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Kala

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Time, often personified as a destructive force or the cosmic cycle in Hinduism, associated with Shiva as Kala or Mahakala.

Detailed Definition
Kala in poetry is the devourer of all things—the hourglass, the falling leaf, the fading light. Poets use it to evoke impermanence, making beauty ache with its own end. Yet in its teeth lies wisdom: to love deeply because all is fleeting. Kala becomes the silent meter of every verse, reminding us that even the poem will one day cease.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Shaiva poem: "Kala devours stars—/ yet in his dance, / I find peace"; A modern verse: "Clock ticks—Kala’s whisper: / ‘All you love / will leave you’"; A haiku: "Autumn leaves fall—/ Kala’s gentle reminder: / hold lightly"; Another: "Kala isn’t enemy—/ he’s the teacher / of non-attachment"; A devotional lyric: "Shiva as Kala—/ destroyer of my ego, / my truest friend"; A minimalist verse: "Time as devourer. Time as healer. / Kala: inevitable / teacher."
Additional Notes
Kala as time is Shiva’s destructive aspect; in poetry, it is the devourer of kings, empires, and moments—this makes time a character, not backdrop, in epics like the Mahabharata, crucial for understanding how Indian poetry frames mortality as cosmic law, not tragedy.
Also Known As
Time Time God Mahakala Death
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