Images of the Hindu Fierce Mother Goddess and Experiences of Mother
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-fifty4-005
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-50B4-005
- Author or attribution
- Vivian Kondos (also published as Vivienne Kondos)
- Record type
- Article
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 1985
- Source / repository
- Kailash — Digital Himalaya archive
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- 50 Full-Text Sources — Batch 4, November 2026; Scholarship and historical studies
Description and curator notes
Kondos examines how the fierce mother goddess, especially Kali, has been interpreted in anthropological and psychoanalytic writing. The article challenges readings that treat terrifying imagery and blood sacrifice chiefly as expressions of male anxiety about mothers. Drawing on Nepalese religious understandings, ritual descriptions and Sanskrit textual interpretations, it argues that ferocity can express protection and transformative power rather than simple malevolence. Discussions of sacrificial implements, offerings and cosmological processes place the imagery in its ritual setting. The later sections turn to women as wives, mothers and daughters, questioning whether theories centered on the mother–son relationship obscure the social costs of marriage, gender hierarchy and exclusion from particular ritual powers. It is useful for the history of scholarship on Kali, the interpretation of sacrifice, and critical comparison of goddess imagery with women’s lived positions. Its broad assertions about Hindu and Western thought belong to a particular 1980s theoretical debate and should not be presented as a neutral account of every Hindu community.
Curator source KALI-50B4-005. Scholarship and historical studies. Research supplement dated 5 November 2026.
Except where specific checks are described below, source access, completeness and scholarly or devotional assessments are supplied by the curator document, not a new independent verification by this library. Comparative goddess identities, healing claims and devotional interpretations are attributed, not established universal or clinical facts. Full source content is linked, not reproduced.
05. Images of the Hindu Fierce Mother Goddess and Experiences of Mother
Author/editor: Vivian Kondos (name as printed; also published as Vivienne Kondos) | 1985
Type / language: Complete scholarly journal article | English
Kondos examines how the fierce mother goddess, especially Kali, has been interpreted in anthropological and psychoanalytic writing. The article challenges readings that treat terrifying imagery and blood sacrifice chiefly as expressions of male anxiety about mothers. Drawing on Nepalese religious understandings, ritual descriptions and Sanskrit textual interpretations, it argues that ferocity can express protection and transformative power rather than simple malevolence. Discussions of sacrificial implements, offerings and cosmological processes place the imagery in its ritual setting. The later sections turn to women as wives, mothers and daughters, questioning whether theories centered on the mother–son relationship obscure the social costs of marriage, gender hierarchy and exclusion from particular ritual powers. It is useful for the history of scholarship on Kali, the interpretation of sacrifice, and critical comparison of goddess imagery with women’s lived positions. Its broad assertions about Hindu and Western thought belong to a particular 1980s theoretical debate and should not be presented as a neutral account of every Hindu community.
Read the complete source: Open full-text document
https://d1i1jdw69xsqx0.cloudfront.net/digitalhimalaya/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_12_0304_02.pdf
Access check: Complete freely readable archival PDF downloaded without payment or registration on 2026-11-05.
Source links:
https://d1i1jdw69xsqx0.cloudfront.net/digitalhimalaya/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_12_0304_02.pdf
Source access
Read or locate the original source at Kailash — Digital Himalaya archive
Rights and reading conditions
Curator-reported free reading is not a blanket republication licence. Follow each source's copyright and reuse conditions; third-party images may have different rights from the article text. No full texts or scans are reproduced here. Complete freely readable archival PDF downloaded without payment or registration on 2026-11-05.
Citation
Vivian Kondos (also published as Vivienne Kondos). Images of the Hindu Fierce Mother Goddess and Experiences of Mother. Kailash — Digital Himalaya archive. 1985. https://d1i1jdw69xsqx0.cloudfront.net/digitalhimalaya/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_12_0304_02.pdf
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.