Kali Puja, also known as Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja, is a festival originating from the Indian subcontinent, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. It is celebrated on the new moon day of the Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja or Kartika. The festival is especially popular in the region of West Bengal, and other places like Mithila and Anga of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, and Tripura, as well as the town of Titwala in Maharashtra, along with the neighbouring country of Bangladesh.
Goddess Kali
Artisan making an idol of goddess Kali at Kumortuli, Kolkata.
Idol of Boro Maa, Naihati
A Kali Puja pandal with a replica of the Kalighat Kali Temple icon.
Kali or Kalika is a major Hindu goddess associated with time, change, creation, power, destruction and death in Shaktism. Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition.
Angered goddess Kali trampling on god Shiva
A Tamil depiction of Kali.
Mahakali, goddess of time and death, depicted with a black complexion with ten heads, arms and legs.
Dakshina Kali, with Shiva devotedly at her foot.