Kali
Kali is a Hindu goddess in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Called "Destructrix" (sometimes Parvati) she actually sees more veneration than Shiva. 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, but it was immortalized as the macabre depiction in Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom.
"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.