Jarasandha

Yudhistira wanted know about Jarasandha. Krishna then started telling him.

There was a king called Vrihadratha, in the land of Magadha. He was a fierce warrior. He was also a good and kind king. He married the twin daughters of the king of Kashi. . He loved his wives equally did not many difference between any of them. The king was growing old and he had no child. He wanted a son who would carry his name forward. One he heard that the sage  Chanda was staying near his kingdom and had taken shelter under a mango tree. The king visited the sage with his wives and started serving him. Pleased the sage asked the king to ask for a boon. The king told the sage that he wished to have a son.
Hearing this the sage handed over to the king, a ripe mango that fell on to the sage's lap from the tree. Happy, the king took the fruit and went home. The sage had told the king, to give the mango to one of his queens who would give birth to a son.

He took the fruit to his queens, who divided the fruit equally among themselves and each had half a fruit. In due time, both the queens conceived and the king was very happy.

When time came, the queens gave birth and it was shocking to see that each queen had given birth to half a child. Consulting among themselves, they abandoned the fragments behind the palace.

A rakshasha woman by the name of Jara was passing by. Seeing the parts of the child, she joined them together so she could easily carry it away with her. As soon as she joined the parts, the child came to life and started roaring. Assuming a human form, she went to the king and said this is your son, born from your wives and protected by me, Jara.

Birth of Kali and killing of Raktabija - Kali Puja Second / Third Day of Diwali

Kali Puja is celebrated in eastern India on Diwali. While in many parts of India, Lakshmi is worshiped, Kali's worship on the day of Diwali is of great importance.

It is said, as per Devi Mahatmayam, this is the day, when Kali appeared and killed Raktabija.

In the fight that was ensuing between Durga and the demons, there appeared a demon, called Raktabija.

Kali is called Bhadrakali in the south of India, and is said to have emerged from the third eye of Shiva and had killed the demon, Darika.

Kali shows the need for discrimination and dispassion and that good and evil arise from the same source and to spiritually progress we must overcome the terrible and violent side of life.

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Here is the story of Kali's birth, from Devi Mahatmayam. This story appears in the seventh chapter and continues to the next chapter where Raktabija is killed.

Shumbha commanded Chanda and Munda, his worriers to go and capture the goddess. The demons went to the battle field, where the Goddess Ambika was resting, on her lion. Instead of talking to her, the asuras attacked from all sides. Angry, the goddess frowned.

From her frowning forehead emerged a female figure. This figure had a sword in one hand, and a noose in the other. Clad in a dress made of the skin of the leopard, she was clad in jewels made from bones. Her was skinny herself and looked like a skeleton. She looked scary - her face was larger in proportion to her body and her tongue was jutting out of her mouth, Her eyes were sunken and she was making a noise that was creating disturbance in the atmosphere.

Increasing her size, this being started catching and gulping down the asuras. This was Kali.

Kali then rushed towards Chanda and Munda. The asuras seeing the goddess, attacked her. Kali started laughing, her teeth shining like thunder bolts. Catching Chanda, and utter "Hum" she cut his head off, with her sword. She then killed Munda similarly.

Ambika, pleased with her feat gave the goddess the name of Chamunda and Chandika. This killing of Chanda and Munda is celebrated during Sandhi Puja of Durga Puja, in Bengal.

 Hearing this, Shumbha, the king of demons asked his army to kill the Goddess who was destroying his able warriors.

Hearing him, the army attacked the Goddess. Seeing the army attack, the Goddess strung her bow sting. The noise was deafening. Her lion started roaring. The goddess then started ringing the bell she was holding in one of her hands.

Kali then attacked the army. With only Ambika and Kali fighting the other gods, let their female forms join the fight. From Brahma emerged Brahmani, sitting on a swan. Shiva's female form came next, sitting on a bull. This was Maheswari. Kartikeya's female form, Kartikeyi came next sitting on a peacock. Then came Vishnu's form, in the form a female boar, called Varahi. A form called Narasinghi came looking like a half lion, half woman, Then came Vaishnavi, female form of Vishnu. Then came Indra's form called Aindri, sitting on an elephant.

All these goddess then started fighting and attacked the army. Meanwhile Ambika asked Shiva to go as her messenger and ask Shumbha and Nishumba to surrender. In this form, the Goddess is also called Shivadooti, as she had asked Shiva to go as her 'doot' (messenger).

As guessed, Shumbha and Nishumbha refused and the war took a fierce form. Seeing the goddess attacking, Raktabija came to the battlefield. Raktabija had a boon that whenever a drop of his blood fell on the ground, a duplicate Raktabija would be born at that spot (rakta=blood, bija=seed; "he for whom each drop of blood is a seed").

Raktabija attacked Aindri. The goddess hurled her bolt at the asura. Wounded, Raktabija began bleeding. Each drop of blood then started giving rise to a clone. As more weapons were hurled at the demon, each drop of blood gave rise to a replica. Soon the battlefield was full of many Raktqabijas fighting. Seeing this Kali went on the field and started gulping down the Raktabija replicas. When only one was left, Ambika attacked the asura with her trident, and Kali swallowed all the flowing blood. Raktabija was dead.

Kali became mad with blood lust after this incident. She started dancing the dance of destruction and forgot that She had already killed Raktabija. She kept on slaying the innocent after that. Seeing this, the Gods became extremely worried and approached Lord Shiva for help. Only Shiva had the power to stop Kali at this stage. So, Lord Shiva went and lay down among the corpses where the Goddess was dancing. Accidentally, Kali stepped on Shiva and soon She realized Her mistake. It is then Her tongue immediately came out of embarrassment and She calmed down. She was ashamed that Her blood lust had prevented Her from recognizing Her own husband. Thus, She came back to Her original form and the destruction was stopped. Shiva lying at Kali's feet also symbolizes the supremacy of Nature over man. It clearly shows that without Kali or Shakti even a powerful force like Lord Shiva is inert. Hence, Kali is shown as stepping on Shiva's chest.

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Kali teaches that pain, sorrow, decay, death, and destruction are not overcome by denying or explaining them away. These are inevitable parts of life and denying them is futile. For us to realize the fullness of our being and to realize our potential, we must accept these parts of existence. Kali's gift is freedom. The freedom of the child to revel in the moment, obtained only after confrontation with or acceptance of death. Kali is Mother, not because She protects us from the way things are, but because She reveals our mortality to us and releases us to act fully and freely; She releases us from the web of pretense, practicality and rationality.

Of all the Devi forms, Kali is the most compassionate because She provides liberation to Her devotees. A soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with love for Her children, as was seen in the case of Shri Ramakrishna.

Birth of Kali- Other stories

Apart from the Devi Mahatmayam which talks about Kali coming and killing Chanda and Munda, she also appears in other scriptures.

She, as Mahakali, appears in the begining of Devi Mahatmayam. She is the one who has all under her spell (Maya). And it is to her that the Gods pray so that Vishnu can kill Madhu and Kaitava.

She is the first of the ten Mahavidyas.

The Goddess makes an appearance in the Shiva Purana in a ferocious form. When Sati sacrificed herself, angered Shiva, on hearing this news plucked a lock of his matted hair and dashed it onto the ground. From this hair were born Veerbhadra and MahaKali.

Shiva Puran talks about another take about how Kali was born. This goes back to the tale of the asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha, who have been mentioned in the Devi Mahatmayam. They had a boon that would be killed by a form of Parvati, who was not born from the womb and who had no desires. If the asuras ever looked at this being with passion and desire, they would meet their doom in her hands.

Sitting on the Mandrachal hill one day, Shiva one day told Parvati that her complexion had darkened in the sun, and called her Kali (dark). Parvati then shed this form, Kali, which remained with Shiva and while she became Gauri and killed the demons.

Linga Puran has a different story. There lived a demon named Daruk. He had acquired divine powers by the virtue of his penance. He started tormenting the deitiesand rishis. All the deities went to Lord Shiva and requested him to give protection from  Daruk. Lord Shiva then requested Parvati to help the deities. One part of Parvati's consciousness entered into the body of Lord Shiva. But, the deities were not aware of this happening. Goddess Parvati then attained her physical form with the help of poison stored in the throat of Lord Shiva. The effet of poison had made her complexion dark. Lord Shiva then brought her out from within his body through his third eye.

The deities became frightened after seeing her terrific appearance. She was none other than Goddess Kali. Goddess Kali then killed Daruk with the permission of Parvati. But, even after the death of Daruk, her anger did not subside and the whole world was ablaze due to her anger. Lord Shiva then incarnated as a small child and started crying as if he was hungry. Goddess Kali could not decipher the illusions of Shiva and thought that the child was crying because of hunger. She started feeding the child her breast-milk. In the process of sucking milk, Shiva also sucked out her anger. A similar tale is told about Tarapith, which is located in West Bengal. In Tarapith, they say Shiva became unconscious when he swallowed the poison coming from the cosmic ocean, and became unconscious. The divine mother, then breast fed Shiva, in the form of Tara.

After her anger had subsided Goddess Kali became unconscious. Lord Shiva then performed his famous dance--Tandav  to bring Kali back to consciousness. When Kali regained her consciousness she found Shiva dancing. She too started dancing and this is the reason why she is also called Yogini.

Below is the Adya Stotra, composed by Annada Thakur, who founded the Adya Peeth in Dakshineshwar, West Bengal.

Adya Stotra