[Music]
Kali is the female form of the Universe not just to me but to all her devotees.
What's very special about her is that she has a duality within her,
she is fearless and fearsome and brings destruction to all of her enemies
at the same time she is magnanimous, kind, loving,
to all her children, her children being us – humanity
and this is the beautiful opposites meeting in Kali.
We're absolutely delighted, as a community,
that this iconic idol of
Kali has been sourced, commissioned and finally now installed.
Ma Kali, or the mother, was brought in as an inanimate
object of display
and which she her herself would have very intensely disliked.
She had to be put in an
airplane and then fumigated with various things there,
So following that she has been treated like a commodity put in a box and moved
So, we had to bring her here, we had to placate her, calm her down,
a mere gesture from the community to infuse life into this idol.
She was called to help in one of the fiercest battle which saw a demon called
Raktabīja which translates into blood seed
and because every time he was slayed and a drop of blood fell on the ground he
would again reincarnate himself that's why she used her tongue, and
that elongated tongue we see, to almost lap up that blood
so that the blood didn't spill on the ground.
Then she came into such a trance that she was uncontrollable,
it was very difficult to rein her back in.
Lord Shiva had to be called in to almost come and help calm her down.
He spread himself on the ground where Kali was actually walking across corpses
because he disguised himself as one of the logs on the ground and just at the
moment that Kali stepped on the log, he came back into his own self
and she actually felt very embarrassed because
she actually stepped on her husband who was a living being.
And almost as a signature, as a gesture of that embarrassment,
she had her tongue out to say you know I probably did something which
I shouldn't have done.
She's dark skinned skin tone and that that comes from the the word Kala in Sanskrit
which actually means black, as well as time.
So she almost signifies that being the the deity of time, doomsday, death.
She's got a girdle of severed arms and that's to signify
that she wanted her devotees to be emancipated from the action of karma
and hence that's the significance that there are severed arms
because without instruments of work you would be free from karma.
As a female corporate professional in London, also a teacher,
also a daughter
I can see that it's important for a
woman to be comfortable in all the roles that she plays
and when I look to Kali she shows me that it is possible
to go wrong
and to have that chance to correct yourself
and I find that a very, very important metaphor because actually
while we are all modern women and we are working towards the next step,
and the next goal, and the next ambition achieved, it's
actually very, very important to remember
that whatever you are so intent on achieving externally,
at the same time you need that opposite
side of just checking in internally and I think for me personally that's what
Kali means that you can go wrong but you have a second chance, you can correct yourself.
It's a great privilege that we've been able to bring Ma Kali here,
to be able to put her on exhibition and bring forth a part of our culture
and a goddess that is so close to our heart.
It's a wonderful opportunity to be able to
bring this goddess closer and make her more meaningful
and more available to a larger part of the community and go
beyond just the Indian community to be able to showcase her to more of the world.
So, as a community we feel very, very happy, very privileged and very proud
that this religious emotion has come into reality.