0050. Kali and Raktabija

From Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi, online at: Hathi Trust.

Notes. Devi includes this story about the goddess Kali as part of her story about Ratnakar. You can read more about Kali at Wikipedia, and there is also an article about the demon Raktabija.

Summary: This is the story of how Kali defeated the demon Raktabija.

Read the story below:

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KALI AND RAKTABIJA

(Kali Killing Raktabija)

In distant ages a demon infested the earth and devoured mankind as soon as created. The water did not reach his waist even in the most unfathomable parts of the ocean, so terrific a monster was he. He strode over the world unrestrained, rioting in the destruction of the human race, until the Goddess came to the rescue. 

She attacked the demon and cut him down, but from every drop of his blood another demon arose; and though the Goddess continued to cut down these new-created demons with wonderful adroitness, fresh broods of demons sprang from their blood, as from that of their progenitors. 

But the Goddess is furnished with a tongue of extraordinary dimensions, and when she found the drops of blood thus rapidly changing into demons, she promptly licked them away after every blow, and thus put an end to the demoniac race.