Kalabhairava Ashtakam — verse 4
The verse where the terrifying deity is called tender to his devotees, and a belt of small gold bells is heard at his waist.
Kalabhairava Ashtakam verse 4edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
Read in another script
Meaning
Giver of both enjoyment and release; of excellent and lovely form; tender toward his devotees, unmoving, having the whole world for his body; at whose waist a girdle of golden bells gleams and sweetly rings — I worship Kala Bhairava, lord of the city of Kashi.
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Repetitions
- 1 · 3
- Time
- brahma muhurta, sandhya
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Word by word
- भुक्तिमुक्तिदायकम्bhuktimuktidāyakam
- giver of enjoyment and of liberation(acc. sg.)
- प्रशस्तचारुविग्रहम्praśastacāruvigraham
- of excellent and lovely form(acc. sg.)
- भक्तवत्सलम्bhaktavatsalam
- tender toward his devotees(acc. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.743
- स्थिरम्sthiram
- steady, unmoving(acc. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.1264
- समस्तलोकविग्रहम्samastalokavigraham
- whose body is all the worlds(acc. sg.)
- निक्वणत्nikvaṇat
- ringing, sounding(pres. part.)
- मनोज्ञहेमकिङ्किणीmanojñahemakiṅkiṇī
- lovely golden little bells
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- devata
- Kala Bhairava
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Stotra — Devotional hymn literature — praise poetry rather than a Vedic formula. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
The Tryambaka verse of the Rigveda, addressed to Rudra — a prayer for release, likening it to a ripe fruit loosening from its stem.
Asato Ma Sad Gamaya
Three movements — from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to what does not die. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28.
Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam
The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.