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

礼敬时间之主，亦礼敬时间本身；礼敬大黑天（Mahākāla），礼敬死亡。礼敬勇者，礼敬毗罗跋陀罗（Vīrabhadra），礼敬带来消融的勇者，礼敬执三叉戟之主（Śūlin）。

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.