Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction, regarded in western culture as an evil deity, but in the philosophy of the east she is symbolic of an integral part of existance in the world of maya, or illusion. Ultimately, as conceived in Hindu history, Kali is the bringer of death and annihilation. She holds in two of her four arms a sword and a severed head, displaying her role as the inescapable bringer of mortality. The word 'kali' is the feminine form of the Sanskrit word for 'time' and like time itself, Kali makes all things possible and all things fleeting.