The literary representation of Goddess Kali in Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Kapalakundala (1866) presents a paradoxical image of a blood thirsty yet maternal goddess, which is foregrounded along with the trope of human sacrifice. While this theme of sacrifice highlights the larger gender politics of the novel, it also allows us to study the tension between the contending constituencies of Kali worshippers. The plot of Chatterji's novel revolves around the tragic fate of Kapalakundalaat the hands

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... f her adoptive "kapalika" father who sets out to punish his daughter's betrayal for she obstructs the ritual of human sacrifice. She rescues the captured Nabakumar and eventually escapes with him from the island after a brief marriage ritual. The kapalika's revenge is finally realized when due to a chain of events Nabakumar suspects his wife of committing adultery and proceeds to kill her under his father-in-law's instructions. Even though Nabakumar's doubts are dispelled at the last moment when Kapalakundala states the fact of her chance meeting with his first wife, the tragedy becomes inevitable as she decides to commit suicide as a gesture of sacrificing herself to the goddess.