PLATE SEVEN

“The followers and servants of the dacoit chief bound Jada Bharata
with ropes and brought him to the temple of the goddess Kali. All the
thieves, according to their imaginative ritual for killing animalistic men,
bathed, dressed and decorated Jada Bharata with ornaments befitting an
animal. Then they brought him before the goddess Kali, and began
worshiping the deity with various offerings before killing the man-
animal. At this time, one of the thieves, acting as the chief priest, was
ready to offer the blood of Jada Bharata, whom they imagined to be an
animal-man, to the goddess Kali to drink as a liquor. He therefore took
up a very fearsome sword, which was very sharp and, consecrating it by
the mantra of Bhadra Kali, raised it to kill Jada Bharata. The goddess
Kali could immediately understand that these sinful dacoits were about
to kill a great devotee of the Lord, and she could not bear this. Suddenly
the deity’s body burst asunder, and the goddess Kali personally emerged
from it in a body burning with an intense and intolerable effulgence. In-
tolerant of the offenses committed, the infuriated goddess Kali flashed
her eyes and displayed her fierce and curved teeth. Her reddish eyes
glowed, and she displayed her fearsome features. She assumed a
frightening body, as if she were prepared to destroy the entire creation.
Leaping violently from the altar, she immediately decapitated all the
rogues and thieves with the very sword with which they had intended to
kill Jada Bharata. She then began to drink the hot blood that flowed from
the necks of the beheaded rogues and thieves as if this blood were liquor.
Indeed, she drank this intoxicant with her associates who were witches
and female demons. Becoming intoxicated with this blood, they all began
to sing very loudly and dance as though prepared to annihilate the entire
universe. At the same time, they began to play with the heads of the
rogues and thieves, tossing them about as if they were balls.”
(pp.322-329)
