Kālarātri (Attendant of Yama)

Kālarātri · kāla-rātri, “the night of death”

Kālarātri has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kālarātri.

Kālarātri, “the night of death”, is one of the fearsome beings who stand in the court of Yama Dharmarāja, who rules over all that lives. The Brahma Purāṇa tells that when the pāpīs (those who have done pāpa) are brought along the hard southern road into Yama’s presence, they see Kālarātri standing armed beside Mṛtyu and Mahāmārī.

In the court of Yama

The munis ask Vyāsa to tell in full how the pāpīs go along the southern road. Vyāsa tells how the merciless Yama-kiṅkaras drive them with blows of iron clubs and many weapons, and bring them to the city of the departed before Yama, reporting the karma each has done. With eyes closed by pāpa, they see Yama in his terrible form: eighteen-armed, black as collyrium, mounted on a great buffalo, holding every weapon, roaring like the cloud of pralaya.

Standing close by they see Mṛtyu, shining like the fire at the end of time. There too are Mahāmārī, the great pestilence, Kālarātri, and the diseases and hardships in many forms, holding śakti, śūla, astras, pāśa, cakra, aṅkuśa and khaḍga, with vajra-staffs, razors, quivers and bows beyond counting. The Yama-dūtas, cruel and black as collyrium, stand around as his retinue, and in that court the pāpīs see Yama and Citragupta, who instructs them with words of dharma.

This is how Yama and his court appear to those who have done pāpa. To the dharmātmās (the righteous) the same Yama appears with a gentle mind, as a father.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 215–216

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 215–216