Page "Tara (Devi)" Paragraph 2

The similarities in appearances between Kali and Tara are striking and unmistakable.

They both are described as standing upon a supine Shiva in inert or corpse like form.

However, while Kali is described as black, Tara is described as blue.

Both wear minimal clothing, however Tara wears a tiger skin skirt, while Kali wears only a girdle of severed human arms.

Both wear a necklace of severed human heads and the previously mentioned girdle of arms.

Both have a lolling tongue, and blood oozes from their mouths.

Their appearances are so strikingly similar that it is easy to mistake one for the other.

Indeed, they are often said to be manifestations of each other ; for example, in their thousand-name hymns they share many epithets as well as having each others names.

Tara, for example, is called Kalika, Ugra-kali, Mahakali, and Bhadra-kali.

Tara is said to be more approachable to the devotee ( Bhakta ) or Tantrika because of her maternal instincts ; however a large population of Bengali Hindus approach Kali herself as " Ma " or " mother ".