Meaning and elaboration
Meaning: She whose Tongue is Frenzied and Hanging Out.
Elaboration
Lola-Jihva means "She whose tongue (Jihvā) is frenzied, quivering, or hanging out (Lolā)." In Kali's iconography, this extended tongue is one of her most striking and symbolically charged features. It is not a grotesque embellishment, but a profound spiritual sign layered with philosophical meaning.
The Iconography of the Tongue Kali is almost universally depicted with a long, often blood-red tongue hanging out of her mouth, sometimes dripping. This image is not meant as mere horror or spectacle. It signifies her fierce hunger for the rasa, the essential substance of the universe, and her power to consume every duality.
Devourer of Ego and Illusion The extended tongue, especially when shown licking blood, symbolizes her destruction of demonic forces, above all the demon Raktabīja, whose every drop of blood generated new demons. Kali's tongue licked up the blood before it could fall, preventing any further rise of forces opposed to dharma. On the philosophical level, this represents her devouring the seeds of ego, ignorance, and illusion (māyā) in her devotees before they can arise again.
Shame and Self-Consuming Nature One well-known interpretation suggests that her tongue hangs out in "shame" or astonishment after she accidentally steps on her consort Shiva, who lies prostrate beneath her. This is not ordinary human shame, but a divine moment of recognition after the temporary overextension of her destructive power. It shows that even in her fiercest form she remains united with the stillness of Shiva, with Shakti, the dynamic aspect, recognizing Shiva, the static principle.
Cosmic Devourer Beyond this immediate symbolism, Lola-Jihva also reveals Kali as the Cosmic Devourer. Her open mouth and extended tongue signify her ceaseless devouring of time, space, and all creation. She is the force that consumes everything and returns it to its primal essence, reminding the devotee of the impermanence of all manifested phenomena and of the universe's final reabsorption into the Divine Mother.