KA-ATA-KILLA: Pre-Inca Moon goddess worshipped around Lake Titicaca.

KADI: Assyro-Babylonian Earth goddess of Der. Depicted as a snake, sometimes with human breasts.

KADOMAS, THE: see DAKINIS.

KADRU: Hindu. Mother of the NAGAS, the Serpent Race; wife of Kasyapa.

KAGAURAHA: Melanesian, San Cristoval. Snake goddess, representing the creative force; she received both animal and human sacrifice.

KAHASUMA: Hindu. Chief goddess of the Todas, a primitive tribe of the Neelgererry Hills. Wife of Kamataraya.

KAIKILANI: Polynesian. A beautiful Hawaiian girl with whom the fertility god Lono fell in love. She became a goddess, and they lived happily, surf-bathing in Kealakekua Bay, till he killed her in a jealous rage when he doubted her fidelity. Mad with remorse, he rampaged about the island and finally left, promising to return on a floating island of plenty. Hawaiian annual rituals at the start of the fertile season dramatized his story.

KAKINI: see DAKINI.

KALI: Hindu, Tibetan, Nepalese. One of the aspects of DEVI. Often called Kali Ma ('the Black Mother'). A terrible but necessary destroyer, particularly of demons, but also a powerful creative force, much misunderstood in the West. 'Kali herself, in her positive and non-terrIble aspect, is a spiritual figure that for freedom and independence has no equal in. the West' (Erich Neumann). To her worshippers, for example, violence against any woman is forbidden, since all are representatives of the goddess. Her rituals, many of them orgiastic, are intended to put the worshipper in tune with the feminine essence at all levels; for their description by a priest of Kali, see Durdin-Robenson, Goddesses of India, pp.199-201. Wife of Shiva, whom she is said to have subdued. Apparently an early war goddess absorbed into the Hindu pantheon as the creator or mother of Shiva, subsequently marrying him. In Bengal she is seen as mother to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu; the creator-destroyer womb of all things. Calcutta (Kali-ghat) is named after her. Said to have invented the Sanskrit alphabet and to have one letter on each of the skulls of her necklace. Depicted with bare breasts, sometimes naked, black or dark-complexioned, loose-haired, with four arms -one holding a sword, another the severed head of Raktavija, chief of the demon army; the other two hands encourage her worshippers. (In other aspects she may have more arms.) She wears a necklace of skulls, and her earrings are two corpses. Wednesday is holy to her.

KALINDI: Hindu. One of the later wives of Krishna.

KALMA: Finno-Ugric death goddess, daughter of Tuoni and TUONETAR.

KAMASHI: ('Wanton-Eyed') Hindu. One of the bernign aspects of PARVATI; probably an early fertility goddess.

KAMIKAZE: ('Divine Wind') Japanese air goddess. The kamikaze pilots of World War II were dedicated to her.

KAMRUSEPAS: Hittite goddess of healing and magic.

KAMI-MUSUMI ('Divine Generative Force') Japanese goddess who collected and sowed the seeds produced by the food goddess OGETSU-HIME. She also revived the god of medicine, O-Kuni-Nushi, when his jealous brothers killed him.

KANA-YAMA-HIME: Japanese goddess of mountain minerals, with male counterpart Kana-Yama-Hiko.

KANGRA GODDESS, THE: Hindu. The Rajahs of Kangra claim descent from the perspiration of her brow.

KANYA: ('Girl') One of the most ancient Hindu goddesses; the constellation Virgo.

KARA: Teutonic. A VALKYRIE, lover of the mortal Helgi, she helped him in battle by hovering above him and charming his enemies with song; but during one such battle Helgi accidentally killed her.

KARAKAROOK: Australian aborigine, Victoria. A goddess who descended to the Earth to defend women who were attacked by snakes when they left camp to dig for yams. She killed the snakes with her huge stick till it broke, then gave the broken pieces to the women.

KARITEIMO, KISHIBOJIN: Originally an Indian Buddhist demoness who devoured children, she became a protectress of children, and her cult spread to China and Japan. Depicted standing with a baby at her breast and holding a flower of happiness, or seated surrounded by children.

KATHIRAT, THE: Syrian goddesses of weddings and childbearing.

KAYA-NU-HIME: ('Princess of Grass') Japanese goddess of fields and meadows. Also called Nu-Zuchi.

KEBEHUT: Egyptian goddess of freshness, daughter of Anubis.

KEDESH, QEDESHET: A Syrian goddess of life and health, who was worshipped in Egypt. Depicted as standing naked on a walking lion, with a mirror and lotus blossoms in her left hand and two serpents in her right. Overlaps with HATHOR and ASHTART.

KEFA: Egyptian. The Mother of Time, associated with the constellation Ursa Major.

KENEMET: An early Egyptian mother goddess, whose symbol was an ape; later replaced by MUT.

KERES, THE: Greek. The beings who carried out the will of the Fates or MOERAE. They would pounce on the dying at the appointed hour, and were known as the Dogs of Hades. Hovering especially over battles, they had rinning faces and sharp teeth, wore red robes and cried out dismally as they despatched the wounded.

KEYURI: A Hindu and Tibetan cemetery goddess.

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©1987 Janet & Stewart Farrar