Dance of Kali

A storyteller who is based in Bangalore, Simmy, suggested I record this story. This is my version of the battle that takes place between the goddess Kali and the demon Raktabija - I may redo this at some future point to add in the bits I left out (not having a great deal of time this evening).
There are some amazing Hindu myths, but I've always had a place in what's left of my heart for Kali since seeing an impressive wooden carving of her in a number of British films (who must all have used the same props store) when I was a child. perhaps that's a testimony to the power of some images to imprint themselves on consciousness! I wanted to include a picture of it on this page, but cannot find it anywhere online - so went for the lovely blue-skinned image instead.
There are a raft of ways to interpret this story, some of which I might add later. What is also interesting is the similarity between this tale and that of the Chinese deity Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor, who also faces down a demonic force which has overwhelmed the small number of Shen (deities) that existed in the early times by prolonged meditation and cultivation of the Tao. There is no blood guzzling in the Chinese story, but still an account of the misuse of magical powers to overthrow the divine order which leads to what was then an outside force coming to the aid of the deities.