[1][2] It is not uncommon to find the names Kali and Kalaratri being used interchangeably,[3] although these two deities are argued to be separate entities by some.

[5] The seventh day of Navaratri in particular is dedicated to her, and she is considered the fiercest form of the goddess, her appearance itself invoking fear.

This form of the goddess is believed to be the destroyer of all demon entities, ghosts, evil spirits and negative energies, who are said to flee upon knowing of her arrival.

Kalaratri is also known as Shubankari (शुभंकरी), meaning auspicious in Sanskrit, due to the belief that she always provides positive results to her devotees.

“.....in her embodied form, a black image, of bloody mouth and bloody eyes, wearing crimson garlands and smeared with crimson unguents, attired in a single piece of red cloth, with a noose in hand, and resembling an elderly lady, employed in chanting a dismal note and standing full before their eyes.”[10] This reference is seen to depict Kalaratri as the personification of the horrors of war.

Chapter 1 of the Durga Saptashati, verse 75, uses the term Kalaratri to describe Devi:[11]prakṛtistvaṃca sarvasya guṇatraya vibhāvinī kāḷarātrirmahārātrirmoharātriśca dāruṇāYou are the primordial cause of everythingBringing into force the three qualities (sattva, rajas and tamas)You are the dark might of periodic dissolutionYou are the great night of final dissolution and the terrible night of delusion.The Skanda Purana describes Shiva beseeching his wife, Parvati, to help the gods when they are terrorised by the demon-king, Durgamasur.

She accepts and sends Goddess Kalaratri, "...a female whose beauty bewitched the inhabitants of the three worlds [...] by the breath of her mouth she reduced them to ashes.

She is described as having two arms, holding a scimitar and a blood-filled skull cup, and she eventually kills the demon king, Shumbha.

A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः । तस्य पत्नीति - काली । kālaḥ śivaḥ । tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his wife is Kāli."

The second part of the word kalaratri, is ratri, night, and its origins can be traced to the oldest of the Vedas, the Rigveda and its hymn, Ratrisukta.

The sage Kushika, while absorbed in meditation was said to have realised the enveloping power of darkness and thus invoked Ratri (night) as an all-powerful goddess in the form of the hymn.

Each period of the night, according to Tantric tradition, is under the sway of a particular terrifying goddess who grants a particular desire to the aspirant.

The word kalaratriin Tantra refers to the darkness of night, a state normally frightening to ordinary individuals, but considered beneficial to worshippers of the Goddess.

[citation needed] Invoking Kalaratri is said to empower the devotee with the devouring quality of time and the all-consuming nature of night, thus allowing all obstacles to be overcome and guaranteeing success in all undertakings.

Parvati heard their prayer while she was bathing, so she created another goddess, Chandi (Ambika) to assist the gods by vanquishing the demons.

Riding a powerful donkey, Kalaratri chased the demons Chanda and Munda and brought them to Kali after catching and incarcerating them.

At the time of final dissolution, all the creatures of the world seek shelter, protection and refuge onto the lap of the mother goddess.

Yet another legend recounts that, there was a demon named Durgasur who, wanting to destroy the world, drove away all the devas from Swarg and snatched four Vedas.