Kala Bhairava Ashtakam: The Exact Words, Line by Line

Eight verses to the Lord of Time. Here is every word in the original Sanskrit, how to say it, and what it actually means.

Why Timeless Teachings

Sacred words travel far. Most of us first meet a mantra as a sound in a video, or as a loose English line on a poster. The sound can still move you. But when you know exactly what you are saying, the words stop being a spell you repeat and become a meaning you live with.

Timeless Teachings is a series for that. Each article gives a sacred text exactly as it is written, a transliteration you can read aloud, the meaning of every word, and a faithful translation. My own reflection comes after the text, clearly marked as mine, so you can always tell the teaching apart from the teacher.

We begin with a hymn I return to often: the Kala Bhairava Ashtakam.

Who is Kala Bhairava?

Kala Bhairava is Shiva in his fierce form. Kāla (काल) means time, and also death, because time is what ends every form. Bhairava (भैरव) means the fearsome one, and in the Shaiva traditions it also names the state beyond fear.

In the Puranic telling, Bhairava appears from Shiva to humble the pride of Brahma, the creator, and severs one of his five heads. The skull clings to Bhairava's hand as he wanders, until he reaches Kashi (Varanasi), where it finally falls away. Ever since, Kala Bhairava has been honoured as the guardian of Kashi. Pilgrims there still visit his temple to ask his blessing.

He is shown dark-bodied and sky-clad, with a trident, a garland of skulls and a dog as his companion. The images are fierce on purpose. They point to what cannot be bargained with: time, and the truth it eventually reveals.

About the hymn

• Name: Kālabhairavāṣṭakam (कालभैरवाष्टकम्), "eight verses to Kala Bhairava".
• Author: traditionally attributed to Adi Shankaracharya (8th century CE). The closing line names him. As with many hymns carrying his name, scholars cannot confirm the authorship.
• Structure: eight verses of praise, then a ninth verse describing the fruit of reciting it.
• Metre: pañcacāmara, sixteen syllables a line in a steady short-long beat (da-DUM da-DUM), the same metre as the Shiva Tandava Stotram. It is why the hymn feels like a drum.
• Refrain: every verse ends kāśikāpurādhinātha-kālabhairavaṃ bhaje: "I worship Kalabhairava, supreme lord of the city of Kashi."

How to read the verses

Each verse below has four layers. The Devanagari is the original script. The transliteration (IAST, the standard scholarly system) shows exactly how it sounds. Open How to say it for a simple phonetic version and Word by word for the meaning of each word. The translation follows the Sanskrit closely and adds nothing.

A quick guide to the phonetic lines: a double vowel is long (aa as in father, ee as in see, oo as in moon). e sounds as in day and o as in go. ri is a short, light r-sound. gy is how most Indian teachers pronounce jñ.

My reflection: the Lord of Time and the reel

This section is my own reading, not part of the hymn.

In the Projector Theory, your life is light passing through a reel of imprints, the samskaras, and appearing on the screen as your days. Look closely at that reel and you'll find it is made of time. A samskara is a past moment that never finished. It keeps playing in the present, so the old scene keeps showing up in new places.

The hymn calls Bhairava kālakāla, the Time of time, the death of Death. He is not inside the film. He is the light the film runs through. Time can end every scene, but it cannot touch the light that shows them.

The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, the text much of my meditation teaching draws on, is a dialogue in which Bhairava offers the Goddess 112 ways to rest as that light. Commentators in the Kashmir Shaiva tradition read the three syllables of his name as three movements: bha for bharaṇa, sustaining; ra for ravaṇa, withdrawing; and va for vamana, projecting. To me that is the projector itself: it casts the movie, holds it on the screen, and draws it back into the light.

So when the fifth verse praises him as karma-pāśa-mocaka, the one who frees us from the noose of karma, I hear an invitation, not a promise. Every time you rest as the witness behind the scene, the reel loses a little of its grip.

How it can help

There are three ways to look at what this hymn offers: what the text itself says, how the tradition uses it, and what the practice of chanting does in the body and mind.

What the hymn says

The ninth verse names its own fruit. It calls the hymn jñāna-mukti-sādhana, a means to knowledge and liberation, and says it destroys śoka (grief), moha (delusion), dainya (misery), lobha (greed), kopa (anger) and tāpa (inner burning). Those are the hymn's words, offered in faith, not a guarantee. Look at the list closely, though. Every item on it is a samskara on the reel.

How the tradition uses it

• For courage and protection. Bhairava is the guardian of Kashi, and devotees chant to him when they feel afraid, unprotected or about to begin something new, including a journey.
• For discipline with time. As the Lord of Time, he is invoked when life feels delayed or stuck, or when procrastination keeps winning.
• On Kalashtami and in hard seasons. Many devotees chant on the eighth day of the waning moon. Some astrologers also suggest Bhairava worship during difficult Saturn periods, which in my own work is when old imprints tend to surface.
• For letting things end. Kala is the one who ends every form. The hymn is a natural companion when a relationship, a role or a version of yourself is finishing.

What the practice itself does

Chanting a steady, rhythmic text slows and lengthens the breath and gathers scattered attention into one channel. For many people that supports a calmer, more focused state. That is the same principle behind mantra in the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. The meaning matters too. When you know you are saying "the one who frees us from the noose of karma", the words become an intention you can feel, not just sounds.

Chanting is a spiritual and reflective practice. It may support calm and focus, but it is not medical or psychological treatment. If fear, grief or anger feels overwhelming, please also reach out to a qualified professional.

How to chant it

1. Sit comfortably with your spine upright. Take three slow breaths.
2. Begin slowly. Let the short-long beat carry you: da-DUM, da-DUM.
3. If the full verses feel like too much at first, chant only the refrain, kāśikāpurādhinātha-kālabhairavaṃ bhaje, nine times.
4. When you finish, don't get up. Sit in the silence the sound leaves behind for a minute. That silence is part of the practice.

A 21-day practice: chant the full hymn once each morning, or the refrain nine times, at the same time each day. Afterwards, write one line about what you noticed: a fear, a delay, something ready to end. Patterns become visible when you look at them daily.

Many chant the hymn on Kalashtami, the eighth day of the waning moon each month. Any day works. What matters is the attention you bring to it.

Sources and a note on accuracy

The Sanskrit follows the standard text attributed to Adi Shankaracharya. I checked it word by word against a published edition, and the only differences were in how nasal sounds are spelled (ं or ङ्/ञ्/न्/म्), which sound the same. Other editions carry small variant readings, such as sthiraṃ for sthitaṃ in verse 4; the word notes flag the ones that change the meaning. Word meanings follow the Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary. If you spot an error, please tell me and I'll correct it.

• Kalabhairava Ashtakam, text and notes: greenmesg.org and shlokam.org
• Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899)
• Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava or Divine Consciousness (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
• Kalabhairavashtakam, Wikipedia overview

Rest as the light

Time ends every scene. It has never touched the light that shows them.

Timeless Teachings shares sacred texts for study and personal practice, with respect for the traditions they come from. Meditation and mantra practice support reflection and wellbeing; they are not medical or psychological treatment and do not replace professional care.