[INDOLOGY] Gayatri mantras to time

[Nataliya Yanchevskaya]

Dear Harry (if I may),
I don't think you'll find any Gayatri mantra specifically dedicated to
time, though time may come up in various mantras to Bhairava (like this
one), Rudra, or Shiva.

I wonder what the source of this particular mantra is?

Regarding kālakāla: It first appears in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.2 and
6.16) as an epithet of Rudra. However, Olivelle's edition has *kālakāra*
instead – "the maker of time."
I suspect *kālakāla* may be a corruption that later shows up in the Śiva
Purāṇa as an epithet of Śiva.

So in the Upanishadic context, I'd definitely translate *kālakāla* as "Time
of Time" (meaning Rudra is the lord of time, or "time beyond time").

In the Purāṇas, it's more like "Slayer of Death" or "Death of Death." As
far as I remember, there is a Purāṇic story explaining this epithet where
Shiva burns Kāla—who's clearly Yama, the god of death.
Generally speaking, unless I'm specifically working with Purāṇic mythology,
I prefer the translation "Time of Time."

"Death of Time" is, of course, grammatically possible, but it ascribes to
Rudra/Shiva/Bhairava a function he does not possess.

Best wishes,
Nataliya

On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 7:15 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear list members,
>
> 1) I was asked to find any gayatri mantras to time or that mention
> time. Does anyone know of any or have ideas about where to look.  I've
> looked in GRETIL and the Muktbodha searchable library but didn't find
> any.
>
> )In the following Gayatri mantra from the internet
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIGR0cpiyc
>
>  oṁ kāla-kālāya vidmahe
> kālātītāya dhīmahi
> tan no kāla-bhairavaḥ pracodayāt
>
> How would you translate kāla-kāla in the first line. Someone suggested
> "death of time".  Is that a possible translation.
>
> Thanks,
> Harry Spier
>
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