The Demons Within Us

In the story of the Goddess, the demons have another meaning. They represent the passions and instincts within human beings. The different demons are associated with different forces that arise within us.

Sumbha represents desire, and Nisumbha represents greed. Mahishasura represents anger. Raktabija represents destructive tendencies which, like the demons born from his blood, return again and again.

The story of Raktabija expresses this particularly clearly. Every drop of his blood which falls upon the earth produces another demon of the same strength. Thus, when he is wounded, the number of demons increases. The more his blood falls, the more numerous they become.

Kali appears in order to prevent this from happening. She drinks the blood before it can reach the earth, and so the demons are no longer able to arise from it. Raktabija is finally destroyed when the source of this multiplication is brought to an end.

The demons in the stories of the Goddess can therefore be understood as the passions and instincts which exist within us. Desire, greed and anger are represented by the different demons, while the destructive tendencies represented by Raktabija have the quality of returning again and again.

The Goddess confronts these forces in her battles with the demons. Through her power, they are finally overcome.

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.

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