During the 16th century CE, when the Krishna-nama of Sri Chaitanya flooded "Santipur, drowned, washed away in the river," he was confronted by a famous tantric, namely Krishnananda Agamvagish This tantric contemporary of Sri Chaitanya, Krishnananda Agamvagish, lived in Nabadwip like Sri Chaitanya On the burnt mother-floor of Nabadwip in the Nadia district is "Kali of Agamvagish.

" But we have to travel to Nabadwip to find out how this Bengali form of Kali came to be established.

Maa Kali is still worshipped in Nirakar Krishnananda wishes that he could worship her in her clay idol But how about that form of Maa? To find out what that form is, Krishnananda sat in meditation in the crematorium The oracle said, I shall worship the female form that you will see first thing tomorrow morning.

The night passed by Krishnananda went to bathe in the Ganges.

On the way, he saw a girl of dark complexion Her body was dark black One of her feet was on the ground, the other was on the floor A palm was rubbing the wall Her left hand was smearing cow dung Her head was open She had long black hair.

She was wearing a short sari She was ashamed of seeing Krishnananda so early in the morning Krishnananda understood that this was her mother's form Krishnananda worshipped Agambagish as the Bengali Kali worshipped today But many stories of the Puranas are connected with Krishnananda's Kali form So Agambagish's Kali image is different from today's Kali.

Shyamakali is Bengali Kali.

Now the question is, what kind of Kali?.

According to the Todala Tantra, there are eight types of Kali These eight times are - 1) Dakshinakali, 2) Siddhakali, 3) Guhyakali, 4) Shrikali, 5) Bhadrakali, 6) Chamundakali, 7) Shamshankali, and 8) Mahakali The Jayadratha Yamala Tantra also mentions several other Kali's, such as Ishanakali, Rakshakali, Prajnakali, and Dhandakali.

Apart from this, another Kali is worshipped on the Purnima Tithi called "Shantikali " This " Shantikali" is said to be worshipped in the Konnagar area of Hooghly district in West Bengal According to the "Devi Mahatmya" of Markandeya Purana, Ambika, also known as "Kaushiki," emerged from the corpse of Goddess Parvati.

Chamundakali emerged from the forehead of Goddess Kaushiki during the war with Shumbha-Nishumbha She brought the head of Chand-Mundha, the commander of Shumbha-Nishumbha, hence her name "Chamundakali " This is the Sandhi Puja that takes place at the juncture of Ashtami and Navami Tithi of Durga Puja.

Then Parvati also became Krishna-Varna and stayed in the Himalayas and was named "Kalika " Again, in the Ramayana, the Kulaguru Vasisthadeva of Dasharatha, the father of Ramchandra, went to distant Mahachina, learned their sadhana and attained perfection at Tarapith in Birbhum. Tarapith is still there today. " Later, Tarapith-Bhairava Bamdev was Tarasiddha here.

According to Puranas, Goddess Kali killed the demon Balasura, the great demon, in Avantinagar as" Ugratara "At this time, the world was shaken by the deluge of the goddess The gods took refuge in the dance of the goddess Shiva then stood in front of the child Goddess Kali then breastfed the childlike Shiva in her arms.

In another version, Shiva lies down at Ranmatta Devi's feet to stop her Devi stops when she steps on Shiva Looking at herself, she is Digambari Devi blushes.

However, the saint Ramaprasad says that the corpse is lying at the feet of the mother, not Shiva.

"Not Shiva at the feet of the mother. That is a lie. The demoness falls to the ground. The mother will stand on her. The demoness touches the feet of the mother. Shiva is in the battlefield.".

The Ramayana-Mahabharata also contain the Kali chronicle In the Mahabharata, we find Durga, Katyayani, and Bhadrakali On the other hand, in the Ramayana, the goddess Nikumbhila is actually Bhadrakali, the goddess whose sacrifice was broken by Lakshmana while performing a yajna at the Nikumbhila Yajna temple where Ravana's son Meghnada was performing.

Dr Shashibhushan Dasgupta, in his book "Shaktisadhana and Shaktasadhana of India," states that Shaivism, the Shaktism school of thought, was born out of the fusion of Shaiva and Shakta doctrines with the ancient traditions of esotericism Buddhist thought was mixed with Shakta influences Thus was born Buddhism, which merged with Vaishnavism to form Vaishnavism.

From the above thought, various rituals have been born In most cases, women have been brought to the centre of attention as the female-centric dharma predominates The nakedness of the goddess (Maa Kali) carries the memory of the primitive dharma People have felt the need to show the feminine body-marks, which are the cause of the mystical inquiries and reverence of the people of the past, in a vivid manner.

The colour of all Hindu deities is either golden or white The only exception is Kali Her complexion is black Kali, the birth-giver of Mahakal, is black The description of Kali's jiva says that it is a symbol of restraint Before sensual restraint, speech restraint is required and therefore, the jiva needs to be subdued.

For example, we cannot speak if the jiva is bitten by a tooth Hence, speech restraint is used Again, Agni, which means fire in the Vedas'Samhitas and Brahmanas, is called "Saptajihva " Agni is omnipresent There is no fruit in the fire unless it is offered Hence, the rule of offering fire to fire.

Bengali found strength in Goddess Kali against the attacks of the heretics The earth of Shakti shakes in the midst of the dense forest of Shaktisadhakas Even the people of the Turkic invader group used to avoid meeting the Kalisthanas of the matriarchs in the day and afternoon for fear of human sacrifice.

Devout seekers of Maa Kali roamed around the forest in brave hands The country was attacked by heretics time and again, but the Bengalis were inspired by the Kalimantra of Kalikapuran and chose to fight and survive with renewed vigor Hence, Tarapith and Punyakshetra from Mahatirtha Kalighat are considered to be the source of strength for Bengalis even today.