Kali

Kali is a Hindu goddess in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Called "Destructrix" (sometimes Parvati) she actually sees more veneration than Shiva (although this is regional, Shiva remains king of Uttar Pradesh in the north where That Movie takes place). Some of her more-... enthusiastic followers joined the Thugee movement in India, basically Indian Assassins; although some Muslims joined as well. Either way the Brits and local authorities (often Muslim) put a brutal end to that shit.

Okay, we'll get this out of the way: most of /tg/ got here based on the macabre depiction in Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom, which then fanned out to late-first-edition Dungeons & Dragons modules. Although Deities & Demigods beat Spielberg to it.

"A fanged maw with a long coiling tongue lapping up drops of blood", according to Reddit. Based. So, so based. Advise not to put your dick in it, though. That was based on an account where Kali drank the blood from the corpse of a powerful demon, Raktabija, to prevent the drops from becoming more copies of that demon.

Hinduism is a diverse phenomenon, we must stress. How this or that god is viewed will depend on one's location and on one's specific approach to the gods. For most Hindus: Kali is an endless primordial force of vengeance, eternity, liberation from suffering, and protection against evil. Compare, the Satan in Judaism: sometimes God's prosecuting angel, sometimes an ex-angel.

Although Kali always does look frightening, for Hindus that's to represent her wrath and power; against evil.

/tv/ Relevance

Naturally a goddess on the negative side of the ledger, in non-Hindus' storytelling, is going to be an antagonist. Temple of Doom was the least of it.

Dungeons & Dragons

Kali
Skull
Aliases	The Black Mother
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Divine Rank	Intermediate Goddess
Pantheon	Indian
Portfolio	Death, life
Home Plane	Caverns of the Skull (Abyss)
Worshippers	Assassins, murderers

Kali rules at least one layer on The Abyss. Rick Swan described layer 500 in Tales of the Outer Planes, a jungle like Demogorgon's but India-themed. Late in 2e, Planescape gave her another layer, this one more cave-themed, we guess because the Temple of Doom generation had forgotten that the movie was easily the weakest in the series (up to the 1990s) and wanted to adventure somewhere like it.

Ravenloft

Kali
Skulls strung together in a leather necklace
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Divine Rank	Unknown
Pantheon	Ravenloft
Portfolio	Creation, death, destruction, life
Domains	Destruction, Evil, Healing, Trickery
Home Plane	Unknown
Worshippers	People of Sri Raji
Favoured Weapon	Sap

In Ravenloft, Kali is worshipped in the domain of Sri Raji, with the local Darklord Arijani being her high priest. Every day one person from the domain is chosen and sacrificed to Kali, and by that we mean eaten alive by Arijani. After the Grand Conjunction, her worship became more common as the people saw the Grand Conjunction as the time Kali destroyed the old world and birthed it anew.