Kali the Mother (poem in The Broken Wing)
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-0010
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-0010; naidu_kali_mother_1917
- Author or attribution
- Sarojini Naidu
- Record type
- Book
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 1917
- Source / repository
- Publisher not independently checked
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- Kali Library Research Catalogue; Hymns, Prayers, and Devotional Poetry
Description and curator notes
Naidu's complete poem presents a collective invocation to the divine Mother. Successive groups bring the experiences associated with their lives: maidens, brides, mothers and widows, workers and peasants, the victorious and defeated, scholars, priests, poets and patriots. The changing speakers make Kali the recipient of both suffering and achievement. The poem invokes Uma Haimavati, Ambika, Parvati, Girija, Shambhavi and Kali Maheshwari, providing a useful literary example of related divine names within one composition. Its explanatory note identifies Kali as the Eternal Mother. Catalog this as an individually titled poem, with its containing collection recorded, rather than as a full treatise on Shakta theology. The whole poem and note are accessible, so readers can distinguish Naidu's particular English literary interpretation from ritual name lists or Sanskrit sources.
KALI-0010 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.
Author / attribution: Sarojini Naidu
Publication: Publisher not independently checked · 1917
Contained in The Broken Wing (1917).
Format / language: Historical book / primary devotional or interpretive source · English
Composition / textual history: English poem published in The Broken Wing (1917).
Identifier: naidu_kali_mother_1917
Kali relevance: Direct Kali invocation with several related goddess names.
Context: English-language Indian poetry; names here are poetic invocations, not a 108-name recension.
Subjects: Hymns, Prayers, and Devotional Poetry
Evidence / reliability: Primary historical source in a freely accessible transcription; historical claims require comparison with modern scholarship.
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Original poem published 1917; public domain in the United States. Observe host license for editorial contributions.
Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Broken_Wing/Kali_the_Mother
Source access
Read or locate the original source at Publisher not independently checked
Rights and reading conditions
Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Original poem published 1917; public domain in the United States. Observe host license for editorial contributions. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.
Citation
Sarojini Naidu. Kali the Mother (poem in The Broken Wing). Publisher not independently checked · 1917.
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.