais, the feminist podium
A history of feminism and the feminist movements

Social taboos
Throttling of womanly freedom
The story of feminine liberation

Women’s rights
International Women’s Day
The voice of women calling for an end of oppression, tyranny and injustice
Women and the rebellions thwarting male domination

Kali is Kali
Kali non-Aryan, dark black
With the tongue held out of lips in shame
And one leg trampling laid down Siva unawares
Kali Shyama Kali, light blue Kali, a beautiful image

Kali The Woman as a poem no doubt seems to be a mythological presentation, not other than a painting of Kali looking awesome, bizarre and terrible, but actually it is a feministic interpretation of the womanly self. Dismissing the Aryan discourse, we may take up the non-Aryan standpoint. Just taking the cue from it, we may take Kali, a dark-complexioned girl as the protagonist of the discourse. A dark maid, how does she keep working, doing household jobs? How has she been exploited for a long time? Kali can be a feministic platform. Kali as a dais to talk of women and women’s rights, how has womankind struggled to stake claim over their human status? How have the patriarchs and village elders barred them? Now gender bias, domestic violence, child marriage, Sati, ragging, sexual exploitation, flesh trade, woman trafficking, social conspiracy, economic disparity, are saying it all that has taken place and how have we exploited calling them women?

Kali as a dark black woman, how to take to her? How the creation of God? Can a dark girl not appear beautiful if the face cutting is finer? Is dark not beautiful? Where does light break out from? Kali as the surrogate mother has frustrated us for so long and the childless woman has been hearing the rebukes for so long. Her mental state, how to put it before? What happens to her heart? Kali the maid servant, she keeps working all day long without taking food, living on stale food and leftovers. How long will she have to remain half-fed, half-clothed? Kali the tortured self tells of the atrocity done on womankind. How is she subjected to domestic violence and bruises? The beaten body tells of the as usual life of a woman. How is the body a focal point of a discussion? Can the soul not be loved, only the body? The other thing is that society has in every age trafficked womankind. The drunkards have sold their wives, and the gamblers have gambled keeping them on pawn. Kali the widow, what has she not borne? How inhuman was it the Sati system? How long will she be exploited in the name of being woman? How long will she be? When will she be free? When will she be liberated from the slavery of man? The same patriarchy is a villain which had been a villain of hers in the past. Still now the patriarchs and moral police have problems. Our old mentality outmoded and outdated obsolete thoughts are their dreaded enemies which must be done away with. Kali the childless woman should not be tortured for being childless. Kali as a widow, how will she support herself if society is against any sort of move as for attempting to be out of the Lakshmanrekha drawn out? Kali, how long will you go exploiting her? The circle, the coterie of taboos restricts the free movement of her. Gender bias in terms of he is a male, she is a female, have harmed us more rather than doing any good to us. How to empower women is the talk of the day, how to give the microphone to the women? Now she is the anchoress, she is the speaker, but instead of something it appears to be jarring in note, turning the taste sour. Kali, Kali the talk of ours, when will she be free, when will she get liberated from? She is not a sex slave. She is not a call girl. She is after all a woman and has rights too. A bar dancer, a cabaret dancer, she is not for shows and pleasantries. The heart of a woman, the soul of a woman, the self of a woman, the inner part of a woman, you have never known, never known; you have never tried, never tried to know.

Kali is Kali, you do not know her powers. Do not take her for weak and meek womankind. She is Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kali, Bhagabati. She is Annadata, she is Grihalakshmi. She is Annapurna. How long will you subject her to domestic violence and bruise, how long will gender bias keep maligning herself? Why is this discrimination on the basis of gender and sex?

While taking to Kali, interpret you not in terms of rites and rituals, but try to feel you power of the woman, the womankind. Why is She, Kali in Anger, Anger Divine? What is the reason for Her Wrath? Actually, she was unable to see sin aggravated on earth. The power of demons and devils had grown up so much in terms of tyranny and physical prowess and She took the avatar to destroy those evil forces. To sacrifice cattle may be an aboriginal practice, but never does She want it. Actually, she is Power to feel within, the Nocturnal Power, the Power to feel it the Creation, the Night of creation, the Womb of Creation. Kali is an image through we can purge our feelings, the terror and horror elements purify us to some extent.

Kali The Woman

Kali the dark black woman,
Kali the surrogate mother,
Kali the maid servant,
Kali the tortured self,
Kali the beaten body,
Kali trafficked and dragged into,
Kali the widow,
Kali the exploited woman,
Kali the childless woman,
Kali the woman,
The same woman used by patriarchal society
Exploited and tortured mentally, physically
As for being womanly weak and meek self,
Kali, Kali a woman,
Kali a feminine self and soul,
Kali a meek woman.

N.B. A feministic interpretation                               

Kali, if we take the name and try to see it otherwise, how will it appear? Kali the Dark Goddess, the Dark Divine not, if Kali the woman is taken, how will it sound? Kali the Dark Divine, an image that shows it mythologically. But Kali is Kali, the Womb of Creation. If she is not an Aryan Goddess, she is definitely a non-Aryan entity, but after all a woman. Kali is an aboriginal representation. Kali from a feministic podium, Kali as a feministic platform, Kali as a representation of feminism and feministic movements too may be a side of reflection.

Kali may be the name of a woman. Kali is an image, a symbol, a motif, a representation. How has she been oppressed and tortured, but she herself knows it?

Busting the myth of Kali, I have written taking it to be the name of the domestic help, I have taken it for the tribal woman.

The under mentioned Kali poem though deals with the same point of deliberation is comparative rather than taking to feminism and the feminist movements merely. Actually, what is Kali? Who is Kali? How can Kali be felt? Where to see Kali? In the idol of the temple or the old woman sitting on the steps of the temple? What have we done for women, daughters and children? Say you?

Kali

Kali,
A woman,
Kali
A Goddess,
Kali Kali,
Dark-complexioned,
Kali black
And dark,
Kali
Womankind oppressed
And suppressed,
Kali kaal-swarupa,
Doom-like,
Kali in a bibhatsa rupa,
Grotesque and bizarre form,
Kali Kali,
Kali creational,
Kali destructive,
Kali motherly,
Blissful,
Kali Kali
An aboriginal,
Ethnic, tribal lady,
Kali Aaryan,
Sati, Uma, Parvati, Durga,
Kali Kali
The dark fold,
The dark side of creation
Containing in light
And it is light breaking open
From the realms of darkness.