Encountering Kali: Deconstructing Marginalization of Women in South Asia - Essay Sample

Introduction

While Kali, within the Hindu religion holds a significant status over her male counterparts, women within South Asia are marginalized and their importance diminished. McDermont and Jeffrey (3) state that Encountering Kali seeks to solve some of these broad cultural issues by concentrating on the complexities, pledges, and challenges involved in incorporating and interpreting a specific Hindu deity. Kali is a deity with a long, multi-faceted history. The Hindu goddess Kali is a renowned figure across cultures and is seen as a force to be reckoned with. However, over the past few centuries, Kali has been objectified, marginalized, and vilified, thus leading to women within South Asia being treated dishonorably. The paper will provide a detailed analysis of Kali, in terms of religious perspective, and his significance in the Hindu religion.

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Details of Kali From a Historical/Religious Perspective

Kali is a black Goddess who is captured in the history of a religions dream team. She is the most exciting of all Hindu deities. However, she is terrible and to describe her using malevolent forms, she is associated with obscene rites, dark and devil worship. Kali has black skin, she is naked, and has long messy hair (McDermott and Kripal 241). Her face is smeared with blood, particularly on her lips. Also, she wears children's corpses as earrings and serpents as necklaces. In fact, everything about her scares. She is worshiped as the primal deity because she brings life after death. Kali is embodied with the divine of feminine and she is always furious. She is a prime Goddess for the fact that she can threaten stability and order. She destroys the world she should be protecting.

The Reason Why Kali is Important in Hindu Religion?

Kali is important to the Hindu religion despite the fact that Her rites involve sacrificial killings. Research shows that most of the sacrifices of Kali are terrifying and only few people understand them (McDermott and Kripal. 196). However, Kali is considered the mother Goddess since when people imagine her as a symbol of the worst, they easily overcome terror of their own death and destruction. Once worshippers have imagined of her worst acts and by knowing her, Kali frees them from all fears they experience. Hindu religion has given followers a chance to learn to obey Kali and understand death; this way, they do not fear death. Kali is considered a liberator to those people who want to come to God.

How Has Kali Been Objectified, Marginalized, Oversexualized and Belittled?

Within the Context of South Asia

In the ancient Hindu religious background, women were viewed as child-producing beings. They were to bear children and do household duties. Feminism in the context of South Asia, as a social problem is associated with subversion due to the presence of patriarchal societies beyond even the realm of family life. It means that women were viewed as less superior beings and they were supposed to be submissive to their husbands, and in the broader societal spectrum abide by the societal rules set to them.

McDermont and Jeffrey (224) stated that from a historical perspective, Kali has shifted from being an openly practiced ritual practice, previously observed by the whole community to marginalized ritual performance. McDermont and Jeffrey (236) further stated that transformations of the ritual practice of Kali have shifted from being a rural, folk societal practice in 19th century to a marginalized blissful ritual performance done under the eaves of Kali temples in modern Trinidad (McDermont and Jeffrey 237)

Despite, her objectification spiritual status in south Asia, Mother Kali's approval and therapeutic power continue to be invigorated in exterior temples, and the number of her devotees has grown significantly. McDermont and Jeffrey (256) indicated that as "Sanskritic" and "Brahmanical" values outweighed, women were marginalized and vilified from the ritual power, while their embodied female potency was chosen and mimicked by male ritual specialists. Women ceased to be central figures in the "Bhagavati" cult of Kerala (McDermont and Jeffrey 257).

Within the Context of Western Culture

In the context of western culture, Indian women have not been given a clear-cut chance to enter into politics, and often struggle to break the glass ceiling. Most of these women did not receive formal education during their formative years, and it further dents their chance to get a larger percentage of women to represent them in political decisions. McDermont and Jeffrey (267) underscored that immigrant Indian women were barred from accessing the temples, low caste, it ideally means that in the western culture did not allow them to practice Kali rituals.

Feminism in India, however, inspired by the western culture in the 19th century has a diverse description and color. India is a nation of multi-cultural beliefs, races, and cultures. However, the main challenge that women faced was evil practices leveled against them by men. It prompted them form a national movement to enhance emancipation of women against those practices through advocating for equality of rights between men and women.

Impact of Marginalization of Kali on the Women in South Asia

The marginalization of Kali has affected women in South Asia in that they saw all men as dominant. They worship the Mother Goddess and the believe that she has the power to nurture the seed and bring the fruit. Women are demoted to think that a man should depend on women since she is the only one who gives food, life, and strength (McDermott and Kripal 65). Women worship Kali all the time and they connect to her as their spouses. South Asian women see Kali as a warrior who has the powers to conquer anything that threatens the stability of the earth including the male god. Kali is the only Goddess that women could slant onto as they prayed for their immediate needs.

How Can We Change the Narrative?

Hindus advocate for many deities but Kali was their primal mother Goddess. During their worship for example in Calcutta, they appeased deities with offerings of flowers (McDermott and Kripal 229). Kali was, however, considered important because of her fierce and cruel personality. She was the mother Goddess of death, time and change. Kali, therefore, represents the views of the people since by unyielding the meaning of her personality, many people in Hindu religion began worshiping her.

Kali is a Hindu Goddesses who are represented with icons, sculptures, and paintings. She is painted with colors, which define particular meaning. For example, her skin is painted black to symbolize her cruel and fierce character, which sometimes can be a threat to the universe. The Goddess is considered the human body, which symbolizes the temple and the deities are the parts that should be in the temple.

The imagery and the implication of Kali, the Mother Goddess of the Hindu religion portray the secret texts of the development of Hinduism. Within her, there are many images, which describe her as the protector and mother to bloody and fierce. The Goddess tells the story about Hindu religious doctrine and also the stories and myths that grew out of her. The myth and stories emanate from India and all practices that Hindu people practiced.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the review has focused on a Hindu goddess Kali who is a renowned figure across cultures and is seen as a force to be reckoned with. From a historical/ religious perspective, Kali ritual practices have shifted from being a rural, folk societal practice in the 19th century to marginalized blissful ritual performance. women were marginalized and vilified from the ritual power For instance, they were barred from accessing the temples.

Works Cited

McDermott, Rachel Fell, and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. Encountering Kali: in the margins, at the center, in the West. Univ of California Press, 2003. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bMUJyU_C-LkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP15&dq=McDermott,+R.F.+(2006).+Encountering+Kali+:+In+the+Margins,+at+the+Center,+in+the+West.+Delhi:+Motilal+Banarsidass&ots=ZUdd01-KvO&sig=z-VlZ54cZHOHZL6HP2Z3kb6lfGs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kali%20has%20been%20marginalized&f=false