KFS Discourse about Kali’s Depiction
I’ve been seeing some discourse around Indian culture and religion because of KFS and just wanted to add my two cents here as an Indian myself.
Hinduism is vast and diverse and there is no one way to interpret our gods and goddesses. Different regions and languages have their own variations on the mythology, philoshophy as well as worship. How someone might worship a god in one state could be GREATLY different from another state - i’ve even seen some Indians themselves be shocked sometimes to learn the differences. The term “hinduism” itself is an umbrella term given to all vedic-based religions within the geographical area of the Indian subcontinent - and it mostly originated due to interactions with foreigners (namely Persians and European) who just lumped all the diverse systems of thought into one because it all looked similar on the surface.
Now back to Goddess Kali -
One of the most popular stories about Goddess Kali is the great battle between the Warrior Goddess Durga and the demon Raktabija. When the fierce Durga atop her tiger (or lion) was battling him, every drop of his blood that hit the ground sprouted a new clone of Raktabija, such that the battle became endless. Durga then called forth Kali - the personification of Shakti’s (the divine mother and consort of Shiva) wrath and rage. Kali lapped up all the demon’s blood while Durga beheaded Raktabija and won the battle. However, driven by the bloodlust and fury, Kali didn’t stop and went on a massacre spree of all creatures that came in her path. Intervention came in the form of Shiva (the husband of Goddess Shakti, from whom came all other Goddesses such as Durga and Kali). He laid down in Kali’s path and the Goddess, blinded by her rage, unknowingly set foot on Shiva, her divine husband’s, body. Her tongue came out in shock (a nod to biting of the tongue in embarrassment, that a lot of Indians still tend to do today) and the bloodlust stopped as Kali finally calmed down.
Now this is just the fantastical story. But the spiritual connotation of Kali’s foot on Shiva is such - Kali (and most goddesses) are symbolic of Nature/Reality (Prakriti) whereas Shiva (and most gods) are symbolic of Awareness/Society (Purusha). In some ancient iterations, instead of stepping on Shiva, Kali and him actually consummate - but either story is simply just a symbolic depiction of the union of Prakriti and Purusha which then creates our universe. We cannot function as human until we are aware of reality. Which is to say, the grim reality of life and death, the beginning and end, the passage of time.
In context of the story which KFS is trying to follow. Kali is indeed a personification of vengeance, destruction, wrath and death. It is the time period of India fighting for independence from Britain’s long-standing colonization. Here, there is a lot of grey areas and evolving human morals, but one thing is for sure - the British must be defeated. For devotees of Kali, that means wrath against injustice and cleansing of the land from those who cause it harm.
In the midst of all this, our MC is getting close to the “enemy” platonically, romantically (even geographically lol). For someone like Goddess Kali, whose rage that is once unleashed cannot be stopped by anyone but her divine counterpart Shiva, this is the equivalent of blasphemy. The British are the enemy of her land and her devotees and they must be vanquished. For MC to waste time dancing around in pretty clothes and romance/befriend a British man, that is just plain mockery of what the Goddess wants for her people through her chosen one. Kali is the personification of cosmic beginnings and endings, so she shows our MC what that means - MC ends up killing someone in rage. But it is a kill of justice meant to protect her people (the young maid). Goddess Kali has given this as a lesson to MC that for the freedom of her people, someone or the other WILL die - that is the grim reality (Prakriti).
I am in no way defending or justifying the author or this story. But just giving some information about the Goddess and what she symbolizes and how it could MAYBE POSSIBLY apply to the context of this story. Cause do I expect a story game such as Romance Club to have deep knowledge of the innately complex nature of Hinduism? Not at all. So maybe I’m making some correlations that might not even exist. But it’s what I’ve inferred and it’s not at all representative of all Indians due to the simple case of expansive diversity across hinduism in the country. It differs greatly so there will always be various takes.
I do agree though, that Goddess Kali’s portrayal can sometimes come across cartoonish in this story (her cackling laughter is SO unnecessary, the horror trope gimmicks and the tongue coming out to mock someone is not popular belief as I explained previously - it’s treated like a little “wild” imagery instead of the story it could tell of anger or shock from the mythologies).
But I guess that’s just the reality of playing a story game meant for romantic fantasies. I hope the team can learn to avoid cartoonish or caricaturist depictions and dialogues when it comes to the Goddess and be more respectful - she shouldn’t be treated as just any other villainous character who cackles like a witch - that is very insulting to the deeply spiritual and cosmic representation she is supposed to be.
All in all, I just wanted to give some information to those who may not be as familiar with Hinduism and the Goddess Kali, just for the simple sake of spreading knowledge. So that when RC messes up again in KFS or any other prequels or sequels, we can all better understand why.