I know the Goddess. I say the goddess, because in fact, there is only one. I’ve seen her in my dreams – her golden hair, blue and red robe – and I also see her every day.
Since arriving here two years ago the goddess has been my constant companion. It wasn’t intentional that she become my guide. I didn’t come to Kolkata for her, but pretty quickly I realised that my whole journey to India had only been about her.
When the goddess captures you, there is no escape. I say this with a smile, because I have gladly let her capture me and accepted my ‘fate’.
Everywhere I go in this city, there is the goddess in one form or another. Whether it is in the shakti peethas which form the centre around which all life here revolves, or in the sacred rivers that nourish, cleanse and flow through her - she is an inseparable part of life.
Kolkata no doubt conjures many different imaginings in people’s minds, but the one constant is Kali - the dark manifestation of the goddess. Kolkata is Kali’s town, I know this to be true. Kolkata may be a British construct, but her roots are long, winding their way through the timeless subcontinental landscape.
This is one of the reasons why I fell in love with this India - the total reverence for the mother goddess. The worship and rituals that are so far removed from the austere and chaste worship of religious dieties by the West. Here the world is an acceptable chaos, exactly that which the goddess emerged out of at the beginning of time.
~ Marc Vincent