Kali Yantra – The Goddess in Geometric Form

 The image of Kali is not the only way in which the Goddess is represented. Harding also describes the Kali yantra, a geometric form used in the worship and contemplation of Kali.

At its centre is the bindu, surrounded by geometric forms, a circle and an eight-petalled lotus. The lotus represents Prakriti, the material nature. Its eight petals correspond to the eight elements of Prakriti: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and the sense of ego. 

The circle represents the cycle of life and death. Harding describes this circle as something that must be passed beyond in order to reach the Absolute Reality. Within the yantra are also five inverted concentric triangles, whose fifteen corners represent fifteen psychophysical states.

The yantra has both an outer and an inner meaning. Harding describes it as something existing in the external world as well as something that is to be internalized within the human body. In this way, the geometric form of Kali becomes connected with the inner practice of the person who worships her. 

The Kali yantra therefore presents the Goddess through a different form from the familiar image of Kali. Instead of a figure with eyes, arms, a sword and a garland, there is a pattern of geometric forms representing aspects of Prakriti, the cycle of life and death, and the psychophysical states of the human being.

Source & Note

This article is based on Elizabeth U. Harding’s Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar (Nicolas-Hays, 1993). The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.