[INDOLOGY] Fwd: Gayatri mantras to time

[Shrikant Bahulkar]

Kaalabhairava might have some relation with Kaalabhairava temple in
Varanasi.

On Wed, 22 Oct 2025, 19:03 Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY, <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu>
> Date: Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 6:26 AM
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Gayatri mantras to time
> To: Nataliya Yanchevskaya <markandeia at gmail.com>
>
>
> This is perhaps similar to Kāleśvara. The Śiva in Ujjain is called
> Mahākāleśvara.
>
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
>
> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 12:50 AM Nataliya Yanchevskaya via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20251022/ee5b4cf7/attachment.htm>