Meaning and elaboration
Meaning: Adorning Herself with the Ear-ornaments Fashioned from the Corpses of the Undead.
Elaboration
Preta Deha Karna-Pura means "She whose ear-ornaments are formed from the bodies of Pretas, the restless dead." This name reveals a fierce and esoteric aspect of Mahakali. It shows her absolute supremacy over every plane of existence, including those states that human beings fear, reject, or call impure.
Dominion Over the Spirit World Preta refers to a departed being that remains restless, unsatisfied, and suspended between the worlds of the living and the dead. By wearing their bodies as ear-ornaments, Mahakali displays her dominion not only over birth and death in the physical sense, but also over the subtle realms of spirits and unseen beings. Nothing lies outside her sovereignty, whether visible or invisible.
Transmutation of the Mundane and Feared That she wears these forms as ornaments points to a profound spiritual alchemy. What the ordinary mind fears, avoids, or calls impure, such as the dead body and the restless spirit, is taken up by her power and transformed into something that has place, force, and meaning within the cosmic order. In her presence, even the terrible is not outside the Divine; it is absorbed, mastered, and given its proper place.
Symbol of Detachment and Non-Dual Power Her adornment with Preta bodies also shows her supreme detachment. She stands beyond the ordinary divisions of pure and impure, beautiful and ugly, auspicious and terrifying. For the sadhaka, this is a deep instruction: moksha does not come through clinging to one side of duality, but through seeing all existence as a manifestation of the Divine Mother. Even in what appears frightening or forbidden, her Shakti is present and active.
The Fierce Compassion Though the image is fierce, it also carries a form of fierce compassion. By drawing the Preta bodies into her own adornment, she may also be understood as granting those restless beings a final absorption into herself. The image speaks of a Mother who can reclaim, purify, and gather back even the most lost and troubled souls into her divine embrace.