Kali Kali Mahakali: Lyrics and Meaning
कालि कालि महाकालि
Traditional
Kali Kali Mahakali is a one-verse Sanskrit prayer to the Goddess Kali. It calls her by four of her names, Kali, Mahakali ("the great Kali"), Kalika and Narayani, and greets her as the one who takes away sin and grants dharma (right living) and kama (the things one rightly wishes for). It ends with the words of a bow: "salutation to you".
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Verse
कालि कालि महाकालि कालिके पापहारिणि ।धर्मकामप्रदे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
Kali kali mahakali kalike papahariniDharmakamaprade devi narayani namostu te
IAST
kāli kāli mahākāli kālike pāpahāriṇi |dharmakāmaprade devi nārāyaṇi namo’stu te ||
Our explanation Word by word: kāli kāli, O Kali, O Kali; mahākāli, O great Kali; kālike, O Kalika; pāpahāriṇi, O you who take away sin; dharmakāmaprade, O giver of dharma (right living) and kama (the wishes of life); devi, O Goddess; nārāyaṇi, O Narayani; namaḥ astu te, salutation be to you. The verse calls the Goddess again and again by her names as Kali, praises her as the one who removes sin and grants both right living and the rightful wishes of life, and bows to her.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: कालि कालि, हे काली, हे काली; महाकालि, हे महाकाली; कालिके, हे कालिका; पापहारिणि, हे पाप हरने वाली; धर्मकामप्रदे, हे धर्म (सही जीवन) और काम (जीवन की इच्छाएँ) देने वाली; देवि, हे देवी; नारायणि, हे नारायणी; नमोऽस्तु ते, आपको नमस्कार हो। श्लोक का भाव: देवी को बार-बार काली के नामों से पुकारा गया है, उन्हें पाप हरने वाली और सही जीवन तथा जीवन की उचित इच्छाएँ देने वाली कहकर उनकी स्तुति की गई है, और उन्हें प्रणाम किया गया है।
Word by word
Every word, with its dictionary page
Word by word
- कालि kāli · O Kali (noun (feminine), vocative singular) Dictionary: 1. kāla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 277, col. 1 “a form of Durgā”
- कालि kāli · O Kali (noun (feminine), vocative singular) Dictionary: 1. kāla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 277, col. 1 “a form of Durgā”
- महाकालि mahākāli · O great Kali (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: mahā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 794, col. 3 “in comp. for mahat”; mahā-kāla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 795, col. 1 “N. of Durgā in her terrific form”
- कालिके kālike · O Kalika (noun (feminine), vocative singular) Dictionary: 1. kālaka, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 277, col. 3 “a N. or form of Durgā”
- पापहारिणि pāpahāriṇi · O remover of sin (compound, vocative singular (feminine)) Dictionary: pāpa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 618, col. 2 “sin, vice, crime, guilt”; hārin, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1289, col. 3 “removing, dispelling, destroying”
- धर्मकामप्रदे dharmakāmaprade · O giver of dharma and wishes (compound, vocative singular (feminine)) Dictionary: 1. dharma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 510, col. 3 “usage, practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct, duty”; kāma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 271, col. 3 “wish, desire, longing”; pra-da, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 679, col. 3 “giving, yielding, offering, granting, bestowing”
- देवि devi · O Goddess (noun (feminine), vocative singular) Dictionary: devī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 496, col. 1 “a female deity, goddess”
- नारायणि nārāyaṇi · O Narayani (noun (feminine), vocative singular) Dictionary: nārāyaṇī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 537, col. 1 “N. of Durgā”
- नमः namaḥ · salutation (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: namas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 528, col. 1 “bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, adoration”
- अस्तु astu · be (imperative, 3rd person singular) Dictionary: 1. as, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 117, col. 2 “to be, live, exist, be present”
- ते te · to you (pronoun, dative singular) Dictionary: 2. tva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 463, col. 2 “base of the 2nd personal pron.”
3 printings differ
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- Word The 1881 Calcutta printing reads: ॐ कालि कालि महाकालि कालिके पापहारिणि । धर्मार्थमोक्षदे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ Printed in Bengali script (p. 46, leaf n50), given here in Devanagari. It begins with ॐ and has 'धर्मार्थमोक्षदे' ('giver of dharma, wealth and liberation') for 'धर्मकामप्रदे'. Many Bengali families say this form today; no tier-A present-day text with it was found.
- Spelling The 1902 Calcutta printing reads: कालि कालि महाकालि कालिके पापहारिणि । धर्म्मकामप्रदे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ The same words (p. 446, leaf n461), with the reph written over a doubled m (धर्म्म), a Bengal spelling convention.
- Spelling The 1906 Calcutta printing reads: कालि कालि महाकालि कालिके पापहारिणि । धर्म्मकाम प्रदे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ Printed in Bengali script (p. 80, leaf n91), given here in Devanagari: the same words, with धर्म्म and a space before प्रदे.
Sanskrit text: Purashcharyarnava (पुरश्चर्यार्णवः), a Tantric digest of worship compiled by King Pratapa Simha Shah of Nepal; part III (तृतीयखण्डः), chapters 9 to 12, edited by Pandit Muralidhar Jha, 1904. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Kali Kali Mahakali कालि कालि महाकालि कालिके पापहारिणि । धर्मकामप्रदे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥ Kali kali mahakali kalike papaharini Dharmakamaprade devi narayani namostu te Word by word: kāli kāli, O Kali, O Kali; mahākāli, O great Kali; kālike, O Kalika; pāpahāriṇi, O you who take away sin; dharmakāmaprade, O giver of dharma (right living) and kama (the wishes of life); devi, O Goddess; nārāyaṇi, O Narayani; namaḥ astu te, salutation be to you. The verse calls the Goddess again and again by her names as Kali, praises her as the one who removes sin and grants both right living and the rightful wishes of life, and bows to her. (Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.) Text: Prabhakari & Co. (प्राभाकरीयन्त्रालय), Benares, Benares (वाराणसी), 1904 (public domain). https://pujadeep.com/prayers/kali-kali-mahakali/
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About the Kali Kali Mahakali
The verse is traditional and has no named author. It is read here from the Purashcharyarnava, a large Sanskrit digest of worship that names King Pratapa Simha Shah of Nepal (reigned 1775–1777) as its compiler, printed in Benares in 1904. There it stands in a run of verses of praise to the Goddess, said after the full prostration. A Calcutta edition of 1902 of the Varshakriyakaumudi, an older Bengal digest of the rites of the year by Govindananda, prints the same words in the autumn worship of Durga. A Bengali book of daily worship printed in Calcutta in 1906 gives it among the verses for offering flowers to Dakshina Kali.
Many Bengali families today say the second line as "dharmārtha-mokṣade devi", "O Goddess who gives dharma, wealth and liberation". The oldest printing found, a Bengali play of 1881, has that wording too. The 1902 and 1904 printings, and the two present-day editions we compared (one of them a reprint of the 1904 book), have "dharma-kāma-prade", so that wording is shown here, and the other is listed under the verse.
Under the verse, a word-by-word list gives every word with a short meaning in English and Hindi, and its entry in Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), with the page and column, so the meaning can be checked in the printed book.
How to say it
Every name in the verse is in the calling form (vocative), which ends in a short vowel: kāli (not kālī), mahākāli, kālike, pāpahāriṇi, devi, nārāyaṇi. "Namo'stu te" is said namo-stu te: the sign ऽ (avagraha) marks a short "a" that is not spoken.
When it is recited
A Bengali book of daily worship printed in 1906 gives it among the verses for offering flowers to Kali, and says the same verses are used for Durga and Jagaddhatri. A Calcutta digest printed in 1902 places it in the autumn worship of Durga.
More prayers to the Goddess: Durga, Kali and Lakshmi
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Questions families ask
Who wrote the Kali Kali Mahakali?
Traditional.
When is the Kali Kali Mahakali recited?
A Bengali book of daily worship printed in 1906 gives it among the verses for offering flowers to Kali, and says the same verses are used for Durga and Jagaddhatri. A Calcutta digest printed in 1902 places it in the autumn worship of Durga.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: Purashcharyarnava (पुरश्चर्यार्णवः), a Tantric digest of worship compiled by King Pratapa Simha Shah of Nepal; part III (तृतीयखण्डः), chapters 9 to 12, edited by Pandit Muralidhar Jha, 1904. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- Purashcharyarnava (पुरश्चर्यार्णवः), a Tantric digest of worship compiled by King Pratapa Simha Shah of Nepal; part III (तृतीयखण्डः), chapters 9 to 12, edited by Pandit Muralidhar Jha (Pratapa Simha Shah, King of Nepal, Muralidhar Jha (Jha 'Ojha'), Prabhakari & Co. (प्राभाकरीयन्त्रालय), Benares, Benares (वाराणसी), 1904). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 15, 2026.