Kalaratri is the seventh of the nine forms of the Goddess Durga, known as the Navadurga. She is considered the fiercest form of the Mother Goddess, her appearance itself invoking fear. The seventh day of Navratri pooja is dedicated to her and she is believed to be the destroyer of all demon entities, ghosts and evil spirits.
About Kalaratri in brief
Kalaratri is the seventh of the nine forms of the Goddess Durga, known as the Navadurga. She is considered the fiercest form of the Mother Goddess, her appearance itself invoking fear. The seventh day of Navratri pooja is dedicated to her and she is believed to be the destroyer of all demon entities, ghosts, evil spirits and negative energies. Kaalratri is also known as Shubankari – meaning auspiciousdoing good in Sanskrit, due to the belief that she always provides auspicious results to her devotees. Other less well-known names of Goddess Kalaratri include Raudri and Dhumorna. She was first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 3000 BC. She predates but most likely, informs, present representations of Kali. The goddess is traditionally worshipped during the nine nights of Nav Ratri celebrations. She also is associated with the crown chakra, thereby giving the invoker, siddhis and niddhis. She is also the goddess that rules the night portion of every day and night. Her appearance in this portion of the Mahabharata occurs at the end of the historic battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas.
In her embodied form, a black image, of bloody mouth and bloody eyes, wearing crimson garlands and smeared with crimson unguents, attired in a single piece of red cloth, with a noose in hand, and resembling an elderly lady, employed in chanting a dismal note and standing full before their eyes. She represents and personifies the horrors of war, laying its unpleasantness bare in Chapter 75 of the Durga Saptashati, Chapter 81-93 of the Markandeya Purana, the earliest known literature on the Goddess Durga. It is not uncommon to find the names, Kali and Kalalatri being used interchangeably, although these two deities are argued to be separate entities by some. The concept of the night is the great dissolution and the terrible delusion of all Puranas: you are the great night of final dissolution. You are the primordial cause of everythingBringing into the dark qualities are the three qualities of the dark might of the gods: Shiva, Vishnu and Parvati. Lord Shiva beseeching his wife, Skanda Parvati, to help him help the gods when they are beseeched by the demonised gods.
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This page is based on the article Kalaratri published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
