Kālarūpa
Kālarūpa · kāla-rūpa, “whose form is time”
Kālarūpa, also called Kālarūpī, is the form of Bhagavān Śiva as Kāla, Time, spread across the sky. The Vāmana Purāṇa tells that when Daksha‘s yajña (fire ritual) was destroyed and the Yajña fled into the sky in the form of a deer, Maheśvara pursued it in the form of Time; and from that day Śaṅkara is renowned with half of himself as Jaṭādhara, the one with matted locks, and the other half as Kālarūpī in the sky. Tripurāntaka took this form for the welfare of the worlds. His body is the whole circle of the sky: each of his limbs is one of the twelve rāśis (signs of the zodiac), with the house of its graha and its share of the twenty-seven nakshatras (lunar mansions), and each limb is named under a different name of Śiva: Kāleśvara, Mahādeva, Vyomakeśa, Mahākāla, Īśvara, Parameśvara, the Svāmī and Maheśvara. Pulastya Maharshi teaches this form to Nārada in Chapter 5 of the Purāṇa.
How Bhagavān Śiva became Kālarūpa
When the fire of Bhagavān Śiva‘s three eyes had burned Daksha‘s yajñaśālā to ash and the sacred fires had gone out, the devatā of the Yajña took a divine deer form and flew up into the path of the sky together with Dakshiṇā. Seeing the Yajña running away, Maheśvara, in the form of Kāla, fixed the Pāśupatāstra on his bow and went after it. On that occasion, at the end of the yajña, Śaṅkara became renowned with half of his portion as Jaṭādhara and the other half as Kālarūpī in the sky.
Nārada asked: “Brahmarshi, you said that Śaṅkara appears in the path of the sky as Kālarūpī. Explain clearly the form, the marks and the nature of that one.” Pulastya answered: “Nārada, that Tripurāntaka, wishing the welfare of the worlds, became Kālarūpī and occupied the sky. Hear the form and the marks of that Kālarūpī.”
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5
The body of Kālarūpa
Pulastya gave the body of Kālarūpī limb by limb, from the head to the feet. Each limb is one rāśi, named with the graha whose house it is, together with its nakshatras and their pādas (quarters):
| Limb | Named as | Rāśi and its graha | Nakshatras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Kāleśvara | Mesha, the house of Kuja | Aśvinī, Bharaṇī and the first pāda of Kṛttikā |
| Face | Vṛshabha, the house of Śukra | the remaining three pādas of Kṛttikā, Rohiṇī and two pādas of Mṛgaśira | |
| Arms | Mahādeva | Mithuna, the house of Budha | the third and fourth pādas of Mṛgaśira, Ārdrā and the first three pādas of Punarvasu |
| Two sides | Vyomakeśa, “whose hair is the sky” | Karkaṭaka, the house of Candra | the last pāda of Punarvasu, Pushya and Āśleshā |
| Heart | Mahākāla | Siṃha, the house of Ravi | Maghā, Pūrvaphalgunī and the first pāda of Uttaraphalgunī |
| Belly | Kāla | Kanyā, the second house of Budha | the remaining three pādas of Uttaraphalgunī, Hasta and two pādas of Citrā |
| Navel, the path of the sky | Tulā, the second house of Śukra | the third and fourth pādas of Citrā, Svātī and three pādas of Viśākhā | |
| Private part | Kālarūpī | Vṛścika, the second house of Kuja | the fourth pāda of Viśākhā, Anurādhā and Jyeshṭhā |
| Thighs | Īśvara | Dhanus, the house of Bṛhaspati | Mūla, Pūrvāshāḍhā and the first pāda of Uttarāshāḍhā |
| Knees | Parameśvara | Makara, the house of Śani | the second, third and fourth pādas of Uttarāshāḍhā, Śravaṇa and two pādas of Dhanishṭhā |
| Shanks | the Svāmī | Kumbha, “the second house of Sūrya“ | the third and fourth pādas of Dhanishṭhā, Śatabhishak and three pādas of Pūrvābhādrā |
| Two feet, the path of the sky | Maheśvara | Mīna, the second house of Bṛhaspati | the last pāda of Pūrvābhādrā, Uttarābhādrā and Revatī |
So the twelve rāśis, from Mesha at the head to Mīna at the feet, and all twenty-seven nakshatras, from Aśvinī to Revatī, quarter by quarter, make up the one body of Śiva as Time.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5
The yajña-deer among the stars
Taking this endless form of Kāla, the Three-eyed one struck the yajña-deer with his arrows. By the force of those arrows the yajña-deer was freed from all its pains, and it remained in the sky together with the stars.
Nārada then asked about the twelve rāśis, and Pulastya told him the form of each and the places and things under its movement, from Mesha, shaped like a ram, to Mīna, like two fish joined together. He closed by saying that what he had told of the rāśis is very secret and ancient, not to be told to anyone. The whole account of the destruction of Daksha‘s yajña by Tryambaka Mahādeva, of which this teaching is a part, is supremely holy, brings puṇya (merit), drives away all pāpas (sins) and brings auspiciousness.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5
Kālarūpa in the Purāṇa’s stotras
When Brahmā and Vishṇu stood before the endless liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva in Dārukāvana, they praised him with joined palms, and among his names they called him Kālarūpa, “whose form is Time”: “Maheśvara, Maheśāna, Suvarṇāksha, Vṛshākapi, Dakshādhvara-nāśaka, Kālarūpa, namas to you! You are the beginning, the middle and the end of this world!”
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6
Mahākāla at Avantī
Mahākāla, the name under which the heart of Kālarūpī is given, is also the form in which Śaṅkara dwells at Avantī. On his tīrtha-yātrā (journey to holy places), Prahlāda came to the city of Avantī, dipped in the Śiprā, bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu, and saw Mahākāla, whose abode is the śmaśāna (cremation ground). In that place Śaṅkara, who brings all under his sway, takes the Mahākāla form, which is of tamoguṇa, and destroys all beings. There he protected King Śvetaki by burning Antaka, the destroyer of all beings, and there, with Umā, served by crores of pramatha gaṇas and deva gaṇas, he dwells in joy. Prahlāda had darśana (sacred sight) of Mahākāleśvara, who brings Kāla and Antaka to an end, the death of death, the one who put a nose-rope on Yama, of wondrous and varied deeds, Śmaśānavāsī, Jagatpati, the auspicious Triśūlī.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5–6, 57