Shloka 78

अध्याय ९६: शरभ-प्रादुर्भावः, नृसिंह-दर्पशमनम्, विष्णोः शिवस्तुतिः, फलश्रुति

Devanagari script

कालकालाय कालाय महाकालाय मृत्यवे वीराय वीरभद्राय क्षयद्वीराय शूलिने

Transliteration

kālakālāya kālāya mahākālāya mṛtyave vīrāya vīrabhadrāya kṣayadvīrāya śūline

Translation

കാലത്തിനും കാലനായവനേ, സ്വയം കാലം, മഹാകാലം, മരണവും—നിനക്ക് നമസ്കാരം. വീരാ, വീരഭദ്രാ, ക്ഷയകരനായ വീരാ, ശൂലധാരിയായ പ്രഭുവേ നമസ്കാരം।

Word by Word

• कालकालाय: to the controller of Time (the one who subdues Time)

• कालाय: to Time (as the cosmic principle)

• महाकालाय: to Mahākāla, the Great Time (Shiva as the Absolute beyond time)

• मृत्यवे: to Death (as the power of ending/withdrawal)

• वीराय: to the heroic Lord

• वीरभद्राय: to Vīrabhadra (Shiva’s fierce auspicious manifestation)

• क्षयद्वीराय: to the hero of dissolution/destruction (agent of kṣaya, cosmic decay)

• शूलिने: to the trident-bearer (Shiva)

Speaker

Suta Goswami (narrating a Shiva-stuti within the Linga Purana’s discourse)

Characters & Entities

• Shiva
• Mahakala
• Virabhadra

FAQs

What is the importance of this verse in the context of Linga worship?

It frames the Linga as Pati—Shiva who transcends and governs kāla (time) and mṛtyu (death); worship of the Linga is thus worship of the power that liberates the pashu (soul) from the pasha (bondage) of temporality and fear of death.

How does this verse describe the nature of Shiva (Shiva-tattva)?

Shiva is praised both as Kāla (the immanent cosmic force) and as Kālakāla/Mahākāla (the transcendent Lord who overrules time), including as the fierce yet auspicious Vīrabhadra—showing Shiva-tattva as simultaneously beyond the world and actively governing dissolution and protection.

What ritualistic or Yogic practice is highlighted here?

A nāma-japa style stuti: repeating these epithets (Mahākāla, Kālakāla, Śūlin) as mantra-like contemplation, a Pāśupata-oriented meditation on impermanence and dissolution that turns the mind from pasha toward Pati.