Krishna and Kali

 धनुः पौष्पं मौर्वी मधुकरमयी पञ्च विशिखाः

वसन्तः सामन्तो मलयमरुदायोधनरथः।

तथाप्येकः सर्वं हिमगिरिसुते कामपि कृपां

अपाङ्गात्ते लब्ध्वा जगदिदमनङ्गो विजयते॥

dhanuḥ pauṣpaṁ maurvī madhukaramayī pañca viśikhāḥ

vasantaḥ sāmantou malayamarudāyodhanarathaḥ|

tathāpyekaḥ sarvaṁ himagirisute kāmapi kṛpāṁ

apāṅgātte labdhvā jagadidamanaṅgo vijayate||

O daughter of the snow-capped mountain! That Ananga whose bow is of flowers, whose bow string is of a row of bees, who has five arrows, who has as his feudatory Vasanta, and the Malaya breeze as his chariot, he, even though thus equipped, having obtained some grace from thy side glance, conquers all this world single-handed - Saundaryalahari, 6

In places in the tantrik tradition, the Krishna avatar of Vishnu is often identified with Kali. This reaches a peak in the Tantrarajatantra, where it is said that having already charmed the world of men as herself, Lalita took a male form as Krishna and then proceeded to enchant women. In this work, Krishna has six forms, identified with the six senses (including Mind). They are Kamaraja Gopala, Manmatha Gopala, Kandarpa Gopala, Makaraketana Gopala and Manobhava Gopala.

Their meditation images (dhyana according to the same work, describes them as being like dawn, with six arms, holding flute, noose, goad, sugar cane bow and a bowl of curds. These are the five arrows of Lalita and the bow and here Krishna is identified with Kameshvara, the Indian god of love, who is otherwise called Ananga, and, like Cupid, is armed with a bow.

The Kalivilasa Tantra, a Bengali work, states Krishna was born as the son of Devi who was golden (Gauri) and turned black when he was excited by passion. In the 10th Patala (Chapter) of the Todala Tantra, each of the ten Mahavidyas, forms of the supreme Goddess, has her own male counterpart with Vishnu's Dashavatara where Krishna is said to be of the same tattva as that of Kali. There are many images of Krishna in India which show him as fully black. An Indian commentator to the hymn to Kali called Karpuradistotra, goes further and says that there is a connection between the bija mantra of Kali and Krishna, although they are physically different. Whatever the truth of that identification, it is certain that to many ordinary folk in India, Krishna and Kali do have a resonance. Often you will see contemporary images of Krishna and Kali together in many temples. Krishna (and his tantrik counterpart Kameshvara) are moved by love (prema).

Once in the Shyama Rahasya Tantra, Shiva told Parvati that he would like to assume female form and she should be male and be the husband. She agreed and said that her thundercloud complexioned form of Bhadrakali would descend to earth as Krishna, while her attendants Dakini and Varnini would become Krishna’s friends Sridam and Vasudam. Shiva said he would descend in nine forms as Radha, daughter of Vrishabhanu and also as eight others like Rukmini, Satyabhama etc. who ultimately became the eight main wives (queens) of Krishna.

In Bramhandapuran Tripura Rahasyam

Oṃ Karāṅguli Nakhotpanna Nārāyaṇa Daśākṛtyai Namaḥ

Translation : Obeisances unto Mother Mahātripurasundarī, who manifested Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Balarāma along with the other incarnations of Viṣṇu from Her fingernails, to slay the demonic entities employed by Bhandāsura.

(80th name of Śrī Lalitā Sahasranāma)

As per Lalitopākhyāna, Śrī Lalitā Mahātripurasundarī manifested Lord Kṛṣṇa and His brother, Balabhadra from Her finger nails when Bhandāsura utilised his Dvivida astra and Rājāsura astra.

Previously, Śrī Lalitā defeated the Paulastya astra of Bhandāsura by sending Lord Kodaṇḍarāma accompanied by Lakṣmaṇa from Her index finger of Her left hand, who appeared resplendent and vanquished Rāvaṇa along with his younger brother Kumbhakarṇa and his son Meghanāda sent by Bhandāsura. Then the Dānava Bhaṇḍa sent his terrible astra of Dvivida. From it were born many monkeys with reddish-brown eyes. On account of anger their faces became extremely copper-coloured. Every one of them was on a par with Hanumān. They destroyed the army of Śāktis. 

They produced harsh and cruel Kreṃkāras (shrill sounds). These monkeys, who were multiple Dvividas, were strong and even striked fear into the hearts of the celestials. Seeing this calamity, Mother Śrī Lalitā manifested Tālāṅka(Balarāma) from Her middle finger of Her left hand. 

As per the description of the original text, Lord Balarāma appeared as white as the Kailāsa Mountain, adorned in blue garments with red eyes due to anger seeing His arch nemesis wreaking havoc on the battlefield. In no time, Lord Balarāma destroyed all those Dvividas much to the pleasure of the army of Śāktis of Śrī Lalitā Mahātripurasundarī.

Seeing this effort rendered futile by the All Powerful Mother, Bhaṇḍa discharged the Rājāsura missile. From that missile many demoniac kings came out such as Śiśupāla, Dantavaktra, Śālva, the king of Kāśi Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva, Rukmī, Śaṃbara, Pralamba, Bāṇasura, Kaṃsa, the wrestler Cāṇūra, Muṣṭika, Utpalaśekhara, Ariṣṭa, Dhenuka, Keśī, Pūtanā, Śakaṭa (cart), Tṛṇāvarta and other Asuras, the great asura named Naraka, the Asura Murā etc. Many of them rose up along with these armies with weapons in their arms.

In order to destroy all of them, the eternal Lord (Kṛṣṇa) originated from the ring finger of the lotus-like left hand of the All Powerful Mother Śrī Devī. He made a Caturvyūha (group of four deities). They became four distinct Beings viz.: Vāsudeva, Saṃkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. All of them had weapons lifted up. They destroyed all those great Asuras who were in the guise of kings of evil conduct. They had been functioning like a burden on the Earth giving discomfort to Mother Earth and thus Lord Kṛṣṇa easily wiped them out victoriously much to the frustration of the Dānava Bhaṇḍa