The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1208 page)

gh
a (
Calcutta
). The Thugs were devotees of K
l
, to whom they offered worship before committing murderous theft. Many Hindus see K
l
as representing the realities of death and time; she stands for the frightening, painful side of life which all who desire to progress spiritually must face and overcome.
In
Tantrism
K
l
is depicted as dancing upon the ithyphallic corpse of
iva, a form expressing the passive consciousness (
puru
a
) and dynamic energy (
prak
ti
) which comprise the universe. K
l
is the central deity of the K