Kālanemi

Kālanemi is one of the most powerful asura generals in the Purāṇas. The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Matsya Mahā Purāṇa and Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa all speak of him. In each he is a hard enemy of the devas, and Bhagavān Viṣṇu is the one who deals with him. The Purāṇas also say that he was reborn as Kaṃsa, the king of Mathurā.

His name has two parts. Kāla means time or death, and nemi means the rim of a wheel. Together they mean “the rim of the wheel of time”.

Who he was in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa

In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa he is a commander in the war that followed the samudra manthana (the churning of the ocean). In the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa he is one of the ten chief commanders of the army of Tārakāsura. He is the one behind the cleverest and most dangerous move of the whole war, the sūrya-māyā that made the deva forces attack each other. After the defeat of the devas, Tārakāsura made him Yama, in the role of the deva of death. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 21)

The Tāraka war: the Kaumārika account

In the great war between the devas and the forces of Tārakāsura, Kālanemi is named among the ten chief daitya commanders. The others are Graṣaṇa, Mahiṣa, Virūpākṣa, Śumbha, Niśumbha, Jambha, Vātāpi, Tāmra and Triguṇa. (Chapter 16)

The sūrya-māyā: many false suns

Kālanemi’s best-known act in the war was his use of the śambara-astra, a weapon of great illusion. With it he made many false suns in the sky over the battlefield. The sky seemed full of many suns instead of one. The whole battlefield fell into confusion. The deva forces could not tell directions or positions and began to attack each other. This did great harm to the devas before it was seen through and met. (Chapter 18)

Fighting the Aśvinīkumāras

Kālanemi also fought the Aśvinīkumāras, the divine physicians who fought in the deva army. The weapons of Bhagavān Viṣṇu came in against him. Kālanemi came through this phase of the fight alive, but his forces in that part of the battle were held back. (Chapter 19)

Meeting Viṣṇu: spared

Bhagavān Viṣṇu fought many daitya commanders in the war. He wounded and overcame those who were fated to die at the hands of others. Mahiṣa and Śumbha-Niśumbha were left alive on purpose, because they were fated to die at the hands of a woman. Kālanemi too was not killed in this fight. (Chapters 19–20)

As Tāraka’s Yama

After the devas were finally beaten, Tārakāsura shared out the offices of all the lokapālas (guardians of the worlds) among his daitya generals. Kālanemi was made Yama, the lord of death. The deva of death had been replaced in his own office by one of Tāraka’s commanders. (Chapter 21)

The amṛta war: the Kedāra account

In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Kālanemi is the chief general of the asura forces in the deva-asura war that followed the samudra manthana. The devas had received amṛta (the drink of deathlessness) and grew very strong. They marched against the asuras. The asuras had the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā (the knowledge that revives the dead) of Śukrācārya, which brought back every asura who fell.

Kālanemi led the asura side through this bitter war of wearing down. He fought the devas face to face. Battle after battle ended with no result, because the Mṛtasañjīvanī kept the asura army at full strength. Only the direct step of Bhagavān Viṣṇu broke this cycle. Bhagavān Viṣṇu fought Kālanemi himself and killed him. The Mṛtasañjīvanī could not undo a death at the hand of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. This cleared the way for the Vāmana avatāra and for Bali’s removal to Sutala. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 13–14)

The Matsya Purāṇa account: the Tārakāmaya Yuddha

Coming into battle (Chapter 175)

In the Tārakāmaya Yuddha, the great war in which the dānava armies of Tārakāsura fought the thirty-three devas, the fight had reached a critical point. The tāmasa-māyā of Indra had been met by the Aurva-agni called up by Maya. At that moment Kālanemi came onto the battlefield, a being of great size.

  • He had one hundred heads, each roaring war cries that shook the three worlds.
  • He had one hundred arms, each holding a different weapon.
  • His whole form blazed like a second Nārāyaṇa in tejas (radiance) and power.

The deva ranks shrank back before he had struck a single blow. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 175)

The defeat of the eight lokapālakas (Chapter 176)

Kālanemi moved steadily through the deva army. He challenged each lokapālaka in turn and beat him, and the dānavas ruled the field.

  1. Indra, king of the devas and lord of the east
  2. Varuṇa, lord of the waters and of the west
  3. Kubera, lord of wealth and of the north
  4. Yama, lord of dharma and of the south
  5. Candra, the deva of the moon
  6. Sūrya, the deva of the sun
  7. Agni, the deva of fire
  8. Vāyu, the deva of wind

All eight lokapālakas fell before Kālanemi. The whole deva army ran in every direction, with no leader and broken. The three worlds faced the loss of everything to the dānavas. The devas had nothing else left, so they turned to Bhagavān Viṣṇu as their only shelter. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 176)

Slain by the Sudarśana cakra (Chapter 177)

Bhagavān Viṣṇu came down from his own abode and fought Kālanemi himself. The fight was fearful. Kālanemi struck with all hundred arms and used every weapon that had routed the lokapālakas. Against Bhagavān Viṣṇu every blow failed.

Garuḍa helped Bhagavān Viṣṇu in the fight. He took on the forces of Kālanemi from the sides and opened the moment for the Sudarśana to be sent. Bhagavān Viṣṇu sent the Sudarśana cakra, born from the gathered disc of the sun, with twelve edges blazing like a thousand suns. It struck Kālanemi true. The hundred heads fell. The hundred arms were cut off. Kālanemi collapsed and his life left him. When he died, the dānava forces broke and fled. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 177)

The Vāmana Purāṇa account

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 47) says that Bhagavān Viṣṇu killed Kālanemi in the time when Bali ruled the three worlds. This was the time between the defeat of the devas and the Vāmana avatāra. What Kālanemi did while the asuras were on top called for the direct step of Bhagavān Viṣṇu even in that gap. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 47)

Rebirth as Kaṃsa

The Purāṇas say that Kālanemi was reborn as Kaṃsa, the cruel king of Mathurā. Kaṃsa was the maternal uncle of Kṛṣṇa and was killed by Kṛṣṇa himself. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa names Kālanemi as a former birth of Kaṃsa. In the Matsya Purāṇa account, Kālanemi is a general of the forces of Tārakāsura.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 16–21
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 13–14
  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 175–177
  • Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 47
  • Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (the reference to Kaṃsa’s earlier birth)