Something I've always wondered about Kali Yuga...

[Riverwolf]

Why are the names of the Dark Age (Kali Yuga) the same as one of the names for the Great Mother (Kali)? That's always confused me.

[Odion]

Kālī is the Great Mother. Sanskrit: काली (from root: kaala: "time")
Kali is the Demon-Thing. Sanskrit: कलि (from root kad: "suffer")

Kali Yuga is: कलियुग Kaliyuga, it doesn't have the long i or a.

[Riverwolf]

Kālī is the Great Mother. Sanskrit: काली (from root: kaala: "time")
Kali is the Demon-Thing. Sanskrit: कलि (from root kad: "suffer")

Kali Yuga is: कलियुग Kaliyuga, it doesn't have the long i or a.

So Kaa-lee is the Great Mother, and Kuh-lih is the Demon?

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

If I may, I'd like to offer the following for one's consideration.

kali is rooted in kal and is a name of the die or side of a die ( dice) marked with one dot , the losing die . The implication? Kali is that yuga with 1 leg of dharma remaining.

kali is also another name for strife , discord , quarrel , contention. Personified as the son of krodha or 'anger' and hiṃsā 'injury' , and generating with his sister durukti , 'calumny' to which children are born - bhaya , 'fear' and mṛtyu , 'death' . (a happy family eh? )

Lets look at kālī - when used in its masculine gender it is black, dark color, dark-blue . We see Mother kālī defined as durgā (durgatināśinī), and she ( as kālī ) is always shown as black or dark blue.

I am fond of looking at kālī in this manner: kā+ lī

• kā = to seek , desire , yearn , love +
• lī to melt , liquefy , dissolve .
• Hence we can look to 'Mother' as we yearn, seek and melt in Her love.

It interesting (to me at least) that kālī-ma's bījā (seed) sound/vibration is kṛṃ कृं (the sound kreem) and Śrī Kṛṣṇa's bījā sound/vibration is klīṃ क्लीं ( the sound kleem). I find the similarities uncanny and thought to just all it out.

But there is more ...
Another view also of kāla - which again is black, dark color, dark-blue. looking to the 3rd derivative this kāla is rooted in kal , 'to calculate or enumerate ' a fixed or right point of time, a space of time , time (in general). And kalā is a digit or one-sixteenth of the moon's diameter.

This kalā in jyotish is a minute of a degree. In kaśmir śaivism the definition of kalā is actively used as creativity as it comes from the definition of 'skill , ingenuity' and 'any fine art'.

praṇām

If interested a bit more can be found here on HDF: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=3226&highlight=Mother+Divine

[Riverwolf]

Thanks!

[Odion]

So Kaa-lee is the Great Mother, and Kuh-lih is the Demon?

Yep, exactly that. It can be pretty confusing.