Kali is the symbol of the cosmic power of time (kala) & in this aspect, she signifies annihilation, yet through death, the seed of life emerges. Wearing only a girdle of human hands, Kali is naked and in her nakedness, she is free from all the veils of illusion. Her disheveled hair forms a curtain of death, which surrounds life in mystery. Her garland of human heads symbolizes power and knowledge. She wears a girdle of human hands! Hands are the principal instruments of work and so signify the action of karma. In one of her left hands, she holds the severed head of a demon, symbolizing evil, the blood from which falls into a bowl held in another left hand. The beheaded body lies in a pool of blood at her feet. In the right hand, she flaunts the blood-smeared sword used in the gruesome killing.

She is the changeless, limitless, primordial power awakening the un-manifested Shiva lying passive beneath her feet. In this image she symbolizes all pervading, all embracing power.